Handling a young cockerel tips?

[MageofMist]

Just was watching Peep-Peep and Rooroo interact as I boiled the kettle, and Rooroo started doing little "dukdukduk" sounds and then crawled under Peep-Peep, much to Peep-Peep's confusion... And he just sorta laid there ontop of the rooster acting as a blanket and occasionally pecking at the rooster's long tail feathers in curiosity.

Has anyone elses cockerels/roosters that do this? Or are my silkies just quirky cuddlebugs?

 

[tacothechicken]

Haha yup my leghorn and cochin still do this to me when im sitting in the back yard, the others stopped after they got bigger and more independent but margo and gidget are still ridiculousy needy!!! My 2 4 month legbar and langshan also do this to our mastiff for protection when they get picked on by the older girls, like babies hiding under mum XD

 

[tacothechicken]

I also had a polish cockerel who would crawl into my lap and shove his head under my hand every time i sat down for more than five minutes

 

[PeepersMama]

I have three girls who try to "hide" like that.... They were fussy babies,so we'd (me and sis) bring them inside and letthem sleep in a big sweatshirt sleeve (while we wore it). Now they think we're their actual mothers. Its what a baby chick does to a mama chicken - crawls under their wings.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

I've been following this thread because my roosters are at the age where they are interested in the girls. I have 3 cockerels and 9 hens, all about 4 months old. Red Rider, my Rhode Island Red has proclaimed himself as the leader, although he just begun trying to mate. Pearl, an Easter Egger, is low man but has been actively mating for a little while now. Just the past 2 days he gets told to knock it off by Red Rider. It's fun watching the ever-changing behaviors like with the rooster bowing down when a hen comes to check out what he's eating, the little side steps, a purring sort of sound. I don't know what they mean yet.

 

[MageofMist]

So, just saw something that baffled me. Hen-Hen is Rooroo's girl, yet... When Peep-Peep dared to do a wing dance to the hen, Rooroo didn't even bat an eyelid even though he could see what was going on.

Peep-Peep still got beaten up, but that was from the unamused hen after she snapped out of confusion over what her crazy son was doing. I was pretty sure Rooroo would have chased Peep-Peep off or gave him a peck or even challenged him over the fact Peep-Peep was flirting with his mate, but... He didn't have a care in the world despite being so closely bonded that they are near inseparable and her bearing two clutches of his young.

 

[PeepersMama]

Two of our roos were kinda that to some extent.... When Arrow was big boss, Bear got it handed to him if he tried to mate. But when Bear was boss, he was actually super chill if Arrow mated a hen. Could've had something to do with Bear's hip injury, but still.... It was weird.

 

[Cluck-a-lot]

It is interesting to see how others deal with their roosters and domination is certainly the key no matter what age the bird.
I have huge birds I am breeding and every now and then one will show aggression. My method of handling this is to quickly scoop them up before anything happens. If they are trying to be dominant this quickly shows them they are not the boss.
I never ever use any force ever, as this will only suggest combat and they will see you as foe. I have learned this by watching how others deal with their roosters and it never heals the relationship ever. Hens and roosters have amazing memories . They watch everything you do, and by scooping up the rooster calmly, petting him to calm him down, and placing him somewhere you want him to be .....gently . The key to picking up a bird in my experience is to not only pick them up gently, but to put them down gently as well. If they have an uncomfortable landing, they remember the act of being handled as being uncomfortable and will remember that also!!
So dominance can be non aggressive, simply by doing something other than he had in mind gently. In my experience it has worked every time . The flock watches and you hold the top position. That is really important. I agree with everything others have mentioned.
Hope this helps ...

 

[PeepersMama]

Very good insight.... Excellent post!
My one reason for not picking up the roos though.... Trying to look at it from their point of view, being held is embarassing for them, and although they do need to be okay with being held, ive only ever had one roo who actually enjoyed being held. They never saw it (or acted like) it was a good experience, ya know?
Ive seen alot of differsnt methods for this and everyone does something different - i want to be familiar with as many methods as i can before i settle on one permanently.

Another way I've heard is to make the rooster see that you arent something that opposes him or is a threat to his authority of the flock. For him to realize that you're a human, he's a chicken. I thought it was kinda silly but it made good sense.

 

[centrarchid]

Describe a typical interaction between you and the rooster starting with your approach to where birds are kept and ending with you leaving their realm of awareness. Indicate duration.