Last evening, Brett and I were invited to join some neighbors, who live on the dirt road behind us, for pizza. On our way there, we came upon a large pick-up truck parked to the side of the road and two people chasing after the roosters. We immediately recognized one of them as the daughter of a neighbor who lives in the area, although not on the dirt road. As she snagged one of the roosters and carried him to the back-seat of the truck, the man introduced himself as the boyfriend of the girl's mother.
He said that since the girlfriend has a lot of property, she decided to rescue the roosters and let them roam around her place. I wasn't surprised. This neighbor and her daughter have been very involved with animal rescue in our community. They are good people.
As the tail end of a chicken disappeared into the blackberry bushes, the boyfriend grimaced. "We've got both roosters, that was a hen we brought along to help us catch them."
"Good idea," I said. "And good luck getting that hen out of the bushes."
We thanked them for taking the roosters and drove on to our pizza gathering.
There we learned that the people living in a small, log rental cabin on the road were moving out. They had 19 hens and three roosters. They found someone to take the hens, but no takers for the roosters -- so they just turned them loose. It explained why we saw one rooster for a day, before it was joined by the second. I'm guessing the third rooster became coyote food. No one has seen (or heard) him.
All the residents of the dirt road are happy to see this couple go. They moved in, with their aggressive dog, less than a year ago. They blacked out all the windows, and then a steady stream of cars -- driving far too fast -- started driving up and down the road. Sometimes the cars raced up during the day, and sometimes at night. They never stayed more than ten minutes. Neighbors told us that cars driving up in the wee hours of the morning would pull up to the house, blink their lights, execute some sort of transaction, and then drive off again. In the past two months, sheriff deputies have been at the cabin numerous times.
So, we are glad to see them go and we're happy their roosters (or two of them, anyway) found a home.
Showing posts with label roosters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roosters. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2016
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Drive-By Roosters
Friday, as I drove home from work, one of our neighbors sent me a text.
"There is a rooster loose on the trail. R u missing 1? R (husband) is out there now trying to wrangle it lol."
I told her that I would check our pen as soon as I got home.
Both of our roosters were safe in the pen, as I had expected. I sent her a text back but her husband was already on his way over, with the rooster sitting on the front seat floor next to a plate full of bird seed.
He rolled down his car window and we told him that we 1) didn't want another rooster and 2) our roosters were taking their job of guarding our baby chick very seriously and would most likely try to kill this guy if we put him in our pen. Our neighbor sighed, and drove back out the gate. A few minutes later, we heard the rooster crowing out on the dirt road, so we knew he had been released close to where he had been caught.
Over the course of the evening, we got calls from other neighbors asking if the rooster was ours. We heard it crowing during the night and in the morning, he slipped through our front gate and started walking up the driveway. He was a young Rhode Island Red, beautiful, and not at all aggressive. I told Brett that I was fine with it being on the property -- but he would need to stay outside the chicken pen.
Kersey, who was at our feet as we stood on the front porch, saw the rooster coming up the driveway. She launched herself across the dry grass, barking and barreling towards it at high speed. The rooster turned and ran back to the front gate. Kersey watched it go, then turned and came back to the porch. She is fine with our chickens but apparently this rooster fell into the same category as the cats who make the mistake of hopping our fence.
This morning, I learned that there are two roosters out there. This explains why I heard crowing from one end of the pasture, and then a minute later, much further down while I was mucking. The roosters are very young and in good health, with shiny red-black feathers and blue-black tail feathers. In three days, they haven't moved more than a few yards from the same spot, near where the dirt road intersects the paved road. Further up the road, are a couple of wineries. I suspect that someone dropped off the two roosters on their way up the hill. The roosters aren't from around here; if they were, they would have made their way back home by now (there is truth to the saying that chickens return home to roost). I am surprised that they haven't been killed by the coyotes or raccoons that frequent our area. We heard coyotes last night, close by, and I thought they would get the roosters for sure. But, no, they were still crowing loudly early this morning. This is the second time that an unwanted animal has been left on the dirt road that circles behind our property. ...so rude, ...and so cruel.
"There is a rooster loose on the trail. R u missing 1? R (husband) is out there now trying to wrangle it lol."
I told her that I would check our pen as soon as I got home.
Both of our roosters were safe in the pen, as I had expected. I sent her a text back but her husband was already on his way over, with the rooster sitting on the front seat floor next to a plate full of bird seed.
He rolled down his car window and we told him that we 1) didn't want another rooster and 2) our roosters were taking their job of guarding our baby chick very seriously and would most likely try to kill this guy if we put him in our pen. Our neighbor sighed, and drove back out the gate. A few minutes later, we heard the rooster crowing out on the dirt road, so we knew he had been released close to where he had been caught.
 |
| If you look closely, you can see our pasture fence through the trees on the other side of the blackberry bushes. |
Over the course of the evening, we got calls from other neighbors asking if the rooster was ours. We heard it crowing during the night and in the morning, he slipped through our front gate and started walking up the driveway. He was a young Rhode Island Red, beautiful, and not at all aggressive. I told Brett that I was fine with it being on the property -- but he would need to stay outside the chicken pen.
Kersey, who was at our feet as we stood on the front porch, saw the rooster coming up the driveway. She launched herself across the dry grass, barking and barreling towards it at high speed. The rooster turned and ran back to the front gate. Kersey watched it go, then turned and came back to the porch. She is fine with our chickens but apparently this rooster fell into the same category as the cats who make the mistake of hopping our fence.
This morning, I learned that there are two roosters out there. This explains why I heard crowing from one end of the pasture, and then a minute later, much further down while I was mucking. The roosters are very young and in good health, with shiny red-black feathers and blue-black tail feathers. In three days, they haven't moved more than a few yards from the same spot, near where the dirt road intersects the paved road. Further up the road, are a couple of wineries. I suspect that someone dropped off the two roosters on their way up the hill. The roosters aren't from around here; if they were, they would have made their way back home by now (there is truth to the saying that chickens return home to roost). I am surprised that they haven't been killed by the coyotes or raccoons that frequent our area. We heard coyotes last night, close by, and I thought they would get the roosters for sure. But, no, they were still crowing loudly early this morning. This is the second time that an unwanted animal has been left on the dirt road that circles behind our property. ...so rude, ...and so cruel.
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