Rescued Rooster

Ten days ago this beautiful rooster was living in a cage
he had been there since hatching a year and a half ago
he was one of a hundred straight-run incubated eggs
a friend of mine bought the day they were first hatched

when I first brought ‘Mr Wattle’ as I named him home
he had never eaten anything but processed scratch feed
he had never learned how to scratch for his food
and had never been introduced to grass and flower beds
at first I placed him in a small pen with my oldest hen
for three days before releasing him with our other chickens

Mr Wattle is no longer interested in processed scratch feed
he spends his days eating fresh grass and scratching insects
and various delicacies from under leaves and mulch
(which happens to be around parts of my wife’s flower beds)
as if he is  trying to make up for that first year and a half