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Rooster amongst the Hens

It’s a sad day for our daughter as we are taking back to the store one of the chickens that we have raised from three weeks old. The chicken is now thirteen weeks old and ‘she’ came with a rooster guarantee which means we can return ‘her’ if ‘she’ turns out to be a rooster - which ‘she’ has. Yes, ‘Nancy’ the Gold Laced Wyandotte is a rooster.

Gold Laded Wyandotte Rooster is at the back



We can tell ‘she’s’ a ‘he’ because his growth was quicker than the other chicks, his colours are more brilliant, his comb is larger in width, his neck feathers are longer and brighter and his tail feathers are starting to show more height. He hasn’t started calling/crowing yet - which I am sure the neighbours would be glad about.

But our daughter isn’t too sad because we have a substitution plan as I’ll be buying a new chick at the same time as returning our little rooster. She’s picked out either a Light Sussex or a Rhode Island Red as her preference. I’d personally like to get the Sussex due to the docile temperament and the fact that she’ll be mostly white which will contrast well with our already flock of black and red chickens. But she’s also flagged that she likes the Rhode Island Red. We’ll probably get both of them anyway as one chick raised in isolation will be under stress from not having socialization and companionship at an early age, although it will make seven chickens in total in our hen house.

Hen inside the pen, rooster outside the pen


The new Light Sussex and/or Rhode Island Red will join the Hen Party with one Isa Brown called ‘Giggle’, two Black Australorps called ‘Henny Penny’ and ‘Blacky’, one Gold Laced Wyandotte called ‘Lacey’ and one Plymouth Rock called ‘Jemima’. One of the new chicks will possibly adopt the name ‘Nancy’ as she’ll be the replacement. Our daughter can’t wait to help raise the little chicks in our house before they are big enough to join the others in the Hen House for the Hen Party!

It’s a shame really, that we have to take back our little rooster, as he was the gentler of the two Wyandotte chickens that we bought. He was alway appreciative of a pat (which sometimes took a lot longer than he wished under our daughter command) and used to sit there very patiently. But I am sure as his hormones kick in his gentle nature would turn to a more dominating nature and so, before there is further attachment from our daughter, off he goes to a farm to help produce more little Gold Laced Wyandotte chicks.

"Out of my way rooster, ladies first!"

On a different note, the other day I had a great idea for a thriller novel and it stemmed from my experience with raising chickens. At this stage it would be a stand alone novel, as I am struggling to come up with ideas for a further two novels to make a trilogy from the idea. I don’t want to give away too much about it but I think the idea would make for a great thriller that I haven’t seen done before. I guess I’ll see where that idea goes in the future now that the seed (or egg) has been planted!

Cuteness Alert!


Light Sussex and Rhode Island Red chicks checking out the lawn.
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