Rooster Chat

[cluckcluckluke]

Talking about everything rooster/ cockerel - behavior, meat, sex ID, breeds etc.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Here is my big White Leghorn rooster. He pulls the funniest faces.
He is also very well behaved. Not as friendly as Yoko but he never hurts anyone, not even predators.....which is a problem sometimes hahah.

 

[MarySue]

I have a 1 year old Cochin roo and I have watched him care for and nurture the chicks. He will get food and call to them trying to give it to the babies. Even pick it up and move it away from the hens just so the little ones get it. I too was amazed, I didn't realize they could be so fatherly and gentle.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Here are some pictures of my Red-Shouldered Yokohama rooster.
He is extremely well behaved and even sits on my shoulder for food. He hangs around me more than his flock.lol.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Caught Zeus in the nest.Gave hin 3 eggs and he rolled them under him and sat on them!

 

[bald Rooster]

Excuse me
but
Sex-Change Chicken: Gertie the Hen Becomes Bertie the Cockerel

By Remy Melina | March 31, 2011 03:25pm ET

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Under the right circumstances, a hen can actually transform herself into a cock.
Credit: Gvision | Dreamstime
A British couple was surprised to witness their pet hen Gertie gradually transforming into a rooster. No, this is not an early April Fools' Day prank. Chickens really can undergo natural sex changes.
The first sign that something was afoot with Gertie was that she stopped laying eggs, her owners, Jim and Jeanette Howard of Huntingdon, England, told the local media. Next, she began strutting around their garden and crowing like a rooster. Over the next few weeks, Gertie put on weight and developed wattles beneath her chin, a feature normally exhibited only by males. She also grew dark brown plumage and a scarlet cockscomb atop her head, both male traits.
''I know it sounds ridiculous but I can assure you it's all true," Jim Howard told cambridge-news.co.uk. "People think it's a bit weird but apparently its one of those things that does happen

"Sex reversals do, in fact, occur—although not very frequently," states a 2000 report published by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. "To date, however, spontaneous sex reversal from male to female has not been reported."​

That's because the mechanics of this biological phenomenon seem to work in only one direction. Normally, female chickens have just one functional ovary, on their left side. Although two sex organs are present during the embryonic stages of all birds, once a chicken's female genes kick in, it typically develops only the left ovary. The right gonad, which has yet to be defined as an ovary, testes, or both (called an ovotestis), typically remains dormant.
Certain medical conditions—such as an ovarian cyst, tumor or diseased adrenal gland—can cause a chicken's left ovary to regress. In the absence of a functional left ovary, the dormant right sex organ may begin to grow, according to Mike Hulet, an associate professor at Penn State University's department of poultry science.
"If the activated right gonad is an ovotestis or testes, it will begin secreting androgens," Hulet told Life's Little Mysteries. Androgens are the class of hormones that are largely responsible for male characteristics and are normally secreted by the testes. "The production of androgen would cause the hen to undergo behavioral changes and make it act more like a rooster."
The hen does not completely change into a rooster, however. This transition is limited to making the bird phenotypically male, meaning that although the hen will develop physical characteristics that will make her look male, she will remain genetically female. So while the hen will no longer lay eggs, she won't be fathering any offspring, either.
As for Gertie, the Howards have renamed the hen Bertie after her sex change.

 

[Amelia Egghart]

I'm sure he'll enjoy all his new girls, that's very unselfish of you, I hope my roo never gets mean

Thank you. I'm really lucky to have found this for him. He'd have a home here, I'm technically allowed twice as many roosters as I currently have, but I have one neighbor who hates me and have gotten some flack since little Fiero started crowing (at 8 weeks!). This place he's going to has PEACOCKS so obviously noise is not a concern. He can crow his little heart out!

 

[Amelia Egghart]

My eldest roo is three years and he's become a "butt biter." As in, if you're crouched down to pull weeds or something, watch out! But he runs about as gracefully as a raging bull so you can generally hear him coming (or feel the ground quaking). All it takes is to turn around and look at him and he skids to a stop in a cloud of dust and starts pecking at the ground like he was just looking for food....not to bite your butt. Nope! Not at all!

 

[Diannastarr]

my Blue aussie roo is so wonderful , he is very talkative and sweet & very smart, i call his name & he steps forward out of his adoring flock of hens and bows with wings out like saying greetings good to see you this morning, and so were is breakfast....lol... this is a pic him trying to get the attention of my hens when he was in a pen for the first month after i got him, every day he was out there flagging the girls down...lol..

 

[CCinVT]

My Faverolles Roos are very talkative. Above they are all sharing a dust bath while doing their time in rooster jail In the Spring they would pick different corners of the coop, and nest boxes and make quite a show. purring, and cooing. It was like they were saying "Look at how wonderful I am! I've got a great nest right here for you!!". I have two that are quite the pair. I've seen them both get into the same corner together (which is funny to see), and pick opposite corners. They seem to do it mostly when girls start going broody. The first time I saw it I couldn't figure out what he was doing! They are also very vocal to call girls over for treats, and are quite the dancers. Their actual mating act is not as gentlemanly as the girls would like though so they seem to prefer my more quiet, and gentle boy Abe the Cochin. He does't put on the show, and I've never seem him making the nests and purring. He seems to understand "no means no", and the girls love him best When Abe is separated there are hens that will stay close to him. The same when I had an injured hen this summer. She was separated, and Abe would hang out by her run, and check in on her.