Most roosters crow from the safe distance of a barn or backyard. But not this one. He cock-a-doodle-do’s from about three inches from his owners sleeping faces.
Rara Subramanyan and her husband, Brian Kelly, brought this very special rooster named p-Blizzard into their Toronto, Canada home back in November 2014.
Rara and Brian were driving home in a snowstorm one night when the local animal rescue network that they’re involved in tipped them off about a stray rooster. The couple stopped in the nearby town of Erin, where the rooster had been spotted, and asked a police officer if anyone had seen a rooster.
“He was totally stunned by the question,” Rara told The Dodo.
Eventually, Rara and Brian were led to a broken-down car, where they found p-Blizzard underneath. The only tool the couple had to catch the rooster was a pair of oven mitts from the potluck dinner.
“We scared him out of there and Brian ran after him with the oven mitts on and caught him and took him home,” Rara said.
Thus began their life with p-Blizzard.
Rara said, “I asked Brian if we could keep him for a little while. Then I looked around wildly on the internet to see if anyone could keep a rooster. I found house roosters and that there are things called chicken diapers—and ordered them.”
Now, p-Blizzard rules the roost in a home that includes Rara and Brian, their two children, three cats, and a pug. And he’s definitely at the top of the pecking order.
“He sleeps in the house and considers us his flock,” Subramanyan explained. “He’s only three-and-a-half pounds but has a lot of personality.”
Part that personality comes from the many different sounds that he makes, depending on the situation.
Rara explained: “They all mean something different. He will crow in the morning, usually not before 7 o’clock. He crows when somebody enters the house. He crows in the evening, as if to say, ‘Everybody, it is evening time, cool it.’”
“He has a bark sound,” she continued. “A yummy food sound.”
All of those sounds seem to have had an effect.
“All three cats and the pug treat him like he calls the shots. And every dog gets ‘the eye’ when they first come inside.”
Visitors to the house are also met with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Once, when a visitor brought a dog, the dog approached p-Blizzard. And that’s when the rooster sprang into action.
“p-Blizzard ran over to him and body-checked him like a hockey player,” Rara said.
But p-Blizzard isn’t mean-spirited. He just likes everyone to do things his way. And if they don’t, like the family pub, Possum, it takes him a little while to accept it.
Rara explained, “It went from a hostile relationship on his end to following her and sleeping next to her.”
But he’s always sweet to the humans in his life.
“He’s the gentlest guy,” Rara says. “You can touch his beak or wattle. He has never pecked a human.”
He just wants them to be disciplined, punctual, and well-groomed…
“He pecks affectionately,” Kelly says. “And to take out gray hairs.”
If you can’t get enough of p-Blizzard, follow him on Facebook and Instagram, and definitely share his story with your friends!
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