This is Marcus the ferocious Rooster. Well I say Rooster, but he is a Bantam Rooster so he is about 28 cm or about 11 inches in old money. Also when I say “ferocious” I mean ferocious to another bantam.
Marcus has recently lost his hens to a local predator and so is all alone. This is allayed to the fact he lives up a tree.
Never fear a nationwide BBC appeal has been launched to aid his plight.
A Rooster’s Routine
Marcus gets up at sunrise and marches his tiny legs a half a mile through 2 long fields while negotiating a horse, some sheep and two 6 foot fences. He then stands outside our barn and crows at our chickens until they are let out.
When the barn is opened our rooster immediately runs out and chases him up a tree. The hens are interested in the new arrival and so he gradually gets bolder. The roosters then have an uneasy stand off until lunchtime.
Nature being weird "Marcus" the rooster travels the 1/2 mile back to his home to eat lunch. (In France lunchtime is really important).
In the Afternoon he is back again where there will be more hen bothering. This is quite good entertainment for the hens as the two roosters dance round the hens trying to usher and herd them into a group.
This keeps the Roosters happy all afternoon but the hens soon get bored with this and split up to do some more scratching and general dust bathing.
At sunset Marcus goes back home to his tree and our hens are shut in the barn. Marcus being a chicken is a very social bird. He is also a very determined and for something so small I somewhat admire his dogged determination to be find a new group.
I rather hope I feel the same way tomorrow when he starts crowing at sunrise and nature opens its curtains on another day.
Business as usual.
See you tomorrow Marcus.
