Village Roosters

The whole valley is set alight and awakened every few hours as the often arrogant and always cocky crooners shout out their pent-up frustrations and foul mouthed musings across the entire neighborhood. All you can do is lay still and stuff your face deeper into the pillow, hoping that someday the smell of simmering eggs for breakfast doesn't smell so good. A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken, with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels. The oldest term is "cock," from Old English coc. The term "rooster" originates from the United States, while in the United Kingdom and Ireland the older term "cockerel" is more widely used. The rooster is polygamous, but cannot guard several nests of eggs at once. He guards the general area where his hens are nesting, and will attack other roosters that enter his territory. During the daytime, he often sits on a high perch, usually 4–5 feet off the ground to serve as a lookout for his flock. He will sound a distinctive alarm call if predators are nearby. The rooster is often portrayed as crowing at the break of dawn ("cock-a-doodle-doo") and will almost always start crowing before 4 months of age. He can often be seen sitting on fence posts or other objects, where he crows to proclaim his territory. However, this idea is more romantic than real, as a rooster can and will crow at any time of the day. Some roosters are especially vociferous, crowing almost constantly, while others only crow a few times a day. These differences are dependent both upon the rooster's breed and individual personality. He has several other calls as well, and can cluck, similar to the hen. Roosters will occasionally make a patterned series of clucks to attract hens to a source of food, the same way a mother hen does for her chicks.