Something to crow about

‘I was really heavy at 240 pounds and my sugar level was at a dangerous level. I know I needed to lose weight drastically,’ says rooster breeder Remar de Leon. ‘My roosters became therapy for me. I find their colors fascinating and enjoyed petting and touching them.’

All that glitters is not necessarily gold. It could be a rooster!

The Ormoc Gold is Remar De Leon’s favorite rooster because of its plume’s stunning colors.

Remar was on the brink of being diabetic. “I was really heavy at 240 pounds and my sugar level was at a dangerous level. I was so scared. I know I needed to lose weight drastically,” begins Remar. “My roosters became therapy for me. I find their colors fascinating and enjoyed petting and touching them,” he adds.

On a farm in Guiguinto, Bulacan just outside Metro Manila, Remar now keeps over 300 roosters across his wife Lariesah’s quail eggs business.

Not really knowing how to take care of roosters, he found a neighbor, Joenel, who used to work on a chicken farm and was knowledgeable about raising the male chickens.

Joenel was employed by Lariesah in her quail eggs business and now helps Remar with his roosters. “With his experience and passion for roosters, I am able to learn a lot from him,” he says.

White Hatch (hen) and Melsims Hatch (rooster)
 

“A friend gifted me with my first rooster, a Carachi from Bacolod. It had beautiful gold, black and white feathers. It really caught my attention,” Remar recalls.

“From there I started acquiring more until I reached the level of 300 that I’m at today,” he adds.

“My roosters are my pets. Being with them and holding them relaxes me. It’s really just a hobby for me. I am very hands-on. I come here at least once a week and I find it a refreshing and welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the city. Feeding and bonding with my roosters whenever I am in the farm is really something I look forward to,” Remar says.

One wonders how a collection of roosters could actually be refreshing and therapeutic. We normally associate roosters with the 24 hours of cacophonous sounds.

Actually, notes Remar, “Only the males ‘tilaok.’ The hens are very quiet. You will probably find this odd, but I consider their ‘tilaok’ music to my ears,” he says.

“Roosters are good to look at and soothing to pet but they are very fierce. The male’s fighting instinct kicks in at five to six months. They will fight with other roosters even if they are related or even if they grew up together as chicks in one pen. That’s why, by that time, you need to separate them or else they might kill each other,” Remar shares.

“I started breeding only just recently. Only 20 of my whole collection were bred here. I still don’t sell them, though.”

The bantam (right) compared to a regular-sized rooster
 

He might purchase his roosters at P3,000 for ones available locally to as high as P50,000 for more exotic breeds. “The expensive ones are imported from other countries like this Melsims Black I have which came from the US,” he says, pointing to one.

Interestingly, cockfighting roosters are named after the person who bred them. In the case of the Melsims, the roosters were bred by a man named Mel Sims, an American game fowl aficionado who was introduced to cockfighting by his Filipino neighbor. In cockfighting circles, Mel Sims has become one of the most famous breeders in the world. 

“I also collect Bantams. These are miniature roosters about half the size of a regular rooster but just as fierce, if not more. You don’t really make them fight. You just keep them around as pets. In some Chinese households, they keep their Bantams inside the house perched like a pet parrot,” he says.

“This area of Guiguinto, Bulacan, called hayupan by locals, is one of the few remaining areas where small farms are welcome. I have a neighbor who has a small piggery and several others who raise their own chickens and eggs, ducks and more.”

Although Remar has a collection of over 300 roosters, he still considers his farm small and finds it already too crowded for them.

“So I tend to give some away to friends. I have probably given away half,” he says.

And he did so, too, on the day we visited his farm. He gave our photographer Ernie a Gabilon Hatch, a local rooster that’s probably worth around P8,000 on the market. Our photographer is quite fascinated by roosters and was very grateful for Remar’s generosity.

Remar is not really into cockfighting and gambling, though. “From time to time, friends ask me to join them to go to cockfights. Although I’m not a gambler, I earn bragging rights and can also get some cash when my roosters win. More importantly, I find taking care of roosters a great way to bond with existing friends and gaining new ones.”

Security has not really been a problem for Remar. Fortunately, he has never been victimized or robbed. (Perhaps the non-stop clucking alerts him to any unwelcome trespassers).

He’s quite open to visitors, though. “I enjoy having visitors and I keep my farm open to them. I have a very low, waist-high welcoming fence. Sometimes strangers come by and ask to look at my roosters. And I will gladly accommodate them. Since I started my small farm, not once has anyone tried to rob me of my roosters. I believe keeping it open for other people is a huge factor,” he says.

“My daughter Marla Shier, 17, is my constant companion here at the farm. She enjoys it here as much as I do. So I named the farm Shier Farm, after her,” Remar adds.

“My goal in the next few years is to be able to buy the lot next door and perhaps build a swimming pool and a fully-equipped bahay kubo for me and my family to enjoy,” he muses.

The plumes of roosters are a sight to behold. There is no color in the rainbow absent from Remar’s collection of roosters. There’s an almost unlimited range of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues and violets; plus of course, whites, grays, blacks, golds, browns and beiges.

Just look at his Melsims Black, Melsims Gray, Bantam White, Bantam Gray, Brass Black, Coalminer Blues and others — they are indeed a sight to behold.

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Email the author at nikkicoseteng2017@gmail.com or text her at 0997-4337154.