Chicken Polygamy

12/03/07

Top Cock

Living among chickens and being somewhat an observer, I noticed certain patterns of behavior amongst my avian friends.

Being a rooster is a full-time job. He not only has to covet his hens from other roosters who want to mate and kidnap them, but he has to protect his feeding grounds from others.
His job begins in the middle of the night while still in his tree roost, by crowing to other roosters that he is on guard and ready to claw the breast of any intruders. As he roams around with his harem during the day scratching up bugs for the hens, he must keep them close by. Those hens who wander off are promptly screwed and given a peck on the head.

The top rooster currently has six hens. I really don’t know how he does it or how long he can keep it up. I think he began with two hens just a couple of weeks ago. Since there should be a 50-50 split between hens and roosters, I wonder what has happened to the other roosters. Maybe I am eating one now!