Jackson the Rooster Holds Off Fisher Cat

Jackson

It was a wild weekend around here.

We keep chickens on our farm, and along with the hens we always keep a few roosters hanging around.  A good rooster can really help with flock management, sounding the alarm when something is amiss, keeping peace in the hen-house, and keeping tabs on the hens.  Plus, I find them entertaining and really enjoy listing to a good crow.

Our last batch of hen chicks turned out instead to be a big batch of roosters, so at the moment we have more roosters than we really need.  I keep saying that I need to reduce the number, but I haven't done anything about it quite yet... and this past weekend I was really happy to have all those guys around, especially Jackson.

Jackson is my favorite rooster.  He's a five year old Americauna, really easy going, and full of charm.  He's got this  s l o w  dramatic strut that just cracks us up!  He leans way back and with big, wide sweeping movements brings each leg way up in the air and then down to take a step forward.  The hens love him,  too-- I'm sure because he is so gentle and full of personality.

On Saturday, in the middle of the afternoon, as my husband was driving into the driveway, he could see Jackson and another one of our older roosters puffed up and making a fuss.  He thought maybe they were having a little manly tussle, but as he walked closer and could hear their tone he knew something was definitely wrong.   A fisher cat, a nasty creature known to decimate a flock of chickens in a matter of minutes, had entered their yard and attacked a hen. Amazingly, the two roosters had worked together and placed themselves between the injured hen and the fisher, and were blocking the fisher from moving towards the rest of the flock!  A third rooster, a fairly young bird, had the hens gathered in an area away from the excitement, and was standing guard in front of them.  (The fourth one, who is a pain in the you-know-what had run to hide inside the hen house. Coward. He'll be on the list to go.)  Once my husband got close enough to tend to the problem, the two roosters backed away and joined the hens.

We were just so impressed that those two roosters were able to hold off a fisher cat.  Jackson was a little scratched up from his encounter, but has recovered.  Unfortunately, we ended up loosing the injured hen, but if it hadn't been for those brave roosters, the outcome could have been MUCH worse.

And that is why I keep roosters on our farm.  :)

If you've never seen a fisher cat, here's a photo.