One night in December 2012, one unwanted rooster was dumped at our house. The person placed him into the yard in a cardboard box, which he then escaped from. It took two days to catch him and get him in the chicken run. In the process of catching him, he jumped over a seven metre fence, flew up onto the roof and survived two nights outside whilst there was a fox plague….which earned him the named of “Super Chicken”.
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Super Chicken was quite young when he first came to us, we think about a year old. As soon as he joined the flock though, he was in there throwing food up in the air and offering all the delicious treats in the world to the ladies. There’s no doubt about it, he is a ladies man. Our girls fight for the position of sleeping next to him on the perch at night.
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Roosters have a tough journey in this world. Being born male sees their chances of having a forever home drop dramatically. Unable to be kept in suburbia because of their crowing has seen the plight of the dumped and unwanted rooster sky rocket. Chicken hatching programs do not help the situation of unwanted roosters one little bit. Hatching out chicks without mothers into a classroom of young children does nothing but tell children that animals can be manipulated by us how ever we desire. Male chicks grow up to be roosters and are unable to be kept in suburbia because of council laws, so most of these hatching project roosters are killed.
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Super Chicken does not like the company of humans, but will stand back and let me shower his ladies with food and love. Every now and again he will look directly into my lens and give me a “tuk tuk tuk” just to let me know he’s got his eye on me, but he trusts me completely these days.
Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally
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