Cock-a-doodle-doo
March 26, 2008
You learn in kindergarten that roosters crow at first light-WRONG. They crow all night long. We spent the night at Luckenbach where the chickens and roosters roam free. At dusk their nightly ritual begins. The roosters’ crow and the chickens work their way up the trunks, into the lower branches and soon they are all up high perched in the gnarled live oaks. But that is not the end of it. The roosters stay up all night taking only little naps, as they have to guard their harem of hens. Thus when a stray rooster gets too close to a hen belonging to another, well, all crowing lets loose. It goes on all night. At daybreak there is a grand finale to announce which hens belong to which rooster. Throughout the day everyone scatters pecking the ground looking for food so there is just an occasional crow, but things remain pretty quiet. That is until a stray rooster decides he likes a certain hen belonging to another. Then there is crowing and cackling and lots of running about. Some of the hens now have little chicks; they arrived just in time for Easter. They too are listening to the roosters’ crow and try to stay out of their way!
You learn in kindergarten that roosters crow at first light-WRONG. They crow all night long. We spent the night at Luckenbach where the chickens and roosters roam free. At dusk their nightly ritual begins. The roosters’ crow and the chickens work their way up the trunks, into the lower branches and soon they are all up high perched in the gnarled live oaks. But that is not the end of it. The roosters stay up all night taking only little naps, as they have to guard their harem of hens. Thus when a stray rooster gets too close to a hen belonging to another, well, all crowing lets loose. It goes on all night. At daybreak there is a grand finale to announce which hens belong to which rooster. Throughout the day everyone scatters pecking the ground looking for food so there is just an occasional crow, but things remain pretty quiet. That is until a stray rooster decides he likes a certain hen belonging to another. Then there is crowing and cackling and lots of running about. Some of the hens now have little chicks; they arrived just in time for Easter. They too are listening to the roosters’ crow and try to stay out of their way!
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