Why my rooster answers my crow?

I am new to having chickens and LOVING it!!! I never thought I would love chicken, let alone a rooster. At first I was disappointed when my favorite Polish turned to be a rooster but he is soooo amazing and I even take him to work (at the moment he had head injury from being pecked so badly, but is healing nicely). So I put him in a big doggie cage at work. He is 15 weeks. Occasionally, he crows, and I checked his food and water....empty. So I put some more. The next time around, he crows and food and water are still full. So I jokingly crow at him. He responds to my crowing. Then started this silly game. When he is resting, I crow at him from far away....and he immediately replies back at me! I thought this must be a joke.... Then I put bets with my employees.... I waved at him (a Polish named Julio), he got excited and crowed. Sometimes He crows and then I ran to him and cuddled him for 2 seconds and he stops. Then he crows at me until I answer, then he stops.
DOES HE RECOGNIZE ME?????? Is chicken that intelligent?????
My employees joked that,"Julio is calling you!!!" When I come to him, he calms down and seems content.
Is this real? Or I'm just making a make believe????

Chickens for sure recognise individuals. Your story is amusing and I'm sure your colleagues find it equally so.

A word of caution though - some roos can turn human aggressive as their hormones develop - bit like human teenagers. Without getting too carried away with myself, id suggest you read the many threads on raising roos. People do things differently, but its important for both you and your roo that he understands who is in charge and how to act in the future. I made mistakes with my first roo and he paid with his life (made a nice stew, i have to say) which was pretty poor on my side.

All the best
CT

CTKen said:

Chickens for sure recognise individuals. Your story is amusing and I'm sure your colleagues find it equally so. 

A word of caution though - some roos can turn human aggressive as their hormones develop - bit like human teenagers. Without getting too carried away with myself, id suggest you read the many threads on raising roos. People do things differently, but its important for both you and your roo that he understands who is in charge and how to act in the future. I made mistakes with my first  roo and he paid with his life (made a nice stew, i have to say) which was pretty poor on my side. 

All the best
CT

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Interesting and thank you! May I ask what kind of mistakes did you make? I read a lot now about raising roos, and I am not afraid of the roos. I flick his head if he dares to peck me and that makes him back off. He was quite wild and agressive around 12 weeks, but funnily enough, he was a victim of agressive ladies in his coop. His head was bloody, on and off, the very last time before I separated him, blood was gushing. So I bathed him, cleaned his crest, basically nursed him. Since then, his attitude was 180 degrees different. I wonder why too! He sits on my lap, he even napped on my lap...occasionally he pecks (not aggressively), and I finger flick the back of his neck, just like when I flick my children's ears when they misbehave.
He was being a machoman at 12 weeks. Now at 15 weeks he is very gentle. I am confused too!! I try to research and read a lot, but I couldn't find information like what I am experiencing with Julio now.

Yes, your cockerel can recognize you. In fact from what I have read they can recognize 100 different faces. By the way, he won't be considered a rooster until he is a year old.

Let me tell you about my first flock. Every time I fed them or gave them treats I would say "Here, chicky, chicky." We go south for the winter so the neighbor kindly added my girls to his flock while we were away. When we returned 7 months later I got their coop and pen all cleaned up. Then I noticed the neighbor was free ranging the chickens. So I called "Here, chicky chicky" to see what would happen. All 6 of my girls came running across the pasture. They remembered.

Maybe he's simply a softy! I would not be surprised if that changes somewhat when he is around 6 months though.

My mistakes, through ignorance was not to read the signs of impending aggression. My roo used to run between my legs as i was walking and i did not see that as a warning sign - if i had put a stop to the behaviour there and then, i am pretty sure it would not have led to him attacking me (he used to attack me when my back was turned to him). I should have also ensured that he neither crowed nor mated hens in my presence. That just about sums up my mistakes and the outcome.

