Rooster afraid of Hens??

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RitzHomestead

RitzHomestead

Chirping
Feb 19, 2015
178
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Marble Hill, GA
So I find this rather entertaining to watch, and I am curios if anyone else has had this experience. My flock is now 13 weeks old and my handsome rooster is starting to crow and is really getting big. Well he likes to walk around all tough, but the bossy hen that is a white leghorn is the leader of the hens and at times will peck at the other hens not enough to cause harm but the hen being pecked will squawk and the big tough rooster will come running with feathers fluffed up at the boss hen.

The only issue is that the boss hen does not back down and will usually fluff up right back at him and he takes off running. Now keep in mind this hen is about half his size but she is definitely the boss of the coop. He will turn tail and run away from her with her chasing him back into the run. I admit it does give me a good laugh as no one is getting hurt, but is there anything I should be worried about, will he eventually grow out of this and be the leader of the flock?
 
I have read many people that say that the rooster is only in the middle of the pecking order. If he is a good rooster he still does his job of warning and watching and rounding up for bedtime. They don't usually get more assertive till they are mature. My 9 week old rooster is the top of his brooder (mostly because of his size as he is a Brahma) but when they have their face time with the older hens he tries to stand up to the bigger hens but is scared stiff and it is obvious.
 
I have a 10 or so month old rooster who doesn't crow and is scared of the older ladies in the pen. Funny thing is though he is the biggest bird I have.
 
Size is not everything i guess
smile.png
 
Seriously. Does anyone think for a second that in a brain the size of something that you would empty out of your shoe that any chicken is aware of their size in relation to other chickens? They don't even have the brain power to figure out how to get from one place to another except in a straight path, and they will relentlessly attempt to fling themselves through a solid barrier to get where they think they need to be going.

No. The entire self confidence thing relies on position in the flock. A five-month old cockerel may have the hormones to make him feel like mating every hen in the flock, but he's going to be chased and pecked and thwarted in his urges by the higher ranking hens, no matter how much smaller they are than he is.

I have one of those romeos in my flock at present. When he does find a pullet or a hen to submit to his attentions, he pays for it by some other hen chasing him all the way across the run. This is what makes having roosters and cockerels better than TV.
 
Last edited:
azygous said:
Seriously. Does anyone think for a second that in a brain the size of something that you would empty out of your shoe that any chicken is aware of their size in relation to other chickens? They don't even have the brain power to figure out how to get from one place to another except in a straight path, and they will relentlessly attempt to fling themselves through a solid barrier to get where they think they need to be going.

No. The entire self confidence thing relies on position in the flock. A five-month old cockerel may have the hormones to make him feel like mating every hen in the flock, but he's going to be chased and pecked and thwarted in his urges by the higher ranking hens, no matter how much smaller they are than he is.

I have one of those romeos in my flock at present. When he does find a pullet or a hen to submit to his attentions, he pays for it by some other hen chasing him all the way across the run. This is what makes having roosters and cockerels better than TV.
Click to expand...


Nah, I got curious one day and Google how smart is a chicken, and I found out on the new York Daily news that a chicken is as smart as a four year old, and a dogreat is as smart as a 6 year old, who would have guessed it
 
Intelligence and perceptions are like apples and oranges, two different things.

And just as with people with high IQs, they are better at some things, but not so smart about stuff that a normal IQ person may be better at.

Chickens are plenty smart when it comes to dealing with chicken world, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they can quickly figure out things that might be obvious to a four-year old human. But chickens will learn to find the door if they aren't under stress and have the time to engage in some trial and error. Once they learn something, they don't forget.

And while we're at it, I believe roosters are smart as some dogs.
 
azygous said:
Intelligence and perceptions are like apples and oranges, two different things.

And just as with people with high IQs, they are better at some things, but not so smart about stuff that a normal IQ person may be better at.

Chickens are plenty smart when it comes to dealing with chicken world, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they can quickly figure out things that might be obvious to a four-year old human. But chickens will learn to find the door if they aren't under stress and have the time to engage in some trial and error. Once they learn something, they don't forget.

And while we're at it, I believe roosters are smart as some dogs.
Click to expand...

X2 -- I'd go a step further and assert that many chickens I have been around are smarter than many of the dogs I've been around, lol
 

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