Learning Curve

Over the past few weeks, I've noticed that we have a rooster wannabe in my crew of chickens.

Early in June, we purchased some eggs to hatch from the same woman we bought the barred rock chicks last summer. We wanted to watch them hatch and being as we only had 7 chickens, we were thrilled to add some friends to the group. We weren't sure at first, didn't even really care - but turns out that one is an aspiring rooster.

Now this rooster looks like a mix of all different types! I can see sussex, Barred rock, some Rhode Island Red maybe........so not only does he act confused, he certainly looks confused. He has a few beautiful green tail feathers, he really is a lovely bird!

But a few weeks ago, when I was outside getting everyone fed, I heard this awful sound--gutteral kind of scream. But around my house, you're likely to hear most anything so I don't pay too much attention. Also the hens are really kind of loud and make a whole lot of noise when they're laying their eggs so since I only heard it the one time, I just forgot about.

Over the past few days however, the gutteral scream has been refined into nearly a cockle-doodle-doo! I realized that it was my rooster! It is like he is going through puberty and his voice is changing! It's hilarious! He's really not all that loud and I'm not sure if that simply means he hasn't built up his cockle-doodle-dooing ability or not - but it really is a pleasant sound and I like hearing it in the morning. It is kind of like the chicken-version of a sun-salutation! A celebration and welcoming of the day!

I just hope my neighbors see it that way -