Our Light Sussex rooster, Roast, is a big part of our flock, yet he was never planned to be. We got him thrown in for free on that same trip that got us our Legbar Ginger. The poor boy didn't seem to be in the best of condition, with bare patches that were being pecked at by the others in the cage with him. He was the biggest of the lot and rather clumsy, treading on the others. I actually thought that he would be a problem, but he turned out to be a gentle giant.
When we were given him the chap said that if we didn't want to breed him he would make a good meat bird because of the size he'd get to. Hubby and I joked that he'd either be a roast or make us roasts, so that's how he got his name. We had no idea at the time if we’d even be able to cope with preparing our own chickens for eating.
Not a great photo, but it's the earliest one I could find of him
As Roast grew we noticed that his right wattle wasn't growing properly. This doesn't seem to be a genetic issue that's passed on to any of his offspring, so I wonder if it was damage from his early days getting pecked in that cage. He looks grand from the left with his long flowing wattle, but funny from the right and head on. We call him our wonky wattled dinosaur.
As he grew older he of course started crowing, but was never one to crow a lot. Unfortunately being in an urban area we couldn't have him crowing, especially in the early hours. My eldest daughter was determined we weren't going to get rid of him though. We'd bring him inside in a dog carrier overnight to stop him waking the neighbours at 4am and when he started crowing she'd get up and tuck him in bed with her so he didn't wake the rest of the house up. One day she asked me if I'd fed the chickens fish the previous day. Apparently he sometimes burped in her face!
My daughter's baby!
With a bit (okay a lot!) of training he now rarely crows in the day, only in the early hours while he's still in his carrier in the shed.
He's king of the flock now, but it took him a while to get there. When we first introduced them to our flock we had four ISA brown hens and they are notorious for being tough on new flock members. He was still a juvenile at the time and they chased him relentlessly. Even once he got bigger than them he was still terrified of them. Once I was putting their food in their bowl and he was eagerly eating when he suddenly realised he was surrounded by the ISAs. He tried to do what he always used to do and dived between their legs to escape. He was, however, too big to fit and went running out with a hen riding backwards rodeo style on his back! She was a bit startled!
The first time he managed to make one of the older hens submit to him it was entirely by accident. He stepped back and he was so big that he trod on her. He looked down at her crouched in submission, saw who it was and ran! Eventually he did find his place at the top of the flock and we have some lovely ISA brown crosses to remember our old hens by.
Roast is still clumsy. He'll stumble over his own feet sometimes, then look around as if to see if anyone noticed! He puts his hens first and is often on high alert. If you give him treats he'll call his ladies over and offer them the treats. If the hens start fighting he'll run over and place his ample self between them. There are a few occasions when he won't share with his hens, usually when maize is involved! Sometimes he might find a tasty treat and try to woo a certain hen with it, but if the wrong hen turns up he'll gulp it down himself and strut off indignantly.
He doesn't like to show it in front of his ladies, but he loves a good cuddle and fuss from us.
As you can see, hubby is happy when he gets to hold his big...rooster
If he crows in the day, he'll get put in time out and will sulk when you bring him back out.
Thank you for reading, were hope you enjoyed and here's farewell from king Roast.
This post was inspired by @sirknight's Daily Celestial Challenge
