Re Rustica

Rodney, our current Head Rooster, dances well, sings well, is courteous to his hens and minor roosters, and even finds and shares good things to eat.  He defends them against hawks and coyotes, and teaches younger birds where to lay eggs, what to eat, important resources and - most recently - has taken the former head rooster, Scuttle, under his wing.

Scuttle dances bad.  Real bad.  He puts the wrong wing out and steps wrong.  He rapes hens, mating them without courtship.  He sings poorly.  He steals food from younger birds.  He leads hens off into the bushes where kitties like to hunt and leaves them there.  He runs up to other birds, pecks them between the eyes and runs away.  He hides up in trees, jumps down and scares the other birds. 

He is a bad rooster.

But he doesn't want to be bad.  He just doesn't know better.  He was raised without other roosters, with no role models.  Rodney is teaching him.  Lesson by lesson, Scuttle is learning how to sing, how to treat his hens with respect, how to do the jobs required of him.  He's even got the right (er, left) wing out.  Sometimes.

At least he's not feeding his hens to the kitties anymore.