C is for Chicken
When we lived in Texas I had a pet rooster, a white leghorn. He was given to me by a friend whose sister had chickens and felt she had too many roosters in her pen and wanted to thin them out. I was supposed to get two, but one got away from her in the process of his capture, and made his way into the woods. When they brought me my rooster, I promptly named him Lonesome George because, sadly, he had no other chickens to be with. There were lots of other animals nearby, including cows and horses and (alas) a cacophony of wild animals that included coyotes, foxes and owls (not to mention snakes!) and I wanted him to be able to roost at night in a small pen I devised but he wouldn't use it. If we came home after dark, he'd be roosting in the tree next to the house, and I felt like he was relatively safe there.
George took to dominating our 95 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback because he had no one else to bully, and Penny let her get away with it because she had such a sweet personality. If I sat outside in a lawn chair, he would come very close, and I could reach down and stroke his feathers very lightly. I think he was somewhat bonded to me. He also was extremely gentle with our two/three year old (at the time) grandson. But, it wasn't the best of circumstances, and eventually George met an untimely end. Our landlord (the owner of the ranch) found his body out by some of his farm buildings and let us know. We had had George almost two years though, and I enjoyed having him as a pet. As you can see, he was a lovely leghorn rooster...
16 comments:
Lonesome George is a handsome rooster. Sorry he had an untimely end! Enjoy your day!
Marie, what a beautiful rooster. When I was a girl back on the farm, the chickens were my responsibility to feed and water, collect eggs, etc.
a handsome fellow. yes, too many predators abound that'll get chickens eventually if they won't cooperate (or would that be coop-erate? :))
Such a unique pet, handsome too.
Happy ABCW!
Thanks for this lovely post about Gorgeous George.
Have a nice day.
We had a bantam hen who belonged next door for 10 months. He preferred our birdseed and roosted in the Olive tree between our homes. I documented it all on my blog several years ago. What fun!
What a cute but unfortunately not a happy end story !
I bet George had a happy two years with you.
Oh, poor Lonesome George. It's so sad when you lose a pet to such a bad end. I had a bantam rooster when I was small. Don't think I ever named him, though. and he died from something... got sick. What illnesses do Roosters get!!!
He is a handsome fellow...or I should was. too bad about his short life!
Ahh...poor George. Good choice for the letter C!
Denise would appreciate this post!
ROG, ABCW
Nice story of Lonesome George. We used to have a roaming chicken that used to visit for her ongoing eating (came quite a way) and was so friendly but then appeared no more the owner told us she had walked her last road.
Wonderful story and accompanying photos.
He does look like a handsome rooster. A couple times we had too many roosters, and have given away a few to nice people like you...and we've wondered what their eventual fate was. I do understand how that other rooster got away though--sometimes it takes quite a chase to capture them.
Sorry to hear of his untimely death.
Nice snowy white Rooster.
Post a Comment