A 3rd rooster, S’moresy, was added to the campus chicken coop in March after being nurtured by freshman Alexandra Pesternikova at her home.

“We’ve actually had 3 roosters, so that was the nicest rooster I’ve had,” said Pesternikova. “I could pick him up and he was really friendly.”

Pesternikova’s sister took care of S’moresy while “babysitting some small kids who played with him a lot” which helped S’moresy to become “very kind with kids.”

S’moresy is a bantam cochin breed of rooster. Senior Kendall Schmidt, one of Poultry Club’s presidents, said, “The breed is really small and it’s a really unique color, and they’re very friendly.”

“He’s very cute,” said Wildermuth. “The students like the bantams more because they’re small and cute, and the ones that are friendly, they [the students] really like a lot.”

The Poultry Club decided to do some selective breeding with the newcomer and 2 chickens. “We’re breeding him with 2 hens, specifically one that’s a good egg layer, and one that’s the same breed as him, so we can have some chickens that are just kind of friendly pets, and then other ones that are good egg layers, but also friendly,” said Schmidt.

Teachers and students that have classes in the G wing are aware of S’moresy, thanks to his loud vocals. “He crows all the time. He’s very vocal,” said Wildermuth.

S’moresy is kept separate from the other 2 roosters because roosters can gang up on each other. “When I tried to put S’moresy out with them, they were not having any of that,” said Wildermuth, “So, to avoid a ‘roostericide’, I brought him back here [the G wing coop].”

“In the past we’ve had a lot of problems with roosters ganging up on each other,” said Wildermuth. He referred to an incident in which new grown up roosters that were kept together started fighting for dominance. Wildermuth said, “We can sort of keep 2. The 2 of them, they’ll find place for each other, but 3 of them instantly becomes a picking of 2 against 1.”

Right now S’moresy is in a relationship with one of the hens, Penelope, and they’re, as Wildermuth said, “lovely together”.