Another Monday morning has arrived.  After a wet weekend the sun is coming out, looks like it may warm up a bit.

Learning is one of life’s gifts.  I believe it is what keeps us alive, and there is always something to discover.   So what have I learned this week?

To start with, that roosters are MEAN!!!

Who ever coined the term “chicken” for someone who is a coward must not have dealt with a Rhode Island Red!  Ok, maybe the hen, but the rooster?  No way!!

When my neighbor came by last Monday to ask if I could watch her critters, I thought nothing of it.  She warned me that the Rooster could get very protective of the hen.  She’s a petite woman, and I hate to say it but I chalked her comments up to her being a bit, well, wimpy. 

Oh, I was SO wrong-and my neighbor must be tougher than she looks, or I’m a wimp too!

The first day when I came over and stepped into the coop, I went to check and see if the hen had laid eggs.  As I approached the nest the Rooster walked behind me, making a low “running cluck” type sound.  I didn’t think anything of it.  Until WHAM!  Something hit my arm!!  It felt like some one hit me with a baseball!

“HAAY!!”  I yelled, and spun around just in time for that Rooster to hit me again!  I ducked so he missed my arm, but as he came down he was still kicking and glanced off my thigh. 

I kicked back, not really connecting but still putting distance between this flapping ball of feathers and me.  As long as I maintained eye contact he didn’t attack, but whenever I turned away he would start another run toward me.

I left the coop.  I grabbed a bucket, and then went back in.  The hen had laid eggs, and I meant to collect them! Keeping the bucket between the rooster and me I did manage to get the eggs.  He almost knocked the bucket out of my hands though, twice!

I had completely underestimated Mr. Rooster!  Apparently roosters are supposed to be aggressive, so this behavior is not unusual.  Big ones, like this one, are known to fight off hawks!  Especially if they have spurs.  This one does, although they are blunted-luckily!   My exposure to chickens has been pretty limited-petting zoos, learning farms, or of course buying chicken at a grocery store!  I worked a horse farm for a few years, but still I wasn’t exposed to chickens.  Or should I say roosters!  Yeah, sure, you hear about the cockfights in the Philippines and stuff, but I am guilty of the typical “if it doesn’t apply to me, why retain it” mentality.   It’s human nature, true, and to retain knowledge you need to use it.  Still, I wish I retained more of what I was exposed to regarding roosters.  Maybe I would have a few less bruises!

By now it’s been five days, and Mr. Rooster and I have some respect for each other.  (It’s “Mr. Rooster” all right for this chicky!)  Well, I do for him, that’s for sure.  I walk in with a bucket or a stick, always!  I learned a few tricks to distract him, involving food (he loves cheese!).  He still watches me with a baleful red eye, but he seems more relaxed now.

Despite these events, I find I enjoy the routine.  I could see myself caring for these guys, mean old rooster and all, as a way of life.  Of course I wouldn’t be working a JOB outside my little farm, but raising chickens? Planting a garden?  Running a green house?  Doing the hearth and home thing?  All this echoes back to a simpler way of life, something I miss from a place so deeply buried in my heart, I’m not even sure where it is!  I think we all have something like this, calling to us faintly.  Humanity farmed for thousands of years.  It’s a way of life that is fading fast.  Evolution is a way of life too; we’d better adapt to survive.  But what if we’re losing something along the way?  Is evolution always right?

The rooster is crowing and I hear him, and listen with new insight.  I learned something from this nasty tempered bird.  I learned to respect what I didn’t understand, instead of ignoring it, or worse dismissing it.  I learned a full size rooster is a strong bird!!  I also learned that wanting a simpler way of life, a peaceful one, could manifest in more than one way.  I’m so busy pushing forward-but sometimes to go forward I need to take a step back!!

Daylight’s wastin’ (to paraphrase John Wayne) so I’m signing off.  Just a few thoughts rattling around I wanted to share.  Thanks for reading.  Take care!