Today is the Day!!

I could hardly sleep last night! I kept checking to see if the sun was ready to rise because I couldn’t wait to celebrate International Respect for Chickens Day!!! 

It’s finally here, our day!  I want to first start by telling you about how I found my way to Full Circle Farm Sanctuary.  Me and my six rooster friends Nico, Pom, Bakugo, Rufio, Usain, and Kylo Ren have been together as long as I can remember.  

Our start to life wasn’t exactly the best. We had a home with a human for a short time and for some reason that human decided they didn’t want us anymore.  Seems to be common for roos like me. Humans buy chicks, we grow up and then they realize they have males in the group and we can’t produce eggs. They also say we sing and talk louder than they expected, they have too many of us for their flock of hens, or for some other reason, they just don’t see our value as individuals.  I guess the human who had us felt this way and decided we weren’t worth anything. They drove to the state park and dumped us on the side of the road. It was very confusing and scary. 

Turns out even on this worst day, our lives were about to get a lot better!  The park was so close to FCFS, a staff member driving past actually witnessed us being dumped. The FCFS humans got together and even though we didn’t make it easy, they knew we were worth saving. They spent many hours carefully getting us all to the safety of the sanctuary.  

The seven of us have been together ever since. We have our own bachelor pad with two different yards and a roomy barn stall where our crows sound extra impressive!  Most people think a group of roosters will fight. Since we live in a bachelor pad without a hen to compete for, we coexist peacefully!  We all like to hang out, explore, and share our crows with the world. If there happens to be some roommate interpersonal conflict, I am the peacekeeper. I step in to deescalate the situation because I care about my friends, but also I need good vibes so I can focus on my Roo-Porting work! 

My bestie is Nico. Unlike Kylo Ren’s namesake, he chooses to use the light side of the Force and is very chill. He is best friends with Rufio. Pom has a special skill, he dances! He’s got some smooth moves and he’s very proud of his footwork. My buddy Usain's namesake is none other than legendary sprinter Usain Bolt. Why you ask? Because, during our rescue he made it the hardest for the humans and sprinted away from them! The Care Team had to return several times before they could convince Usain to leave the state park and join us. He’s definitely happy about his decision and said he was just scared. By the way, did you know chickens can run up to 9 miles an hour? Given our small stature, I think this is pretty cool.

At Full Circle, the humans take great care of us.  We often get fun and healthy snacks!  It mixes things up for us and provides enrichment. We have also made friends with Ned the goat who stops over to say hi and mess around with our gate.  He loves latches and chains. I think it’s a goat thing, to each their own. From the yard we can sometimes see our neighbors the pigs … oh my they are big! Way bigger than us. We hear their excited talk when it's their dinner and snack time.  Our yard is nice and spacious and gives us lots of areas to explore. We also love to crow! I won’t name any names, but I think some of us could use a couple singing lessons. We enjoy investigating the FCFS humans that come into our yard. They’re fun to look at and sometimes we jump in their laps. They’re also our snack couriers so we like to come see what offerings they have. Some other things we enjoy are perches and mirrors. We’re a handsome group so sometimes the mirror line gets long. 

If you want to learn more about my friends and I, follow us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok all day to get more chicken information. Have a Roo-rrific day and a restful night. This is Bolin singing off.