A Quiet Morning

Today was the first morning in weeks that I didn't wake up to Rambo's crowing.  Yesterday saw the inevitable, yet unpredicted elimination of one of our two cockerels.  As a result of our move and subsequent chaos, we were even more hands-off with this batch of young birds as we were with last year's. Having two boys in the mix exacerbated the effects of minimal human interaction.  That means we have a flock of nine practically feral chickens on our hands.

I wasn't home at the time, but Naomi was inside the chicken run, getting ready to herd some chickens around out to one of the tractors to prepare another garden bed (I can't wait til we have less lawn and more edibles!) when Rambo slipped between an open gate and started attacking our other birds.  That was the last straw.  He was too vicious to stick around.  We were already in Fabio's corner when it came to who would stay and who would go.  We had just been waiting for some sign that having two roosters was too much, or Rambo did something like what he ultimately did yesterday.

I've been wondering if given the chance, Fabio would step up to the top of the pecking order, and let his soft, undemanding, and pleasant crow be heard.  Today wasn't the day.  I'll be listening over the next few mornings to see if he pipes up more than usual.

Rambo was a beautiful bird, but as I told him a week ago or so, looks aren't everything and he needed a nice personality, too.  Regrettably, I don't have any photos of him.  Next spring I'm sure there will be other contenders, and until then, we'll see what kind of man Fabio turns into.