Rooster Chat

[All Ball]

My roo is also very talkative. When he purrs, it definitely means "hey there girlie, have I got a grreeeaat nest for you!"

 

[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.

 

[CCinVT]

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..View attachment 1164845

That is a handsome roo!

 

[CCinVT]

Ok Rooster friends, I have a behavior question! I started with 3 rooster. They got along great. Chicks hatched this past summer produced 9 more boys. A number of reasons led us to dividing our coop, and trying a rooster flock. They have all been raised together, and seemed to be going fine. Now it is winter, and it has been too cold for them to go outside of the coop (although they always have the option, and an area that is covered). ; the thought was to give them time, and if they got along great, if there is a trouble maker we could deal with it on a more individual basis instead of just killing, and maybe culling a good boy, and keeping a "bad egg". We really treat them like pets, and I think they are super interesting. I noticed they seemed to keep re establishing the pecking order on the same few boys... I hung cabbage, made popcorn garland for the holidays, added straw... in between making sure there is enough food, and breaking ice from buckets....It seems like 2 of my 3 original roosters have fallen to the bottom of the pecking order, and one of the two is being over mated like a hen. Yesterday I noticed he is getting a bald spot, and seemed exhausted. I don't know if they are letting him even get enough food! So do I separate him into a dog crate today so he gets a break? My flock is made of 1 blue Cochin. 5 Faverolles; 1 Faverolles X Gold laced wyndotte; and 5 Gold Laced Wyndottes X Cohin. The GLW X Cochins seem to be the bullies. All the faverolles seem to be the bottom of the flock. We are a vegetarian family so I would consider re homing them (finding rooster adoptions hasn't been easy)? But for immediate purposes do I separate them? I just want the flock to obviously be safe.... Rooster guidance is appreciated. Ask me questions I'll try to answer. I spend a good amount of time with them. With the exception of the wyndottes everyone is sweet, but starting to act paranoid/not wanting to roost/and regular comb injuries...

 

[Diannastarr]

Ok Rooster friends, I have a behavior question! I started with 3 rooster. They got along great. Chicks hatched this past summer produced 9 more boys. A number of reasons led us to dividing our coop, and trying a rooster flock. They have all been raised together, and seemed to be going fine. Now it is winter, and it has been too cold for them to go outside of the coop (although they always have the option, and an area that is covered). ; the thought was to give them time, and if they got along great, if there is a trouble maker we could deal with it on a more individual basis instead of just killing, and maybe culling a good boy, and keeping a "bad egg". We really treat them like pets, and I think they are super interesting. I noticed they seemed to keep re establishing the pecking order on the same few boys... I hung cabbage, made popcorn garland for the holidays, added straw... in between making sure there is enough food, and breaking ice from buckets....It seems like 2 of my 3 original roosters have fallen to the bottom of the pecking order, and one of the two is being over mated like a hen. Yesterday I noticed he is getting a bald spot, and seemed exhausted. I don't know if they are letting him even get enough food! So do I separate him into a dog crate today so he gets a break? My flock is made of 1 blue Cochin. 5 Faverolles; 1 Faverolles X Gold laced wyndotte; and 5 Gold Laced Wyndottes X Cohin. The GLW X Cochins seem to be the bullies. All the faverolles seem to be the bottom of the flock. We are a vegetarian family so I would consider re homing them (finding rooster adoptions hasn't been easy)? But for immediate purposes do I separate them? I just want the flock to obviously be safe.... Rooster guidance is appreciated. Ask me questions I'll try to answer. I spend a good amount of time with them. With the exception of the wyndottes everyone is sweet, but starting to act paranoid/not wanting to roost/and regular comb injuries...

