a rooster votes in the night

I closed the front door quietly behind me and stepped out into the starlight.  The night was calm, the dark silhouettes of the cedars & pine rose motionless from the chicken run.

I stood listening for a moment, then turned my attention to the constellations shimmering above the black conifers.

This photo, from culinate.com is captioned

“Four roosters detracted from our idyllic life”.

A rooster crowing in the distance brought my mind back to earth.

We always end up with a couple roosters when we buy new chicks.  Their aggressive behavior marks them weeks before they starting testing the air with their first hoarse calls.  We run an ad offering free roosters and they quickly disappear.

Though sunrise was still hours away, I decided to open the polls.  It was time to settle a nagging question.  Should we keep a rooster from our next batch of chicks, to protect the hens from cats, and possibly produce a few chicks?

The rooster crowing in the night cast a no vote.  The polls closed, the vote was unanimous.  The referendum failed.  I returned to the house, quietly closing the door behind me.

Coo, coo, ca choo.