The other day whilst I was gardening I witnessed the interesting behaviour of our two roosters. I was bent over in the vegie patch pulling out some of the many weeds and, I happened to notice the chooks that were busy scratching around. They were clucking and shaking bushes so I stopped my work to watch them for a bit. The chickens, ducks and geese all get on quite well and can even be found sitting on each others’ eggs. It is always a bit weird to lift up a chicken and find duck egg underneath! I am not sure which birds are the most dominant as they all make lots of noise and gestures. The ducks seem to act as guardians around dusk. The chickens and geese will go into their little house for the night whereas the ducks will sit at the door, half inside and half outside. It is as though they are guarding the door to make sure nothing harms the others. When I go down to put them to bed they quite happily get up and waddle inside.
While watching the activity this day, I noticed that the smaller rooster was sitting on top of one of the hens, holding her neck feathers in his beak and going at it! All of a sudden the bigger rooster cock-a-doodle-dooed from about three metres away. He came running at break neck speed towards the amorous couple. When close, he jumped in the air and let loose an almighty karate kick, knocking the small rooster off the hen and sending it flying! I stood there open mouthed at having been witness to this spectacle. The hen quickly gathered herself and scurried off. I did feel a bit sorry for the smaller rooster at having been knocked off his perch so to speak.