With my second roo, i made sure that he knew i was boss by knocking him off a hen if he tried to mate, i'd chase him if he crowed and then found my perfect weapon of choice - a water spray (the kind one uses for indoor plants - think a water pistol and you are there). A quick squirt of water sent him packing down the garden (i would use this occasionally, or if he crowed etc). Oh, i would occasionally prevent him from getting near the feeder for 30 seconds or so. I had no problems whatever with that rooster although he has long since been eaten as i had no further use for a roo.

Whilst i regret my mistakes, i made sure i learnt from then - onwards and upwards eh?

Cheers
CT

evitachu said:

I am new to having chickens and LOVING it!!! I never thought I would love chicken, let alone a rooster. At first I was disappointed when my favorite Polish turned to be a rooster but he is soooo amazing and I even take him to work (at the moment he had head injury from being pecked so badly, but is healing nicely). So I put him in a big doggie cage at work. He is 15 weeks. Occasionally, he crows, and I checked his food and water....empty. So I put some more. The next time around, he crows and food and water are still full. So I jokingly crow at him. He responds to my crowing. Then started this silly game. When he is resting, I crow at him from far away....and he immediately replies back at me! I thought this must be a joke.... Then I put bets with my employees.... I waved at him (a Polish named Julio), he got excited and crowed. Sometimes He crows and then I ran to him and cuddled him for 2 seconds and he stops. Then he crows at me until I answer, then he stops.
DOES HE RECOGNIZE ME?????? Is chicken that intelligent?????
My employees joked that,"Julio is calling you!!!" When I come to him, he calms down and seems content.
Is this real? Or I'm just making a make believe????

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Yes, chickens can recognize you. You are the treat person.

He is crowing in response to your crow because you are challenging him. Other's warnings on being careful are valid. He needs to know that YOU are top rooster, or it's not going to go well.

Thank you all! I have latinos employees, and a couple if them used to do chicken farming back in South America and Mexico. When I started bringing Julio to work, my guys laughed at Julio and said he is a sissy. So my operator, Alex, he did a "rooster test" by challenging my chicken, something like hand gestures in front of his face and shake his beak (ah hard to explain!), and Julio did not challenge Alex back. Anytime Alex just playfully challenge my chicken, Julio just didn't do anything. He lets people touch his beack, stroke his puffy bouffant hair till he closes his eyes and nap, carry him around.... Super weird.
I don't free range my chicken. They all stay in the coop. I have a pretty big coop for 4-6 chickens, but only 3 live there so plenty of space.
I am going to educate myself more about rooster, I need to learn more. I know chickens are not like dogs....so I should erase my thinking that my chicken behaves like a dog.
By the way, here is a picture of him on my lap and just napping away.....

If you only have three chickens, he is going to need at least 8-10 girls -any less and it will likely result in over-mating and causing stress and potential harm to the few hens you have.
A great excuse for getting more girls

CTKen said:

If you only have three chickens, he is going to need at least 8-10 girls -any less and it will likely result in over-mating and causing stress and potential harm to the few hens you have.
A great excuse for getting more girls 

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Wow, that's a different story now. I don't want to have a problem with my hens. Sorry, correction, now 3 in the coop and Julio is separated. So actually it would be 4 in the coop. AND....therefore there are 2 boys and 2 girls. That's a big problem then..., right???? I am already bonded with all of them! Well, one boy, Elvin, actually gets along with the 2 girls, and Julio is the one being hated. But Julio by himself is actually cute and playful. Both cockerels are not agressive, but I can see Elvin is very "gentleman" and Julio is like a bad boy...does this make sense? LOL. It is really funny and interesting that I can observe two completely different personalities.
In that case, I don't know what to do! Should I just make Julio bachelor for life and be an office pet? I can add 2 more girls so Elvin can have 4 wives in his harem..... But that means I must buy "teen" pullet to ensure the gender.... Oh gosh!!!! What to do????

If you have more space more pullets would be the best thing. I have read a minimum of 6 hens to 1 roo...minimum. I currently have 9 chickens and I'm 99% sure two of them are
Cockerels. As much as I love them, one will have to go.