Pecking Order

They say the best "offense" is a good "defense" or is it a best defense is a good offense? Well, either way, we proved the latter on the farm this morning. You see, we have this one rooster who has decided two things. Number one: he is the cock of the yard and number two: Sterling is below a chicken.
Last Saturday, Josh and I were shearing a goat in the shop when we heard these blood curdling screams from Sterling. I thought for sure he had been stung by a wasp again. Turns out, he was being chased by the rooster. I tried to tell him that he simply needed to kick the rooster in the head and stop running from him, but Sterling is petrified of this thing. Since then, Sterling is not safe out in the yard - that rooster recognizes him and is always on the prowl for a chance to run him off.
I was pretty nervous about having an aggressive rooster out and about and I always swore that I would not have one on the farm, so this rooster is living on borrowed time. If he were ever to try to attack Ginger, (newly turned 3 years old) I fear he might damage her face since she is so short. I haven't had any time to really butcher the chicken and I was still half-hoping we could cure him by convincing Sterling to chase the rooster a few times with me. Unfortunately, he is so terrified of the rooster, he won't even chase it with me there for backup.
That is why I was so pleased this morning to find my sweet little three-year old (just turned 3 the day before yesterday) chasing that same rooster around the backyard in a little 15X10 area that she had trapped him in. Around and around they went. She had that rooster on the run. It was actually quite comical in terms of the fear Sterling harbors for that same rooster. So it looks like Ginger is safe (for now,) but that rooster has a date with the gallows (Sterling is lobbying very intently for that date to be advanced) because we certainly don't want him to get any more aggressive...