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Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Sam's Big Night Out

I was just thinking the other day about how nice it is to have chickens. They give you eggs, eat your table scraps, keep slugs and bugs under control in the garden, and best of all, you don’t have to chase them down or call them to come in- they just head back to roost in the coop when the sun goes down.

That was the other day. Today, I’m not so sure. Well, I guess I still believe that about chickens. It just doesn’t hold true for roosters, at least not for Sam. Of course, he doesn't lay eggs, but I’ve never held that against him.

Last night, I was in the kitchen at sundown, and heard him crow- really loud. So I pulled aside the curtain and looked out the kitchen window. There was Sam staring right back at me from his perch on the back of a deck chair. I went out and told him it was time to get in the coop, but he wouldn’t listen, just jumped down off the chair and crowed some more, strutting about on the deck. I went back in, figuring he’d go in the coop shortly. It finally got quiet out there, so I went to close up the coop. Heading back to the deck I noticed something on top of the high wooden deck fence. It was Sam! That ornery rooster had evidently climbed up the ladder (I don't think he can fly that high, at least he's never tried before) leaning againt the fence and decided to roost there for the night.

I could NOT get him to come down. Mr. G suggested I try to climb up the ladder and capture him while he was sleeping, but I took one look at those loooong spurs and decided I was in no mood to fall off a ladder or get gored by an irate rooster who’d just been awakened from a deep sleep. So there he sat, in the cold rain, all night. I don’t know what possessed him to do such a thing when he had a nice warm, dry coop to sleep in.

He must not have enjoyed being out all night as much as he thought he would, because this morning I managed to get him back in the run without much trouble at all. When I let Sam and the girls out this evening, I didn't know what shenanigans he might pull tonight. But when I went to close up the run and coop at sundown, there he was, safe inside, looking perfectly content to be there. We’d better not leave the ladder leaning up against the house again, though, or we might one day end up with a real, live, crowing rooster weather vane, and the neighbors might not be too happy about that!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am linking the rooster story to my post about a guard that saved a chicken and got more than he ask for

http://curbsideview.blogspot.com/2006/10/chicken-plant-guard.html
The Processing Plant Guard

Farm Fairy & Bruno said...

Well I swear...I had several months ago told hubby " I want a rooster just like Sam"...Hubby said who in the hell is Sam? A short time later we got Rocky..A few nights ago I found him on the handrail at our back door..Where he now sits all night and at 4:30 am just like clock work he starts! I'm glad he is somewhat like Sam only, Rocky sits on my lap and snuggles....go figure!

Rhodent said...

I am always happy to read you stories about Sam's latest shenanigans. I have neighbors who have chickens (no rooster anymore) and they love it when I bring copies of your latest posts to them.

No Mas said...

My rooster, Lightening, was an attacker. (I adopted him from a little boy who adaptly named him). He nailed me plenty of times; his last being an attack upon husband who killed him. (That's a story to tick me off.)
One thing that helped: I clipped the tips of his spurs with a rose clipper tool.

Anonymous said...

I have a bantam rooster, he's about 4 months old. He's as big as a cornish game hen. He could fly really high, believe it or not. My husband had this canopy in the middle of the garden, it's about 10 ft tall. It rained a little bit, so the canopy has puddles of water on top. Philip was on the ground, he has on a little twine, so we could easily catch him, when he takes off. So, my husband shoke the water out of the canopy, and it scared Philip, and he got really upset, and flew up the 7' fence. Hubby went and grab his twine (leash) before he went to the otherside. When it's sundown, he always come inside our patio, there's awning there, and windows to our living room. He fly up to the stack of furnitures in the patio, and once he try to fly higher, and smack right on the window glass. Every day, hubby knows when it's time to take him to the garage, where his cage is, so he just put his pointy finger, and Philip perch on his finger, as hubby walks to the garage.

Roosters can fly high! But, can they come down? That's what I'd like to know!

My Philip likes to ride on my hammock also.

Anonymous said...

One more thing I forgot about Philip. Last week, he had his twine 'leash' as usual, and I left him outside. But, I didn't want the neighbors complaining about his crowing, while I'm gone, and I wanted to put him in his cage. But he kept on running away from me. I try to step on his leash, but he was faster than me. So, the twine started to wrap around his feet, and it did, and he continue to run - faster - than me with both feet almost wrapped up with twine. LOL So . . I decided not to leave, it was for a motorcycle ride. That afternoon, the twine got unwrapped, and he was walking around free, chasing the chickadees in our yard.