Suzy
11-21-2006, 04:25 PM
Rocky, our first-ever rooster, was dead when I went to the bunny barn this morning. He was about four or five years old. Read to the end of this message to see what was really SPECIAL after he died!
He has spent about the last two months in a cage in the bunny barn, eating well and drinking but not able to walk much. He evidently got stepped on by a goat in the front goat shed.
He moved in with the goats about a year ago because one of the younger roosters (the other rooster that looked just like him) was constantly bothering him....so he and about three hens moved in with the four front goats...
The vet really got a kick out of them when he came out to the homestead about six weeks ago because the ROOSTER, the brown DUCK, and a big fat HEN were ALL sitting on a nest full of eggs!
Anyway, Rocky Rooster was here by "accident." The first batch of chicks I got in 2000 or 2001, I got at the local co-op and all 25 were hens.
The next year I ordered from Murray McMurray Hatchery and they "threw in" one "exotic" chick, and it turned out to be a rooster---Rocky.
we discovered he was a rooster when early every morning we started hearing this really funny sounds....which husband....who grew up on a farm...said was a young rooster trying to CROW!
He eventually learned to crow and also was a great leader and protector for his flock of hens....
Samson and Geronimo, the other two roosters, (who were thrown in as extras on subsequent year's chick orders) never bothered him and they all kept to their own little harems....except for R.J. (Rockey Junior) who looked just like Rocky but came in batches of chicks about four years apart...
Rocky was a good first rooster and will always have a special place in our hearts because of being our "first" and because of his gentleness and meekness....he was a great rooster...
I wanted to feed and water all the bunnies before I removed Rocky's body so I left him laying in his cage while I fed and watered. I left the bunny barn door open as I do every morning as I do chores and a solemn procession of hens and Geronimo the rooster all came in a single file, marched around Rocky lying in his cage, and then continued on around the cage and back out the door...
It was amazing to watch....it was as if they were all saying farewell...
I've been around animals a long time but this was a first for me....
He has spent about the last two months in a cage in the bunny barn, eating well and drinking but not able to walk much. He evidently got stepped on by a goat in the front goat shed.
He moved in with the goats about a year ago because one of the younger roosters (the other rooster that looked just like him) was constantly bothering him....so he and about three hens moved in with the four front goats...
The vet really got a kick out of them when he came out to the homestead about six weeks ago because the ROOSTER, the brown DUCK, and a big fat HEN were ALL sitting on a nest full of eggs!
Anyway, Rocky Rooster was here by "accident." The first batch of chicks I got in 2000 or 2001, I got at the local co-op and all 25 were hens.
The next year I ordered from Murray McMurray Hatchery and they "threw in" one "exotic" chick, and it turned out to be a rooster---Rocky.
we discovered he was a rooster when early every morning we started hearing this really funny sounds....which husband....who grew up on a farm...said was a young rooster trying to CROW!
He eventually learned to crow and also was a great leader and protector for his flock of hens....
Samson and Geronimo, the other two roosters, (who were thrown in as extras on subsequent year's chick orders) never bothered him and they all kept to their own little harems....except for R.J. (Rockey Junior) who looked just like Rocky but came in batches of chicks about four years apart...
Rocky was a good first rooster and will always have a special place in our hearts because of being our "first" and because of his gentleness and meekness....he was a great rooster...
I wanted to feed and water all the bunnies before I removed Rocky's body so I left him laying in his cage while I fed and watered. I left the bunny barn door open as I do every morning as I do chores and a solemn procession of hens and Geronimo the rooster all came in a single file, marched around Rocky lying in his cage, and then continued on around the cage and back out the door...
It was amazing to watch....it was as if they were all saying farewell...
I've been around animals a long time but this was a first for me....