It’s true! They have taken to taking off when they see me now and that’s not a good feeling when I just love them! I’m guessing it’s just a temporary thing (I hope so anyway) and that they will get over it in a few days but right now it’s so not good.
I suppose they are still getting over the trauma of me catching some of them which were being collected by a friend and, well, none of them liked being rounded up, the ones being caught voiced their displeasure loudly (and with much fluttering and feathers going everywhere!) and the ones that I kept are giving me the evil eye. I’m guessing that’s because they think I’m going to make a grab for them next. Well I’m not so…
Thing is, I had a lot of excess roosters. Like, way too many and they completely outnumbered the hens and with spring coming on and the roosters thoughts turning to you-know-what it was turning into pack rape out there and it just wasn’t an ideal situation. Something had to be done. The other thing is that I was a real wimp when it came to having to do something like dispatching them. I just couldn’t, but I have some farming friends that could and I knew I could trust them to do it swiftly and humanely and they were then welcome to pop them into their freezer as there is no way I could ever eat them!
Now before you judge me too harshly, I did try very hard to relocate them to nice new homes where they could live out their lives in peace, surrounded by hens, but try as I might, I could not find anyone who needed a rooster or two…or four…despite the fact that I spent around 18 months trying to coerce people into taking them. But people just weren’t all that keen and in desperation I took up the offer from my farming friends because I’d run out of options. Oh it was a hard decision, let me tell you.
And now the chooks I have left won’t talk to me. I kept four of the roosters because they are very pretty and are good mates and I have seven cute hens and all the pack-rape stuff has stopped (thank goodness) but they no longer run up to me at feed time and I’m sure they are whispering about me behind the apple tree and if looks could kill, I’d be dead a thousand times! This is very distressing when I am a chook lover and I have explained to them that they have nothing to worry about but I don’t think they believe me. I didn’t even mention what was going to happen to the others and I’m am pretty sure no one else did either so I don’t get it!
I guess it was just the fact that they witnessed the Big Catch and have yet to come to terms with the fact that their numbers have been halved. On the other hand, those hens can walk freely around the yard now without fear of assault so they should be feeling happy right? No more perching on the roof of the shed just to get a break from being chased all over the yard by a pack of lusty roosters! I never mentioned “freezer”! Not once!
I gess it was the trauma of being rounded up and some of them being caught and not being there the next morning, or the one after, or the one after that.
But I so hope they get over it soon and forgive me. I miss them running up to greet me…(sigh)