Some readers of this blog may remember the mass email I sent back in April of 2005, when we had been living at our site for just a few weeks. We were startled to discover that not only did roosters crow at dawn, but they did so at odd hours in the middle of the night as well, and for extended periods of time. After two months we spent $150 to put new windows in our bedroom, helping to block out some of the sound.
At the time I also expressed bewilderment at how there could be so many roosters in such a small area, with a seemingly low relative number of female chickens. It was another couple of months before a friend suggested that perhaps the high rooster population is due to a local love of cockfighting. We did a bit of investigating, and it seems that indeed, this is the case. Many of our neighbors – particularly the young-ish males who have no regular work – spend time training their birds. I’ve been fortunate enough never to see a fight, but we know they happen.
Many of the roosters around town are kept in half-dome cages like the one in the photo. They sit under houses, in yards, and along the road. This one was near the house of one of my students. Of course, many roosters also simply roam free, occasionally wandering into our yard or walking along our perimeter wall until we chase them with a broom.
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