Membership In The Wild Whisperer Club
Rooster Tamer Zen Master
From birth I’ve been surrounded by wild whisperers. I knew them as my family of bee charmers, snake charmers, dog whisperers, and horse whisperers — and then there are those who could tame a rooster. From the very odd moment I met a strange woman, the beast charmer supreme, I was both earth elemental enchantress blue-eyed jealous and in total awe.
Admittedly, I tend to be a nature know-it-all when it comes to some subjects — and the subject of poultry has always been one of my areas of expertise. Highly competitive, I was quite miffed at being upstaged, out-witted, and totally humbled.
It’s true, the older you get, the more you realize how little you really know. A chance meeting with one such animal whisperer extraordinaire was a face planting moment in how little I knew as I laid down my pride in the humbling specter of her highness.
This was a chance encounter, the woman was lost and approached me in a parking lot for directions. She was a guest speaker before a group of kids in the 4-H program, who were training to show their chickens in fair ground competition. She wasn’t so lost, we were actually in the parking lot of where she was supposed to be.
She was so fascinating to talk to. We ended up inviting ourselves to her lecture. Before the day was over, this simple grandmotherly woman taught me to question everything I thought I knew, about both raising poultry and taming roosters.
Before her lecture was done, I had to admit to myself, she was undoubtedly one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. I had met the ultimate master rooster tamer. Having been pecked and flopped by many angry roosters over my lifetime — I am eternally grateful. So much so I even wrote a poem that day:
Queen Master Rooster Tamer
Bee charmers, snake charmers, dog whisperers, and horse whispers, But none of these compare to the rooster tamer, of course. A chance parking lot encounter, a woman not so lost, Seeking directions in tourist land, at any social cost. But she was more than just a creature communicator stranger, She was a Queen master, a game fowl game changer.
She taught me to question, all that I fowl things I knew, About poultry and beast charming roosters, it’s true. With her ol’ timey wisdom and grace, she showed me the way, To speak tameness to the aggressive roosters, day after day.
From sharp beak pecks and Roostercopter winged assaults I was saved, By the master rooster tamer, so hilariously brave. So if you’re ever chicken coop lost, or feeling rooster chased down, Seek out the rooster tamer’s wisdom, she’ll turn your frown upside down. She’ll teach you poultrygeist things you never knew, And help you tame your Cluck Norris roosters, too.
When you’re Cockadoodle-Doo-Dah older, and egghead wiser than most, Remember the Queen Bee Of Rooster Tamers, who taught you the cost. Of not enough knowledge and lacking wisdom, and all things in between, For you too can be a Master Rooster Tamer, it is powerfully reassuring serene. — Jerilee Wei
Before I proceed, with the chicken kingdom wise lesson I should point out that maternal Grama Daisy raised chickens (and rabbits) for the commercial market. She also helped raise her three grandchildren, exotic and sometimes wild animals, designed clothing, wrote horticultural books, self-published magazines, and ran a host of other successful “work from home” enterprises — many of them simultaneously. Poultry were always nearby.
My grandfather in contrast, a lawman and sometimes bartender, and fun loving Cajun — raised gamecocks for the sole purpose of winning bets, gambling being one of his vices. Both of them came from an era, where the raising of poultry was commonplace and a necessity. Growing up with these two influences, as a child, I spent a lot of time in chicken coops.
Later in life, I lived on 750 acres in rural West Virginia where we free range raised a lot of chicken, ducks, and geese. I’ve been flopped and chased by the meanest and the best.
As a result, I’ve met a lot of mean roosters. Roosters that would peck you, chase you, terrorize your dogs, and fight each other to the death. Most of them ended up in the cook pot when they became too aggressive, or a nuisance.
Hold On Tight and Close To Your Body
I bow to the greatness of the master rooster tamer. It was an enlightening day. After several hours of basic chicken anatomy, discussions on the care and feeding of chicken, and even intensive instruction in how to bathe a chicken — she concluded the lecture with two demonstrations.
The first demonstration, I was already accomplished in — that was the techniques to hypnotize a chicken (also works for rabbits and other animals). Most old timers are well versed in this trick. It is homemade “entertainment” for small children going back generations.
- Hold the chicken face up on its back and stroke it from wattles to vent repeatedly.
Please note that it is important to be gentle and respectful when putting a chicken in a stupor.
Then, concluding her lecture, the master rooster tamer shared her secrets in how to deal with a mean rooster, as she took from a cage — a big feisty rooster, who immediately began to act aggressive, puffing himself up, charging her and some of the children participating in the demonstration.
This was her method to taming the rooster:
- She grabbed him by his legs, simultaneously with tucking him closely to her body, holding his wings securely down;
- With one finger to his beak, she gently but firmly bent his head downward;
- After a short period of time, she released his head;
- Each time he attempted to look up, she held his head down again;
- Minutes later, the rooster would not raise his head and would allow her to do pretty much anything she wanted to;
- When she sat him down, he would not challenge her.
This technique of domination was a major revelation to me, as someone who spent years around chickens and mean roosters. Since then, I’ve tried it and it works magically. The roosters who once flopped and pecked at my feet, soon gave me a wide berth whenever I was in “their territory.”
Sadly, I will admit though, this technique did work on the meanest Toulouse goose on the planet — who once attacked me when laying on the ground to reach a stranded gosling. That wrestling match to get away from Granny goose only taught me to always watch my back. LOL
“I asked my great-granddaughter for ideas to find a secret to taming a rooster that chases and flops me — She suggested I just start wearing a chicken Halloween costume! That way we could become BFF’s with the rooster, and be the cluckiest super heroines in town.” Jerilee Wei © 2023