Why Roosters Are Important (And Crowing Makes Them Great — Get Over It!)

Roosters play many important roles in the flock — Do you know them all?

Rooster weather vane (Photo by Nicole Wilcox on Unsplash)

It’s 3 am. The clear crisp call of a rooster breaks the moonlit night. Once — twice — three times — loud and strong.

And then it comes, the sleepy reply of another rooster. And then another. Then six more. And yes, still more calls answer the first. They answer in quieter tones, but the noise still builds for a moment before the calls fade away in the darkness. It’s still hours until dawn when the real chorus begins.

This is life with roosters.

Half of all chicks are male (Image by congerdesign from Pixabay)

For every dozen eggs that get hatched, six will be roosters. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but on average 50% of every hatch will be male.

While hens are lauded for their eggs, roosters are maligned because they crow.

That one trait seems to be all that anyone ever talks about when it comes to roosters. The beginning and the end of the rooster’s story.

Somehow roosters have gotten the short end of the stick in our modern back-to-the-land romance where backyard chickens are…