Last night, I went to pick up an Ameraucana rooster from some friends that were looking to get rid of him. I was hoping he would take to the two Ameraucana hens I have so that we can hatch out some chicks next year. I was a little surprised when I saw the rooster. He was big. Suddenly, I was a little worried about the alpha rooster at home. Little did he know that he would wake up in the morning to a new competitor, and I wasn't sure he was big enough to hold his own...

We put the new rooster on the perch I had mounted in the stable, hoping that if each rooster had a sense of having his own territory, they wouldn't have a fight to the death. I managed to get to sleep, then woke up, anxious, at 4:30 a.m. .... With the first hint of light, I was out the door to see what would happen. A few minutes later, our alpha roo started crowing in the chicken coop. Then I heard the neighbor's roosters far-away crowing, and finally, from the stable, came the deeper crow of the new rooster. He came strutting out, taking in the new scenery. The hens from the coop slowly started filtering outside, then out came Alpha. Newby started looking for the way into the chicken run, while Alpha strutted around inside. Finally, Alpha jumped through the door and confronted Newby. Both roos flew up in the air, trying to get the best of each other. Alpha was a little more agile, though, and soon had Newby on retreat. After a few minutes, Alpha had established his supremacy and I was convinced we wouldn't have any carnage in the barnyard, so went inside for some coffee.