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Chickens!
Captain’s Blog
5/30/06
Sonoma County, CA.
The other day while riding into Sebastopol with one of our most recent kind host I got into a discussion about chickens. I often get into such discussions, probably because chickens are one thing I really like to talk about. Chickens and baseball are two of my favorite topics of discussion. Once we finished talking about our three hens, their individual and collective histories, and how they fare on the road, the talk turned to roosters. Roosters sometimes become a sore spot with me. So many people, even people who really love chickens, are anti-rooster. It is a real prejudice.
Folks always have the same complaints, roosters are aggressive and they crow. Both are true. Both are as ridiculous as they are true. Yes, roosters are aggressive, that’s how they defend their flock, which is part of their job. When folks tell me about how many hens they have lost I ask if they have a rooster. Of course they don’t. It’s kind of like having a house filled with all your belongings but not having a door because doors have to be opened and closed has made you anti door. When predators get into your flock it is the roosters job to go make what is often their supreme sacrifice. Without a rooster it’s your hens the predators get. Now, just because you have a rooster doesn’t mean you wont lose hens just like having a door doesn’t mean you wont sometimes lose your stuff. Without a rooster however you will always lose your hens.
Roosters do crow. They don’t just crow at sun up, they can crow at all times of day. Just like with other birds the rooster’s crow is a territorial response. They aren’t telling anybody what time of day it is, they are telling other critters where their territory is. Often time’s people who complain about rooster’s crowing live in cities. I’ve noticed in my life, and in my travels that cities are very noisy pretty much 24 hours a day. There are cars on the streets, cars on highways, trains, buses, heavy equipment, engines back firing, loud voices, sirens at all times and of all types, gun shots, and my favorite, early morning garbage trucks. If I could hear a rooster over that din, I’d prefer it. Cities are very noisy. I don’t see, or hear, why roosters are such a big deal.
Okay, so why should folks who have chickens want to have roosters. There are a variety of reasons. Roosters are essential to a smoothly functioning chicken social order. Roosters select the head hen and set the pecking order, which promotes good flock dynamics. Roosters settle disputes in the flock. Roosters are also essential if your hens are going to birth you your next generation of chicks. You don’t have to ever mail order chicks or buy them from a feed store more than once. One of the most wonderful things all of us can be exposed to is the beauty of a hen in the yard with her chicks. No rooster, no chicks, at least not the way nature intends. As permaculturalist we should all promote roosters because we should all promote natural systems. Remember, nature is our model. To not do so, especially because of consumerist contrived anti rooster bias is to be a faux permaculturalist at best.
Roosters fertilize eggs. Fertilized eggs are healthier. Fertilized eggs are especially healthier for older men. They help prevent prostrate cancer. Given the huge population demographic aging Baby Boomer men make in the US I’d think AARP would be promoting a repeal of anti rooster laws. All in all, for our health, the health of our flocks, and the health of future chicken flock generations we need to start changing how we look at roosters. All across the country absurd anti chicken laws are being repealed because citizens, in many cases permaculturalist, are demanding their repeal. We need to go one step further and demand our roosters as well as our hens.
There are problems with roosters just like there are problems with anything. They all have easy solutions. I’ll more about these problems and there solutions in another blog. For now I simply ask that you all look beyond prejudice and look instead to balance and harmony. Seek and promote diversity. It is not just hens in every back yard we should have but roosters as well.
Captain, but not leader,
Stan Wilson.
Infrastructure Coordinator, Permi
Preacher, Rooster Advocate.
Skills Tour.
To Donate go to www.permibus.org
To Donate online go to www.permibus.org,
click "donate now."
5/30/06
Sonoma County, CA.
The other day while riding into Sebastopol with one of our most recent kind host I got into a discussion about chickens. I often get into such discussions, probably because chickens are one thing I really like to talk about. Chickens and baseball are two of my favorite topics of discussion. Once we finished talking about our three hens, their individual and collective histories, and how they fare on the road, the talk turned to roosters. Roosters sometimes become a sore spot with me. So many people, even people who really love chickens, are anti-rooster. It is a real prejudice.
Folks always have the same complaints, roosters are aggressive and they crow. Both are true. Both are as ridiculous as they are true. Yes, roosters are aggressive, that’s how they defend their flock, which is part of their job. When folks tell me about how many hens they have lost I ask if they have a rooster. Of course they don’t. It’s kind of like having a house filled with all your belongings but not having a door because doors have to be opened and closed has made you anti door. When predators get into your flock it is the roosters job to go make what is often their supreme sacrifice. Without a rooster it’s your hens the predators get. Now, just because you have a rooster doesn’t mean you wont lose hens just like having a door doesn’t mean you wont sometimes lose your stuff. Without a rooster however you will always lose your hens.
Roosters do crow. They don’t just crow at sun up, they can crow at all times of day. Just like with other birds the rooster’s crow is a territorial response. They aren’t telling anybody what time of day it is, they are telling other critters where their territory is. Often time’s people who complain about rooster’s crowing live in cities. I’ve noticed in my life, and in my travels that cities are very noisy pretty much 24 hours a day. There are cars on the streets, cars on highways, trains, buses, heavy equipment, engines back firing, loud voices, sirens at all times and of all types, gun shots, and my favorite, early morning garbage trucks. If I could hear a rooster over that din, I’d prefer it. Cities are very noisy. I don’t see, or hear, why roosters are such a big deal.
Okay, so why should folks who have chickens want to have roosters. There are a variety of reasons. Roosters are essential to a smoothly functioning chicken social order. Roosters select the head hen and set the pecking order, which promotes good flock dynamics. Roosters settle disputes in the flock. Roosters are also essential if your hens are going to birth you your next generation of chicks. You don’t have to ever mail order chicks or buy them from a feed store more than once. One of the most wonderful things all of us can be exposed to is the beauty of a hen in the yard with her chicks. No rooster, no chicks, at least not the way nature intends. As permaculturalist we should all promote roosters because we should all promote natural systems. Remember, nature is our model. To not do so, especially because of consumerist contrived anti rooster bias is to be a faux permaculturalist at best.
Roosters fertilize eggs. Fertilized eggs are healthier. Fertilized eggs are especially healthier for older men. They help prevent prostrate cancer. Given the huge population demographic aging Baby Boomer men make in the US I’d think AARP would be promoting a repeal of anti rooster laws. All in all, for our health, the health of our flocks, and the health of future chicken flock generations we need to start changing how we look at roosters. All across the country absurd anti chicken laws are being repealed because citizens, in many cases permaculturalist, are demanding their repeal. We need to go one step further and demand our roosters as well as our hens.
There are problems with roosters just like there are problems with anything. They all have easy solutions. I’ll more about these problems and there solutions in another blog. For now I simply ask that you all look beyond prejudice and look instead to balance and harmony. Seek and promote diversity. It is not just hens in every back yard we should have but roosters as well.
Captain, but not leader,
Stan Wilson.
Infrastructure Coordinator, Permi
Preacher, Rooster Advocate.
Skills Tour.
To Donate go to www.permibus.org
To Donate online go to www.permibus.org,
click "donate now."
Roosters
I'd like to live to see the day that AARP promotes roosters. I really would.
Madelon