Glyn and His Shopping Rooster
My husband and I were looking around a charity shop in Hailsham, East Sussex, England, when we met a man with a rooster on his shoulder looking around the menswear section.
It was a wonderful opportunity to strike up a conversation about chickens! The man, Glyn Croxton, told me that he takes his chicken for a walk regularly, and they’re frequent visitors to the shops. The staff knows the twosome, and Glyn produces some seed that he gives to his rooster while they’re out.
I caught up with Glyn later to talk about his chickens. He keeps about 20 chickens, many rescued from the British Hen Welfare Trust. Any chicks Glyn hatches are kept as pets, whether they’re cockerels or pullets, and this rooster was a hatchling from one of his birds’ eggs.
Glyn put two eggs in an incubator. Both hatched, but one chick didn’t survive. The hens were getting broody, so Glyn put the surviving chick under a hen to let her raise it. But the broody mother hen didn’t like the helpless little bird. She pecked it and bullied it. So, Glyn took the baby bird away to be hand-reared. He fed it chick crumbs and put it under a heat lamp to keep warm.
The young bird grew attached to Glyn, jumping on his shoulder and nestling its head against Glyn’s face. The two developed a strong bond. The bird needed a name.
“We called him 180 because he was being cheeky,” Glyn says. “I made a joke. If you mess us about, I’ll put you in the oven on 180 degrees!” The bird was as good as gold after that and was named ‘180’ in memory of that moment.
Of course, Glyn didn’t know that the baby bird would turn into a majestic rooster until it developed beautiful adult tail feathers. When 180 was strong enough to fend for himself in the chicken coop, Glyn put him in with the other chickens. He happily surveyed his surroundings and interacted with the other birds. He’s currently at the top of the pecking order and is one big happy bird!
However, spending too long in the chicken run isn’t 180’s style. He’d been hand-reared, liked the company of humans, especially Glyn, and decided he wanted to go out with ‘Dad’ because Dad had a way more interesting life than his fellow birds. So, 180 spends his days in the chicken run, but when Glyn gets home from work, the rooster hops over the fence to greet him. He listens for the sound of Glyn’s truck and is keen to find out what food is on offer.
“They’re very clever, very intelligent! He’s become a friend!” says Glyn. “He’s two years and four months old now, and he comes to me when I get back from work and follows me around. We have 16 acres of land, with horses and a goat. He follows me when I go to feed the animals. He doesn’t want to be in the chicken run. He prefers human company. I put him on my shoulder, and he stays there.
“We go to a bar and restaurant in Hailsham, where we have our own seat in the public bar. If I want to eat, I have my meal in the bar, because they can’t allow a live chicken in the restaurant. 180 stays on my shoulder while I eat, and I give him some salad items, but he’s very good. He waits to be given the food and enjoys a bit of salad.
“In the house, we have a grandfather clock six feet high, where he likes to roost for the night. He comes inside in the evening, feeds, drinks, preens himself, then flies up to the grandfather clock and stays there all night. He starts crowing at about 4:30 or 5:00 a.m., and I have earplugs if I want to use them. I usually wait until about 6:00 a.m. and then put him in with the hens.
“180 waits for me to take him off the grandfather clock in the morning when it’s still dark, and I put him on a perch with the hens where he goes ‘cockadoodledoo’ with the others. Then, when I return home after work, he flies over the fence, and it all starts again.
“I create art, and he keeps me company while I’m painting. It’s nice having him around, but I have to make sure I keep predators away.
“I won’t give him water before we go out. I carry a bag with baby wipes and his food, so if we have any accidents, I can clean up swiftly. I feed him dry corn while we’re out, so any poops are dry, and I pick them up with the baby wipes right away and dispose of them. Mostly, he doesn’t go to the toilet when he’s out. He prefers to wait until he gets home.
“If he wants to come out with me, it’s easier than putting him in the pen at the other end of the garden. We have a large run, so there’s no issue with several roosters living together. He has a perch that the others leave for him, as it’s his favourite place, and they know their place in the pecking order.
“We went to Eastbourne on one occasion with two dogs and a chicken, and we were all having a good dance at a pop-up street music event. The local newspaper ran a photograph of us — two dogs and a chicken at a party!
“We also went to Battle Abbey and 180 went inside. By the time the staff sees us at these places, we’re already inside. Most people don’t mind, but there are some places we can’t go indoors. We aren’t allowed in Weatherspoon’s bar. I did go in there once and went straight to the men’s toilets, but when I came out, the doormen were telling me I couldn’t go into the bar with a chicken. They don’t allow dogs either, so they’re quite strict.
“We walk along the seafront. While we were in Brighton, we had a caricature done by an artist on there. We’ve been to Rye, Battle, Lewes, Seaford, and Brighton — there’s a singing barber in Brighton who has a shop on the ground floor and sings from the balcony on the floor above. He’s very good. He’s well-known. 180 doesn’t sing along, but he does flutter his feathers and rocks around on my shoulder while I dance.
“I’ve created art of 180. I put a portrait of him on a gravy jug. I also painted a picture on a mug of him emerging from his egg, with a picture of him all grown up on the other side.”
Wherever they go, Glyn and 180 get photographed. The bird poses on other people’s shoulders occasionally, and the twosome are well-known locally.
Susie Kearley is a freelance writer and journalist who lives in Great Britain with two young guinea pigs and an aging husband. Susie has been published in Your Chickens, Cage & Aviary Birds, Small Furry Pets, and Kitchen Garden magazines. Connect with Susie on: Facebook.com/Susie.Kearley.Writer Twitter.com/SusieKearley
Originally published in the April/May 2025 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.
