Ollie lives a rather different
life than most roosters. Roosters are generally
unloved by the world. Ask anyone who
raises backyard chickens about roosters and they will usually say, “Oh, we
cannot have roosters.” Yes, roosters
have a lot to say to the world, especially at 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning
and because of this noisy tendency, most people reject them outright without
benefit of a second thought.
So rejection is the first issue
most roosters have to deal with in their lives.
It doesn’t matter how gorgeous your pin feathers become, or how good you
are at defending the flock from predators, or how beautiful you sing… no one
wants you. Can you imagine living a life
with this level of rejection everywhere you turn? Do you think it would affect your approach to
life – a life void of love and acceptance?
What creature on earth can live like this? The best animal videos posted on Facebook usually
show animals demonstrating interaction, togetherness, and love. Where does that leave our roosters? Do you think it colors their
perspective? Do you think they might
hold a chip on the shoulder as a result of this rejection?
Ollie has not been rejected, at
least not by us at SimsFarm. He is an
accepted member of our family but not without limitations. The first limitation is that we cannot put
Ollie in a flock with other roosters. He
was living with his brother but their little brotherly spats became violent in
nature. We found Ollie one morning
bleeding profusely from his wattle. (I
would provide you a definition of a wattle but the one I found uses the word
caruncle in the definition and don’t think anyone knows what a caruncle is.) Suffice it to say Ollie was bleeding from the
red thing that hangs down below his beak.
So he was rejected by his brother and separated from the flock.
We also cannot put Ollie with
hens; for now. Besides crowing, roosters
are best known for breeding. It is, you
might say, their purpose in life. (You could
call it their number one joy but we should probably not go there.) When we breed chickens at SimsFarm it is done
intentionally and with purpose in mind.
We do not allow random, cross-breeding to take place. We only want Ollie
to breed with a hen of his breed and those hens currently are not ready for his
affections. This is not necessarily a
rejection for Ollie to deal with but it is an imposed ban delaying temptation
and desire.
With this isolation ban in place,
we brought Ollie into our backyard previously reserved for ducks and have let
him run loose. And boy, does he run! He has a wonderful life
exploring the corners of our yard, visiting the chicken yards we have at all
corners. Daily, he makes his rounds
flirting with the girls, discussing issues with the roosters, playing with the
ducks, and taking advice from the turkeys. He also romps with the dogs (or at
least runs to get out of their way). He
is developing quite a worldly view and each morning as he leaves his dog house
(yes, he has his own home that he retires to each evening as the sun goes
down.) he greets the morning with excitement, vigor and a song.
It has been through my observations
of Ollie, an unfettered, accepted and loved rooster that I’ve come to respect
his opinions of the world at large. I suppose you will find his perspective a
little different than most, but I think as we dig into sharing his insight and
wisdom, we may learn that a more simplistic, scaled-down view of the world is
really the best way to live.
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