Cock-a-doodle-don’t! Roaming roosters at Grafton High may have been dumped

The roosters seemed laid-back, friendly. They strutted their way outside the Grafton High School football field’s fence, occasionally letting out a crow.

The usual users of the track — the runners, the walkers, the moms with strollers — first noticed the cock-a-doodle-doos coming from the woods. 

Then the first rooster popped out. And a second, a third. And a fourth, with magnificent plumage.

The mystery here isn’t “why did the chickens cross the road?” It’s more “who decided to dump the roosters?”

Delaney Smolinski first heard about the plucky poultry last week on Facebook and popped over to investigate.

“Sadly, I believe that they were abandoned as it was four roosters and no hens,” said Smolinski, who works at Houlden Farm and has dealt with amateur chicken owners before. “Chickens don’t tend to wander too far from their home, or the rest of their flock, and even if they do they typically return within a couple of days. 

“It’s fairly common for people to abandon roosters, as they are noisy and often times aggressive,” she added. “These sweet boys were nothing of the sort though! They were bantams, which are miniature chickens, and very commonly sold at tractor supply as unsexed chicks. My best guess is that somebody thought miniature chickens would be cute, bought a bunch of babies from tractor supply, and then once they grew up and turned out to be roosters they didn’t know what to do with them so they dropped them off somewhere away from their house.”

Laura Bishop, who photographed the roosters early last week, said the birds didn’t appear to be causing any problems.

“They were wandering on the trail around the athletic fields at the high school,” she said.“It looked like they had just wandered out of the woods looking for food. 

Unfortunately, the birds aren’t the only ones looking for a bite to eat. Coyotes and bobcats have been known to frequent the neighborhood and Smolinski worried the roosters might be harmed.

Sunday, she managed to capture three of the roosters, who have found sanctuary with a bird lover who keeps many other chickens of the same breed.

“As of now there is still one rogue rooster out there, he was too squirrelly to catch! People have been continuing to attempt though and I will as well,” she said.

Smolinski said she doesn’t believe the initial owners intended harm to the roosters.

“Chicken raising has become VERY popular with corona and quarantine, and sadly a lot of the time people don’t fully understand what they’re getting into and therefore don’t take proper action in rehoming animals they don’t want,” she said.

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