16 and me
Songster
- Oct 31, 2022
- 341
- 1,467
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I have less experience than many on this forum, but I do love my rooster. He is calm, confident & does a great job being an alpha male. We have a mutual respect for each other. He knows where the food comes from, and I know that he has a very important role in protecting the hens & reproduction. I had a polish rooster that failed at his duties and had to be relieved of command.
When I first got chickens, my human nature wanted to humanize the social dynamics of chickens. "Don't peck her, that's not nice!' But as I watched and learned, I saw that they have to be what they are - not what we expect from them. If I raised cows & kept a bull - would I expect the bull to be a bull? I expect my rooster to be a rooster. Some are more aggressive, and training can be helpful, not imprinting will probably help as well. In my experience, the more I've tried to "help" (coddling a shy a hen.. Big mistake!; training an aggressive roo only to ask, "who's training who here?") the bigger mess I make for them. And my roo is left to try to preside over the mess I made of the dynamic that they worked out. I'm hoping my teenage roo will smarten up with age, but at the end of the day if he is agressive, there are 2 more in line behind him that are going to be culled for the sake of the flock - one of whose life may be spared if my little man keeps it up. This may upset some, and so be it. We give them a good life up to the last day, and in return they provide us with sustinence. It's the natural order & none of us should me made to feel like we need to be trained by our roosters to behave their way or else.
When I first got chickens, my human nature wanted to humanize the social dynamics of chickens. "Don't peck her, that's not nice!' But as I watched and learned, I saw that they have to be what they are - not what we expect from them. If I raised cows & kept a bull - would I expect the bull to be a bull? I expect my rooster to be a rooster. Some are more aggressive, and training can be helpful, not imprinting will probably help as well. In my experience, the more I've tried to "help" (coddling a shy a hen.. Big mistake!; training an aggressive roo only to ask, "who's training who here?") the bigger mess I make for them. And my roo is left to try to preside over the mess I made of the dynamic that they worked out. I'm hoping my teenage roo will smarten up with age, but at the end of the day if he is agressive, there are 2 more in line behind him that are going to be culled for the sake of the flock - one of whose life may be spared if my little man keeps it up. This may upset some, and so be it. We give them a good life up to the last day, and in return they provide us with sustinence. It's the natural order & none of us should me made to feel like we need to be trained by our roosters to behave their way or else.