gosh i know what you mean , i had 8 roos all from chicks except for 2 adult SOP australorps, one of those just died from eating layer feed, & broke my heart , he was amazing & such a gorgeous splash aussie roo , he was around 5 ,& i had never known that the layer feed would kill the roos from the excess calcium and cause kidney damage , well any way im like you and find roos very interesting pets, im a vegatarian since a teen, i see every one here are gods creatures to be respected as gods creation ,but like you i had that same problem with the 2 wyandotts & both roo chicks raised together, they never stayed with the girl chicks long enough to start fighting over the girls , so at about the crowing stage i tried to keep all the chicks together , but when the boys started chasing the girls constantly the boys got a nice new home a 40 x 40 foot pen with a giant shaded area and a little house for them both to sleep in but the Colombian wyandott was an aggressor, towards the silver laced wyandott roo, so every day when i went to feed them the CW roo would take over the food and peck at the SLW roo , so i started to discipline the CW by yelling at him to stop, and if he didnt get the message i had a broom on hand and when he saw the broom he would stop , so long store short he understood , and the 2 were better friends, & the aggression stopped he is the top roo between those 2 roos but he is ok now they dont fight at all that i ever seen , they keep each other warm in the winter and seem to be doing fine, i only keep 2 roos that get along best together in large pens , so thats their little world for ever , i have more roos who have been together since chicks a RIR & a New Hampshire red in a separate giant pen together and 2 more a BR & a Delaware, they had a bad fight the BR was the aggressor and so at 8 or 10 months after this one bad fight they were separated after the Delawares comb had been bloodied up , and so that was it , the first and only bloody fight now they are both in separate pans, its better if you can keep at least 2 roos together for a life time, they even seem pretty much happy..! i believe they get lonely when they are alone so im trying to keep the 2 BR & the DEL roos in 2 new pens i plan to build so they can see each other and live in separate pens side by side so fingers crossed i hope it will work out ok, but we shall see..? and then my big blue SOP australorp roo is the flock leader for my free range flock of 75, but its always better for the little roos to be together in a good size pen and then see if you have to remove some into workable pairs, since it seems a pair will be better off or maybe 4 very calm roos could live together ,so i try to keep the peace by giving enough room and separating the bullied ones to their own new peaceful home that they can enjoy, after all what else is better for any of us then living a happy peace ful life..!so far in my experience thats about all you can do ,

 

[Stephine]

Ok Rooster friends, I have a behavior question! I started with 3 rooster. They got along great. Chicks hatched this past summer produced 9 more boys. A number of reasons led us to dividing our coop, and trying a rooster flock. They have all been raised together, and seemed to be going fine. Now it is winter, and it has been too cold for them to go outside of the coop (although they always have the option, and an area that is covered). ; the thought was to give them time, and if they got along great, if there is a trouble maker we could deal with it on a more individual basis instead of just killing, and maybe culling a good boy, and keeping a "bad egg". We really treat them like pets, and I think they are super interesting. I noticed they seemed to keep re establishing the pecking order on the same few boys... I hung cabbage, made popcorn garland for the holidays, added straw... in between making sure there is enough food, and breaking ice from buckets....It seems like 2 of my 3 original roosters have fallen to the bottom of the pecking order, and one of the two is being over mated like a hen. Yesterday I noticed he is getting a bald spot, and seemed exhausted. I don't know if they are letting him even get enough food! So do I separate him into a dog crate today so he gets a break? My flock is made of 1 blue Cochin. 5 Faverolles; 1 Faverolles X Gold laced wyndotte; and 5 Gold Laced Wyndottes X Cohin. The GLW X Cochins seem to be the bullies. All the faverolles seem to be the bottom of the flock. We are a vegetarian family so I would consider re homing them (finding rooster adoptions hasn't been easy)? But for immediate purposes do I separate them? I just want the flock to obviously be safe.... Rooster guidance is appreciated. Ask me questions I'll try to answer. I spend a good amount of time with them. With the exception of the wyndottes everyone is sweet, but starting to act paranoid/not wanting to roost/and regular comb injuries...

