The Alphabet Photo Challenge: The Letter 'R' is for Rooster

I was jinxed the very first time I bought straight run chicks. Straight run means the chicks are notsexed and you are virtually rolling the dice as to what sex you get. Of course, I wanted hens for laying eggs. I purchased 8 chicks and 5turned out to be roosters. Oh my!

I put an ad up on some of the chicken groups I belonged to on Facebook and got rid of a couple that way. A third one wandered off one day when free ranging and did not come home. It rained and he made it across the road and into the woods. We heard him crowing for a couple of days afterward and hoped he would find his way home. He never did so either someone adopted him or he got eaten by a wild animal.

This left me with two roosters. I added more chicks the following year and bought from a friend that my husband and I went to school with. His wife spoke of being able to tell the difference in hens and roosters. Well she wasn’t 100% right either. At this time I only had one chicken coop and when these girls were old enough to join the adults, we still had a bad ratio of roosters to hens. I ended up getting rid of a couple more and made a trade on one for a hen. We had a better balance then.

Now, years later I just have those two original roosters. One is named Lefty because his spur on his right foot got torn off in a rooster fight and he only has the one on the left leg. And the other Rooster is called Righty. Ha! Not hard to figure these too out. And yes, Righty has only one spur on his right leg.

Righty is now in the original coop with his ladies and Lefty was moved to a larger addition. He also has his own harem of hens. Righty has gotten a bit protective of his girls and likes to try to chase me out of the coop when I go in to gather eggs. I have learned to never turn my back on him. Lefty on the other hand does not show any aggression toward me at all.

And now you know the story of Lefty and Righty.

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