Sunday, January 9, 2011

Leggy's Been Mud Wrestling!

My favorite rooster, Leggy, has seen better days.

It appears he's been mud-wrestling!

In the below photo, rain just washed away the last snow, making the chicken pen muddy. 
And Leggy's been feeling his oats and fighting with the young cockerels.  We are in the process of finding homes for some spare baby roosters.  We used to have 2 roos, but after our 13 summer chicks grew up, we ended up with 7 more roosters.  So now we have 9 roosters!

Poor Leggy


Leg is in the process of growing feathers back after a molt.  He hasn't gotten all of his beautiful tail feathers yet.  And it's been COLD here in MD.  Leggy really hates cold weather. 

By springtime Leggy will be back to his old beautiful self, hopefully!

Muffin and Leggy.  Muffin is the lead rooster, Leggy is #2. They are both ok with their flock positions.  It's those new boys that are not ok with the 2 old men of the flock.

Leggy and the young cockerel Blackie in the background

9 comments:

Country Girl said...

Ah yes. Rivalry!!

Ronna said...

He's a handsome boy!

Knatolee said...

Rooster politics, yeesh! But Leggy is one incredibly handsome rooster. Look at that comb, those wattles! Errol Flynn will be jealous.

CaliforniaGrammy said...

Such a beautiful, I mean handsome, rooster! And what a surprise to Leggy ending up with seven more roosters to contend with.

Terry said...

Leggy looks like a proud bird.

Carla said...

Leggy obviously doesn't understand how big he is. Looks to me like he could put the hurt on Muffin in a big way.
Good luck rehoming the roos. It's the price we all pay for having chicks. :(

Razzberry Corner said...

Barb - You know how boys are so competitive...

Ronna - I think Leggy is gorgeous. He's even prettier when he's cleaned up! But I'm biased because he's my baby! I raised him from a tiny chick!

Knatolee - Leggy has the biggest comb and wattles. He's a large rooster. I don't think he likes the wattles because they make it hard for him to eat, they're always in the way. Ahhh, the problems roosters have to face... :)

CAGrammy - No one likes all the new boys! They're always trying to get frisky with the adult hens, the hens fight them off, the cockerels always lose that battle. The pullets try to imitate the hens and fight the young boys off, too. Poor boys!

Terry - he's not really proud. He's just big and awkward. He's the big awkward shy bodybuilder type guy. The gentle giant. But when it comes to defending from enemies (like hawks, owls, deer, etc), Leggy is right out their standing tall ready for business, making the hawk call, no shyness about him.

CeeCee - No, he doesn't. But Muffin is small and fast. He's done come up on Leg and attacked him and gotten out of there before Leg knew what happened. Leg, he's the kind of guy who makes a grand entrance without even meaning to. You just can't miss him. But he's a gentle giant. I think I spoiled him too much as a chick. A spoiled chick who was held ALOT makes a gentle chicken, but not necessarily a good lead rooster. Live and learn.

~Lynn

Farm Girl said...

He is a beautiful rooster.

Verde Farm said...

Good ole Rooster Battles. We have so many roosters here. There is a battle once in a while but the roosters that free range have all created their own little clans. Each clan has their own set of hens although sometimes the hens cross over to another clan. They actually do pretty well together but when they fight, boy do they :) Leggy is beautiful.