Yes, do separate them, but if you possibly can take out the bully (bullies) rather than the victim, unless the victim is bleeding and being pecked by all or truely weak by now. That’s for immediate relief and to save the bullied roo. I would bring out the special treats (raisins, mealworms, sunflower seeds) and make sure he gets a good helping each day untill he is strong again. There is an outside chance that this rooster is sick anyway and that is why he is being bullied, but I don’t think that‘s the issue.
I am not at all surprised it is the Wyandotte x cochin that are the bullies. Wyandottes have a tendency to be bullies and the cochin part adds heft - are they also your biggest roosters?
So longer term: you said you divided the coop - how much space do they have? Do you have multiple feeding and watering stations that are out of sight of each other?

 

[Diannastarr]

View attachment 1168207 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 seen 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.

wow now that is a most wonderful roo your ABE is truly a GREAT roo...!! thats their job is to be the best at taking care of their hens.. so you have a truly GREAT roo in him...! & your boys in your pic are very pretty...!

 

[CCinVT]

Yes, do separate them, but if you possibly can take out the bully (bullies) rather than the victim, unless the victim is bleeding and being pecked by all or truely weak by now. That’s for immediate relief and to save the bullied roo. I would bring out the special treats (raisins, mealworms, sunflower seeds) and make sure he gets a good helping each day untill he is strong again. There is an outside chance that this rooster is sick anyway and that is why he is being bullied, but I don’t think that‘s the issue.
I am not at all surprised it is the Wyandotte x cochin that are the bullies. Wyandottes have a tendency to be bullies and the cochin part adds heft - are they also your biggest roosters?
So longer term: you said you divided the coop - how much space do they have? Do you have multiple feeding and watering stations that are out of sight of each other?

I bought buckets so that I could make more feeders, and currently there are two stations around the corner from each other.... We had planned a larger run that could be divided easily, but the ground froze, and winter moved in before we could complete the run. I added an addition onto the hens 8x8 coop so I could have the rooster flock. It is an 8x10 coop, and the run is as large as I could make with garden fencing, but they want nothing to do with the snow. The covered/tarp area is open to the outdoors, but blocking wind/weather. The covered/sheltered area is tarps on the run frame. but they have access to a garden fence outdoor area. It has been a colder winter then I can remember with sub zero weather lasting over a week. They didn't leave the coop. I am thinking I will put my little boy in a crate just to give him a break, and see if I can separate the wyndotte crosses from the faverolles. If I can make peace until spring I can give them a more permanent divided run. They currently all roost together at night too, but can move the roosts around. They wyndotte x cochins are deff. bigger than my faverolles. The only one bigger is the straight cochin (their father). I feel bad because the cochin, and the two original faverolles were a happy little flock that inspired keeping these other boys. The wyndottes are punks. I do not believe in just killing for convenience, and think I can figure out how to divide them up... the winter is half over. Everyone was tested for worms in the fall so I know that is negative. I noticed Mites most recently while doing butt checks, and was gonna run to tsc today or tomorrow to treat the birds, and coop. I don't think this is the primary issue though since we live in the woods, and I'm diligent about treating/catching mites when they rear their ugly little heads! I normally wouldn't have even added the straw to the run because i'm paranoid about mites, but thought the boredom/winter was gonna get someone injured.

 

[CCinVT]

wow now that is a most wonderful roo your ABE is truly a GREAT roo...!! thats their job is to be the best at taking care of their hens.. so you have a truly GREAT roo in him...! & your boys in your pic are very pretty...!

Thank you!! These are my three original boys, and the two faverolle roos who are currently getting picked on I think i messed up their flock when I let the punk wyndottes into their happy little flock. If I can get them safe until spring I can figure out smaller boy groups which seemed to work better. Maybe ABE + Faverolles, and the wyndotte x cochins together? I know figuring out rooster dynamics seems crazy to some people but they are living beings in my care, and it seems like the least I can do when there are so many roosters out there who arn't even given a chance! They are Awesome birds!