Key West Rooster
Key West’s feral chickens trace their roots to 1800s settlers from Cuba and the Caribbean. Once kept for food and cockfighting, they were set free after Florida banned cockfighting in 1986. As backyard poultry faded with the rise of supermarkets, the chickens stayed—and now roam the island, with hundreds of cock-a-doodle-doos greeting each day.
Irony is not Dead
While roosters strut, crow, and steal the spotlight, hens are just as numerous—quietly nesting in the background, likely in someone’s hibiscus bush. Chickens don’t really “couple up.” A rooster may romance several hens, but it’s the ladies who do all the work—laying the eggs, incubating them, and raising the chicks. Roosters mostly just shout about it. They don’t help with parenting, though they might chase off a cat or two. And while Key West is overflowing with free-range chickens, there wasn’t a single egg in my grocery store today. Go figure.
Key West Rooster
Key West’s feral chickens trace their roots to 1800s settlers from Cuba and the Caribbean. Once kept for food and cockfighting, they were set free after Florida banned cockfighting in 1986. As backyard poultry faded with the rise of supermarkets, the chickens stayed—and now roam the island, with hundreds of cock-a-doodle-doos greeting each day.
Irony is not Dead
While roosters strut, crow, and steal the spotlight, hens are just as numerous—quietly nesting in the background, likely in someone’s hibiscus bush. Chickens don’t really “couple up.” A rooster may romance several hens, but it’s the ladies who do all the work—laying the eggs, incubating them, and raising the chicks. Roosters mostly just shout about it. They don’t help with parenting, though they might chase off a cat or two. And while Key West is overflowing with free-range chickens, there wasn’t a single egg in my grocery store today. Go figure.