Friday, April 15, 2016

A home for Barney

This is Barney.


Barney was the "mystery" chick thrown in for free with last summer's order of Jersey Giant chicks from McMurrey Hatchery. A reader correctly identified him as a Silver Leghorn.

Because of his diminutive size (think Barney Fife)...


...he was always being pushed around by the bigger roosters, and was very skittish as a result.


He grew up manly but small, with a soprano crow that contrasted comically with the deeper crows of the Jersey Giant roosters.


His tail always seemed too long for his body, but when away from the other roosters, he strutted around like he owned the place. (All roosters do this.)


Because we don't need another rooster (especially one who wouldn't be suitable for the stew pot because of his size), and because it seemed useless to kill an otherwise beautiful little guy, we wanted to find a home for him.

The other day Don was outside on the phone with an acquaintance from a nearby area when Barney let loose with his shrill soprano crow. The friend remarked on Barney's enthusiasm and mentioned he had a small flock of six hens, but no rooster.

Smart guy that he is, Don immediately launched into the merits of having a rooster to watch over his flock. Bish bam boom, next thing we knew, we had a home for Barney.

The gentleman came over yesterday morning, we put Barney in a box for the trip home, and now he'll have a flock of his own and no competing (enormous) roosters to boss him around.



I love happy endings.

8 comments:

  1. We have a rooster who looks exactly like your Barney, and he's a gem. He's a "Grey" Japanese Bantam. We kept him around for the same reason...too small for the stew pot, plus his crow does not wake us, which is nice. But he's a good protector for the flock and he's definitely nice to look at. Glad Barney will have an enjoyable life; nice when it works out that way.

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  2. We just bought a mixed lot of hens and a rooster, the hens are identical to the one in your photo, in fact there is a bunch of them like that, they are called a Golden Laced Wyandotte. The rooster is similar to yours but enormous so much so that I was a bit alarmed. His side claw is at least 3" long, I had no idea, but has not exhibited any aggressive behavior to humans. He also has a very hardy crow with we enjoy. Hope to let them free range once they are accustomed to their new digs.

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  3. Barney has had two REAL lucky days in his life. Thanks for sharing his story.
    Montana Guy

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  4. This made me smile, small roosters are big at heart! We have extra drakes. Our neighbor's 91 year old mother had a pair of white ducks and that drake got killed and the duck was mournfully quacking all the time. He asked us if we would sell them a drake. Humn I mean really, sell to a 91 year old who lives on her own and is such fun! We gave her a Cayuga Drake, so she has a pair of ducks, Black and White. The duck has stopped quacking endlessly and the young drake is "The Man about the Pond".

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  5. We just found homes for two roosters we had. Both were amiable birds and so that fact and the fact that they also weren't big birds we found them a nice home with lots of ladies. I was glad to see them go to a new homw. It was a young couple who had recently lost their rooster and needed another one. They took both.

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  6. Aww, I love a story with a happy ending!
    CelticKraut

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  7. So glad you found a good home for Barney. He's such a handsome little feller! I love roosters but unless you have a lot of hens, you can only have one. When I had to decide which one to keep, I'm glad I chose Charlie. He's special!

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