The Truth About Roosters

Every year, hundreds of roosters die because there is no room for them at sanctuaries. Seized by authorities due to cockfighting or discarded by backyard hen keepers, homeless roosters face euthanasia or worse. But no sanctuary has infinite space, and the number of roosters in need continues to surge. Help us rescue more roosters and tell the world about these beautiful but misunderstood birds.

The Most Misunderstood Birds

It all starts with stereotypes. For thousands of years, roosters have been drafted into service as avatars of masculinity, tricked or coerced into acting out human ideas about gender rather than being accurately seen as who they are.

This hurts humans by making toxic ideas about maleness seem natural. Boys and men exposed to those ideas learn to associate masculinity with violence. This makes them more likely to hurt each other and other people as well as less likely to take care of animals, nature, or themselves.

These stereotypes hurt roosters in two ways:

  • Roosters used in cockfighting are raised in torturous isolation and then forced into fights from which it is not possible to escape;
  • Roosters are shunned and discarded by people who keep chickens.

As a result, every sanctuary that offers refuge to chickens receives far more inquiries about roosters than they can accommodate. Too many roosters to count are euthanized — or worse — because there is nowhere for them to go.

The Truth About Roosters

All chickens are descended from junglefowl, who still forage in the forests of South Asia today. Many roosters used in cockfighting are genetically indistinguishable from wild junglefowl, and all chickens retain the instincts of their uncaged kin.

Among junglefowl, flocks of feral chickens, and healthy flocks at sanctuaries, roosters cooperate with one another to ensure the safety of the group. Crowing evolved as a way for roosters to keep track of each other amidst the foliage. “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” means “All OK over here!”

Roosters have two different alarm calls, one for aerial predators and the other for threats on the ground. When one rooster raises the alarm, hens and roosters alike take appropriate evasive action, running and hiding in the case of a threat from the air or standing still and looking around in the case of a potential ground predator. All of the other roosters in the vicinity take up the cry. Hens, squirrels, and wild birds may also join the ruckus. Nobody relaxes until the rooster who first raised the alarm gives the “all clear” by crowing.

Because of their role as sentinels, roosters tend to be more high-strung and emotional than hens. When they behave in ways that seem aggressive, this is almost always because they are afraid rather than due to any quest for world domination.

Roosters can be peacekeepers. Elder roosters teach younger roosters how to behave politely and will step in to break up fights between adolescents.

Roosters also make a point of calling hens and chicks whenever they find particularly delectable morsels while foraging. They can be good friends to humans too, as long as they are treated with respect and have enough room. Here at VINE, roosters also make friends with sheep, cows, and other animals.

The most common cause of fighting among captive roosters is overcrowding. You can learn more about roosters, and the ABCs of preventing such conflicts, in this blog post.

What You Can Do

We need to end cockfighting and the myths about roosters that sustain it. We also need to convince backyard hen keepers to stop buying birds from hatcheries and take up more bird-friendly hobbies. In the short term, we urgently need to create more room for roosters at sanctuaries and also help sanctuaries cope with the constant deluge of rooster-related inquiries.

Here’s how you can help:

  • Seize every opportunity to challenge stereotypes and tell the truth about roosters:
    • If you see a newspaper article that mentions roosters or cockfighting, tell us about it and write your own letter to the editor in response
    • Tell friends and family about the problems roosters face because of gender stereotypes created by humans
  • Support The Rooster Project with a monthly gift to keep this multi-year project going
  • If you live in a region where cockfighting is common, contact us for support and advice in taking action locally
  • Encourage people who want to be close to birds to take up bird-watching or wildlife rehabilitation rather than buying chickens from hatcheries
  • Subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss an opportunity to advocate for roosters

The Rooster Project

The Rooster Project is a multi-year initiative of VINE Sanctuary focused on solving the biggest problem facing the community of farmed animal sanctuaries: more roosters in need of homes than sanctuaries are able to accommodate. This effort aims to both increase capacity at sanctuaries and decrease the number of roosters needing refuge.

We have already increased capacity by opening a satellite refuge for roosters and by providing workshops and consultations on rooster care to scores of sanctuaries. In 2024, we will provide more consultations and workshops as well as written materials that sanctuaries can use not only to guide their own work with roosters but also to help the people who contact them about roosters to solve behavioral problems rather than surrender the birds.

