The king of our homestead has passed away

Every homestead or farm has at least one animal that steals the show. It might be a fluffy farm cat, a crazy heifer or that attention seeking piggy.

For our homestead it has to be our bantam rooster Mr. Sparkles. He was a beautiful little Japanese bantam rooster we came across when looking for young chicks. The lady we got our chicks from also had Japanese bantam and I had never seen them in real life before. When we went to see their flock she pointed at a rooster she wanted to rehome. Sparkles was this beautiful boy, we was in a coop and never been out before. He looked a bit sick but given there was no greens to be found and he was bullied by both the hens and rooster I figured that was the main cause. My judgement was that I could easily cure him with some fresh pasture and vitamins.

We took him home and placed him with my elderly serama hen. My serama went from flock to flock being a free ranger but never really settled in with the others. She was the eldest chicken I had, the sweetest girl and her eggs were the most creamy I have ever eaten up till this day. Anyway I figured she could show Sparkles around and the two of them have been inseparable ever since.

Sparkles during his first weeks here

Mr. Sparkles recovered in about two weeks and was the best gentleman for his girl. He wasn’t bothering her with his manly desires but I saw him do his thing occasionally. He became a very tame and caring man. He was the kind of rooster that came to say hello every morning, went off with his lady and escorted them back to the coop at night.

His girl

Last year they got a little girl named Zojja.
Both parents took excellent care of Zojja. Unfortunately we lost our serama hen a little while ago, leaving Mr Sparkles and Zojja to care for each other.
I am very sad to say that Mr. Sparkles passed away yesterday and joined his wife in heaven. I really miss his morning greeting and poor Zojja is very sad. I had a couple of Zojja’s eggs under a broody hen and checked them last night but non were fertile. I never did see dad mounting his daughter.

Zojja

I need to find Zojja a couple of new friends and carry on with his line.
Zojja is the last carrier of his genes. Meanwhile she’s in with the turkeys for a bit.
I am so so sad that the king of our homestead is gone..