Requiem For a Rooster

 

This is Stuart.  Stuart came to this little place here as a 'free mystery chick' in an order from McMurray Hatchery back in 2018.  He was a little bitty ball of fluff, and, as a day old, I thought he might be a bantam of some sort.  In fact, his size is what gave him his name: Stuart Little. As he grew, and his adult feathers came in, and he displayed an atypically luxurious tail of long black/green feathers, I finally figured out that he wasn't a bantam at all, but a Silver Phoenix.

Stuart got to stay at this little place here partly because of his unique breed with it's long flowing tail (visitors always complimented me on my beautiful rooster) and partly because he was, for the most part, a very friendly and non-aggressive roo.  Very occasionally he would challenge me, typically the first time I'd wear shorts in the Spring and he wouldn't recognize my legs, but usually he was a mellow guy and would even walk up to greet me.

Coming to see me on the patio.

Stuart got to sire a bunch of the chicks that hatched out in DD2's science summer school classes in 2021 and 2022.  We even kept a couple of his 2021 daughters here (who laid lovely green eggs, being half Ameracauna and half Silver Phoenix) for a while.  He was great with his hens, very protective.

Unfortunately, a week and a half ago, Stuart went out with his ladies to forage in the corn stubble on a nice late January day.  That night, when I counted chickens to shut them into the coop for the night, Stuart was missing. I searched high and low, even following chicken tracks out and around in the field, but found no sign of him.  Not a carcass, not any feathers, not even a speck of blood.  And since Stuart has always returned to the coop, every single night, I had to face the fact that he's gone.  Most likely carried off by a hawk while he was out in the field having fun rummaging in the corn stubble for kernels and calling his ladies to come enjoy the feast he'd found.

RIP Stuart.  You were a good rooster.  One of the best, one of my favorites of the last 21 years.