Cockerel being weird about cracked corn

[DonyaQuick]

I have a roughly 5-month-old cockerel called Junior who is exhibiting a weird food-related behavior and I'm trying to figure out if it's just part of "that hormonal phase" and will pass, or if there could be an actual nutrition issue that I need to address. I have 10 chickens of various ages and everyone is on a 20% all flock crumble. They get a handfull of scratch grains sprinkled in the morning as a treat when they get let out. Between 10 chickens, that is a very small amount per bird. They all like the scratch of course and come running for it, but starting about two weeks ago Junior started acting downright desperate for it - specifically the cracked corn in it. He wants to chug it like he's starving. None of the other birds are like that. This is especially weird given he tidbits for the hens with every other type of treat he encounters. I tested with little bits of a bunch of different treat foods recently a couple types of berries, a little bit of bread, suet-type stuff, etc.) since I was trying to see if he's just a treat addict or if it's the corn. It's definitely just the corn he's obsessed iwth - that's the only thing he dives into aggressively and the only one he really doesn't want to share with anyone. As far as I've seen though, he is eating the all flock crumble just fine and isn't starving or anything. But the way he goes at the cracked corn just makes me wonder if the all flock somehow isn't getting him what he needs. Is it possible this is because he actually needs more carbs or some other nutrient? Any insight would be appreciated. This is my first year raising corckerels from chicks so I don't know if it's a normal phase or not.

 

[azygous]

This is a very interesting question. I just tried to Google the question and got lots of info about crack cocaine and how humans would rather eat high fructose corn additives than chicken. That's got to be the biggest Google fail I've ever experienced. We're on our own here.

We do know that chickens have dopamine in their brains and that it's triggered by positive food and foraging experiences. We do know that cracked corn we feed poultry does contain sugars in abundance. Therefore, whether your rooster experiences a dopamine rush from the idea of obtaining cracked corn or he's craving the sugars in the corn that he consumes, he likely has an addiction of sorts to the cracked corn.

Keep an eye on the little dude.

 

[southwestclucker]

so what you're saying is....Junior crack-corn and he DOES care.... (sorry, could not resist)

 

[raingarden]

I think it's a psychologically addictive. Just like potato chips. What the chickens want most is the thing that is tightly rationed and they never seem to get enough of.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I just tried to Google the question and got lots of info about crack cocaine and how humans would rather eat high fructose corn additives than chicken. That's got to be the biggest Google fail I've ever experienced. We're on our own here.

We do know that chickens have dopamine in their brains and that it's triggered by positive food and foraging experiences. We do know that cracked corn we feed poultry does contain sugars in abundance. Therefore, whether your rooster experiences a dopamine rush from the idea of obtaining cracked corn or he's craving the sugars in the corn that he consumes, he likely has an addiction of sorts to the cracked corn.

Although it didn't occur to me that it may be related, I have actually seen first hand what I am 99% sure was sugar addiction and subsequent withdrawl in a bird about a decade back - not a chicken, but a parrot called Binky that I was given when I was a child (I was too young to know what I was getting into with that - he's 27 now I think). Anyway, I couldn't get cranky old Binky's usual food one time and all I could find was some stuff with bits of dried fruit mixed in. He loved it, so I thought that was good. Then he started getting manic and extremely aggressive when the dried mango bits were gone, which he always ate first. Eventually I tasted one and good lord it was literally caked in granulated sugar all over the actual dried fruit. The 2-3 weeks following cutting him off were awful, but he did return to normal eventually.

Fortunately I haven't seen any of that in Junior but I will keep an eye out for it. I can always switch over to something other than scratch - this is going to sound stupid but I just need something to toss out to get the flock digging about and occupied for a couple minutes first thing in the morning so I can go in and start the morning coffee-with-chickens ritual peacefully rather than being covered in chickens and spilling the coffee before I make it to the chair.

I take it though that what I'm seeing is not a normal part of cockerel maturation. That does leave me worrying whether there could be an underlying dietary thing that I need to fix rather than just removing the trivially small amounts of corn. I see Junior eating, but maybe he's not eating enough as the temperatures are going down. He'll always eat regular feed out of my hand, so perhaps I should try bringing him in the house for a few minutes each day for some of that so he isn't competing and see if it cuts down on the corn desperation over time (I'd still like to use up the small bag of that stuff rather than let it go to waste even if I switch snack foods). If it doesn't...I guess I get to see what kind of fun happens when I switch snack foods.

I think it's a psychologically addictive. Just like potato chips. What the chickens want most is the thing that is tightly rationed and they never seem to get enough of.

I give them other treats at times though that are more tightly rationed; Junior's corn fixation is both a recent change and Junior is the only one being weird about that one snack. Pretty much every other bird goes into a rabid frenzy over blueberries - I will get my hand sliced up if I try to hand feed those to the flock. But Junior takes those politely and feeds them to his favorite ladies instead of slamming his whole front half into the scoop like he's done a few times over the little handfuls of corn at the bottom.

 

[azygous]

When you got into chickens, did you ever think you'd be dealing with such a variety of personalities? I sure didn't. And have you ever heard any of your chickens actually growl at another chicken to warn them away from the food they both were targeting?

Our chickens sure do entertain.

 

[CoopBoots]

Pretty much every other bird goes into a rabid frenzy over blueberries - I will get my hand sliced up if I try to hand feed those to the flock. But Junior takes those politely and feeds them to his favorite ladies instead of slamming his whole front half into the scoop like he's done a few times over the little handfuls of corn at the bottom.

My rooster doesn't freak out over corn per se, but he absolutely DOES choose to share or not depending on how much he values the particular food item. Every man/rooster has his price?!

 

[Sussex19]

It is not something that I have every noticed in my cockerels... so I dunno!
They do seem to go through times of more or less hunger as they grow up.

 

[azygous]

My rooster doesn't freak out over corn per se, but he absolutely DOES choose to share or not depending on how much he values the particular food item. Every man/rooster has his price?!

So true! I have two roosters. One is the classic gentleman roo. The other roo is the son of the gentleman roo and has nice manners with the hens as long as it's not something like a live meal worm or a raisin. Then he eats them himself while the hens watch.

 

[DonyaQuick]

When you got into chickens, did you ever think you'd be dealing with such a variety of personalities? I sure didn't.

I honestly thought chickens were just chickens going in. I was an idiot. I remember saying to my husband something like "it will be nice to finally have some normal animals."

And have you ever heard any of your chickens actually growl at another chicken to warn them away from the food they both were targeting?

Best I've seen was the response to a plate of oatmeal with tuna mixed in. The snack was apparently too delicious to stop eating and act on the growling, so everyone just growled at everyone nonstop while otherwise eating peacefully in a circle.