VINE gave us such great insight and tactics for helping our various roosters. We instantly made improvements and are seeing daily progress. The fact that VINE is providing this invaluable resource, at NO cost to the benefiting sanctuaries, is truly remarkable. —Shelter Director, participating sanctuary

Also in 2024, we will roll out a new website and associated advertising to reduce rooster homelessness by educating the public about hatcheries, cockfighting, and roosters themselves. With your help, we will also publish a rooster handbook for sanctuaries.

Roosters at VINE

We were the first to rehabilitate roosters rescued from cockfighting, and our methods are now used by sanctuaries around the world. It all began in early 2000, when founders pattrice jones and Miriam Jones found an escapee from the poultry industry in a roadside ditch. They brought the hen home and incorporated her into their family. And then she began to crow! Renamed Viktor Frankl, that first rooster became a co-founder of what is now VINE Sanctuary. From Viktor, who tenderly parented the next two birds to arrive and then became best friends with another adult rooster, we learned not to believe the stereotypes about roosters. Other roosters who taught us important lessons that first year included Chickweed (who loved his sister Violet), Che (who sang lullabies to anxious youngsters), and Turtle (who served as the guide of a blind hen).

The next year brought an influx of fine feathered friends when 24 roosters who had been living together peacefully for years came to live at our sanctuary after their original rescuer lost the lease to the forested acres in which they had been sleeping in the trees, taking shelter in an open barn in inclement weather. Careful observation of their interactions with each other taught us how roosters resolve their own conflicts. We also watched as they instructed younger roosters in the methods and morals of healthy flock life.

We used what we learned to create a rehabilitation program for roosters rescued from cockfighting, based on our awareness that these traumatized and unsocialized birds fight because they are terrified rather than due to any innate aggressiveness.

In brief, the protocol has three phases:

  1. Relaxation
  2. Learning by Observation
  3. Supervised Socializing

Story of a Former Fighter

When Pietro (AKA Petro) arrived at the sanctuary, he was hard to hold because he would struggle so hard to attack any bird — hen , rooster, or passing songbird — he saw. Only after some days of spending time in the yards while being held and soothed was he able to see or hear other birds without trying to attack them. Even so, his little heart beat so rapidly with fear whenever another bird came near. He was terrified.

Having been raised in isolation, he’d never had the chance to learn the social signals by which roosters naturally resolve their conflicts in healthy flocks. Having been forced into the cockfighting pit, with shaved feathers and steel blades attached to his talons, he believed that the only recipe for survival was to attack instantly and incessantly. Having been doped with amphetamines and testosterone, his endrocrine system responded excessively to any alarm.

Once he had been soothed sufficiently to tolerate the sight and sound of other birds, Pietro was ready to to learn the social skills that make flock life possible by observing the other birds from within a protective enclosure. Several times each day, he was allowed to mingle with the others for as long as he could do so without starting a fight. Over time, the amount of time he could go before starting trouble lengthened until, finally, he could be trusted to socialize freely, which he did until the end of his life.

Pietro and the other two roosters with whom we first attempted our rehab protocol responded so well that they were able to be on their own among the other birds within three weeks rather than the three months we had predicted. Pietro became a favorite of the hens, due to his gentle demeanor and fondness for collaborative foraging in the foliage.

Since then, many roosters have called VINE home. Julio, a former fighter found in a Bronx school yard, preferred to spend his days in the shade of a wisteria-vined tree in the quietest yard. Young birds often chose to spend their time near Julio, who seemed to enjoy their company. Mighty Mouse, who was rescued from pool-table cockfighting, often volunteered to parent chicks who arrived at the sanctuary without their mothers. Former fighter Sharkey hung out with ducks, sheep, and a peacock; co-parented a duckling; became BFFs with another rooster; and helped to co-create a vibrant neighborhood within the sanctuary.

In late 2022, VINE rescued 100 roosters seized by authorities from a breeder of birds for cockfighting. Some moved on to other sanctuaries, but most remain with us. Carmine arrived in a state of high agitation, ready to fight for his life. But after only about a week of spending time within his own enclosure in a coop occupied by relaxed birds living their own lives, he was able to relax. He enjoys spending time in the woods near the pigeon aviary.

Similarly, Sol has no interest in fighting and only wants to find places where he feels safe. He didn’t need any rehabilitation at all, only the freedom to flee from possible conflicts. For Sol, height seems to be the key: He was the first chicken ever to fly up on to the top of our very tall hoop barn!

Dwight and Wright are already living their best lives after arriving as part of this rescue. Dwight likes to hang out in the office infirmary, perching on Cheryl’s chair. Wright loves jumping up and then soaring down from high places. Best of all, they have become fast friends, taking hikes together every day.

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