It's remarkable how quickly things can change. One day, we had a predicament: it was determined by several chicken breeders that we had not one, but two roosters. Typically, roosters are difficult to keep in urban and suburban settings. Most neighborhoods won't allow them because their crowing is just plain obnoxious. And hen owners, such as ourselves, don't want them because roos are aggressive, and to point out the obvious, incapable of laying eggs. We had no idea what to do with these two boys. Enter Judy Morris, aka, designer coop builder, who kindly offered to take the roos off our hands in exchange for a pair of lovely young hens: "Happy Feet," the little black Cochin Bantam pictured here, and "Stardust," a beautiful Polish/Barred Rock cross. And so, the very next day, we brought home these petite, feathered treasures. Problem solved.
Brie named them, of course, and has been an attentive "mom" to her new babies ever since. As for dear Mirabelle and Chrysanthemum, what fate has in store for them is uncertain. As long as they stay pretty quiet, Judy might be able to keep them, but if they get noisy, as most roos do, they will become dinner for a neighboring farmer's family. Such is the short, tragic life of a rooster.
Fare thee well, Mirabelle and Chrys. Just "follow the light" to that great chicken coop in the sky. Greetings and salutations, Happy Feet and Stardust. May you lay many eggs in your lives at the Beller "farm."
