Holiday Gift-Giving Ideas for Roosters

I’m sure you’ll agree with me that most roosters don’t deserve anything for the holidays (except maybe a sprinkling of rosemary and sage). Our roosters certainly don’t. But I’ve decided to gift them with four new hens anyway. My thought was that a small addition to the hen population would improve the rooster-to-hen ratio and “spread the joy,” so to speak. I especially wanted to take some of the pressure off the two oldest hens who run with the roosters. I explained the idea to all the chickens, and even the two beleaguered black hens responded with the equivalent of an ungrateful “Meh.” Apparently, despite all the squawking, hens are used to this sort of thing and have no concept of body autonomy. But whatever, I was determined, so I sent Hans and Tessa off on a hen-buying errand. (Hey, it was my idea, but I was on a deadline.) Hans let the new hens out into the general population today, and we expected a bunch of craziness as the roosters claimed the pretty new damsels for themselves. What happened instead? The hens are all hanging out together, one big flock of females, and the two heckled hens are off in the swamp foraging with the roosters. Go figure.

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