MAINE MEMORIES: Cock-a-Doodle-Do!

Bantam chicken (left), Bantam Rooster (right).

by Evangeline T.

Hello and welcome to Maine Memories, little snippets of life from our home state.

For this installment, I’m remembering when I raised chickens.

At about age 12, each girl in a club I belonged to had to do a summer project.

Being raised on a farm, I opted to raise bantam chickens. Bantams aren’t as big as regular chickens and are sometimes referred to as miniatures. I had two females and one rooster.

Now Bantams, at least mine, could fly, not too far, 200 feet or so and not high up in the air, maybe 20 feet. My point is, a fenced in yard wasn’t much help, as each day they flew over the fence and out.

Dad fixed that problem. He trimmed some feathers on one wing of each bird. Trimming didn’t hurt them in any way, but they’d become off-balanced when flying. It worked on the females, but let me tell you, that frisky little rooster continued with his messy daily flights, off balance or not!

Our driveway was a circle, which had a section of lawn and a pine tree in it. That rooster loved to fly and perch himself in the pine tree every morning. If you have ever visited or lived on a farm that had a rooster, you’ve probably heard an early morning sunrise “cock-a-doodle do”! My bantam rooster had a problem; his voice wouldn’t produce a nice morning “cock a doodle do”. It came out sounding more like rough-a-rough, ending sharply. Each morning at sun rise, he’d sit in that pine and try again and again, but the sound was always the same.

You have to give him credit, though. He never gave up, and his rough-a-rough lives on in my memory.

There’s a lesson here we can all take to heart: keep on trying. You just might get it right! Cock-a-doodle-do!