The Roosters in Society

I’ve been thinking a lot about roosters this weekend.  Obviously since I’ve set the tone that this blog is going to be from the perspective of a rooster named Ollie, it only makes sense that roosters might be a point of focus.

The main issue I’ve struggled with is how disliked roosters have become.  I really cannot think of another species-group less liked.  Municipalities write volumes of legislation minimizing, if not eliminating the rooster from their cities.  Neighborhood groups fight against their presence and individuals when buying chickens clearly state 99% of the time that they do not want or cannot have a rooster in their flock.  After all, most of what roosters do during the day is eat, breed (or think about breeding) and crow.  Who would want a creature like that in our society?  What possible redeeming value can they have?

(Now I’m going to resist the temptation to compare roosters and their contribution to society to a large percentage of males in American society because, if we were to look hard, I think we could find at least some redeeming virtues for the American male, though I’m hard pressed to find any at this writing.  What I will do is focus on the rooster and his redeeming values.)

First and foremost, a rooster is responsible for the safety of his flock and he takes this responsibility seriously.  How many of the aforementioned American males will be willing to throw his body into the path of a raging coyote or a swooping hawk in order to save his hens.  The roosters in our yard are constantly at watch for predators that may threaten the flock.  As I have been sitting here writing this, on three separate occasions the roosters in our yard have universally sounded a low-pitched, almost growl -type of alarm alerting the flock to a hawk overhead.  On numerous occasions I’ve heard tales of a rooster attacking a coyote in the yard with the sole intent of providing his hens a few extra seconds to reach safety from a marauding pack.  This single-purpose role alone should elevate our crowing friends into the more highly respected breeds of animals currently reserved only for dogs.  No, a rooster does not equal a dog, at least not the higher developed and trained dogs in our society.  (I will hold judgement on the Chihuahua-Pekinese-Pomeranian types of dog as I personally have not found much redeeming value to these yappers.)

If having a dedicated, defense-minded, always-on-the-alert rooster as a member of your family still doesn’t convince you, then perhaps I can pull on your heart strings a little.

Sex education 101:  For every egg hatched, half of them will be roosters.  It is estimated that over 200 million unwanted roosters are hatched each year in the U.S. At SimsFarm, it is on a very rare occasion when one of our customers wants to buy a rooster.  We have had some customers who love having roosters at their home, but for the most part people buying chicks and birds want hens only.

To give you a personal view of what this means I ask you to pause the next time you purchase chicks at your local feed store, farm, or website.  Take a moment to count the number of hens you have purchased and then realize that there are an equal number of roosters that have been destroyed in order to support your purchase. Yes, it is your fault.  You bought the hens but you did not buy the roosters to go with them.  Who else is there to blame? 

There are societies in our world that have devalued a certain segment of that society to the point that they are not only ostracized but literally thrown out with the trash.  Today, for instance, there are 1 million more men in China than women as a result of the one-child policy over the last generation coupled with the over-valued focus on male prodigies.  This kind of focus in any society, animal or human, is never good.

At SimsFarm we strive to find purpose for every bird hatched on our farm.  We rejoice when a rooster is adopted and goes home with a happy family.  I celebrate the life of every rooster I’ve brought to our dinner table recognizing the blessing his sacrifice has provided our family’s nourishment.  (That last sentence is a shocker to many people who cannot begin to understand that providing meat to our dinner table is a valuable destiny of many of these birds – “Oh, I could never do that” is the general response.)

Yesterday we “threw out” five hatchling male chicks.  It is the first time I’ve done this but the reality was they had no purpose or destiny in our society.  I felt awful as I snuffed out their life before it had a chance to begin but I had no choice.  We also sold 4 roosters to good homes yesterday… if only it could have been more.

Yes, this article is meant to fill you with remorse and guilt because I believe in today’s world, like roosters, there are individual’s getting a raw deal.  Just as starving and unwanted children around the world deserve a place in society, I would like to see a rooster crowing in every backyard in our society because it would mean that there will be a newly found understanding of where our food comes from and what the cost of that food truly is.  The next time you are awakened at 3:00 am by a crowing rooster, rejoice that the world is not a sterile, overly manipulated, fragment of our imagination but that it truly is a world diverse in every way that allows room for the most of unwanted of us… even roosters.

And… if there is room for a rooster, maybe, just maybe, there will be acceptance, deliverance and the reality of hope made available to millions of outcast women and children who are starving and are in slavery in our world today.

Signed by…

A rooster whose society allowed it to live