A good rooster

We used to have chickens, when we lived in Tucson. They would sleep on my lap when they were little chicks. I got to know each of their little chicken personalities and loved them like they were my kids. One of them turned out a rooster. Some people think roosters are bad dudes...horny little fucking machines. I have come to appreciate a good rooster like a good man. I raised mine with lots of love and yet taught him to respect me as the alpha. A good rooster, as mine was, will always call his hens when he finds some juicy bugs and lets them have first dibs on the goodies. He will be the last one to eat. He will fight to death to protect his hens from a predator. I saw him square off with a coyote once...of course I dropped in on it and chased the coyote away, but I know my rooster was ready to take him on. He was incredibly courageous.
 
He spent most of his day watching over the flock and if a hen went missing he would run around looking and searching until he found her and brought her back.  
He mounted the hens as nature requires, but it seemed to me more of a duty than a pleasure, something that needed to be done to keep the flock going. Never was he abusive with his girls. In the morning when we opened the coop he came running into my arms and I would grab him and hold him for a bit...it was our little ritual.
 
One day a neighbour called the cops about the crowing. We lived in the desert but still barely in city limits, so roosters were not allowed. The cop told us we had to get rid of him quickly or else he would come back and take care of it. We were really pissed and sad. We found a family who had a large piece of property outside the city and gave him to them. They were loving folks with lots of other animals.
 
Needless to say, my hens just sat around bewildered and depressed for days. We watched it for a while and then decided to call the family who took our rooster and offer them the hens. We didn't want to see our chicken family ripped apart and unhappy so we packed them up and re-united them. When the rooster saw his hens again, he did his little rooster dance...so happy to have them back. We were sad to let them all go, but it was the right thing to do by the chickens. I never again had chickens since but I hold that memory in my heart forever.