The wayward rooster was not too pleased that I interrupted his search through the leaf debris on the shed roof…

The neighbourhood rooster – wherever he hails from – has discovered the joys of our “back to nature” garden. He chose to “help” us clear the roof of a little shed that has an accumulation of leaf debris on it, then he discovered his “nirvana” – a big heap of compost. When he was done, part of the heap had been spread out into multi-tiered terraces, and in one case, a bowl-like circle. I guess he really enjoyed digging around!

I don’t mind that he did this. In fact, I’ve heard about a commercial composting outfit in the US that makes use of chickens in their composting process:

Apart from the compost heap, Mr Rooster has also expressed interest in the commercially-bought compost. I know this because I had put a layer of it around the base of the papaya tree, and the following day, it was scattered and dug up. Unfortunately, that was before we saw the rooster, and our dogs got the blame for that, as usual.

See where the rooster scratched his way through the compost heap?

There was also one afternoon that he spent here. He had been foraging near the compost pile before it started raining; and then we were quite amused to see him strolling around through a raging thunderstorm while all of us took shelter indoors. Yes, he seemed at ease in the pouring rain, only pausing for brief shelter under plants occasionally. Then, when the rain stopped, he perched atop the garden swing to dry off.

I would have thought that he would come back the next day, but he hasn’t survived this long without reason – he’s somewhere around, maybe even in his home (we still don’t know if he belongs to someone or is an escapee). We hear him, sometimes to the left, other times to the right; sometimes near, other times in the distance. I guess we aren’t the only ones who get to enjoy the sight of him.

© 2015 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.