There was a fantastic moonbounce in the front yard (I think these are called “bouncy castles” in the UK), so Emma decided to let Evie go down the slide solo. The first run went great, which I didn’t catch on tape. Evie’s second solo run, however, was a little bit of a catastrophe:

After a few seconds of bawling, Evie was game enough to try again, though this time on Emma’s lap. Things went much better.

(via cynical-c)

As Simon told me, however, they can also be quite brutal. Roosters will often peck one another to death. At the very least, one so completely dominates the rest that the submissive roosters act much like hens, and routinely get assaulted by the top bird.

One of Simon’s roosters became so submissive that even the hens were bossing him around. One snowy afternoon, the others decided not to let him back into the coop after their day out in the yard. He stood out in the snow all night and got horrible frostbite on his feet.

When Simon came out in the morning, he saw that the poor rooster’s feet were a lost cause. The rooster didn’t seem to be in any pain, so Simon let him be, figuring his chances of survival were slim at best.

After a few days, the rooster’s feet, shriveled and blackened from frostbite, actually fell off. He was left with stumps. Incredibly, the rooster survived without any problems, and even seemed to be in fairly good spirits. He hopped around the yard on his new nubs, and was immediately dubbed “Stumpy.”

I saw Stumpy for myself on Sunday. He’s doing great. Simon tells me that Stumpy actually roosts on the perch, somehow balancing on his nubs. Better yet, he’s not at the bottom of the pecking order. Now and then, Stumpy even pecks a head or two.

Who doesn’t love a comeback?