Rooster 'dance' explanation please/

[dawno33]

Our one rooster is 18 weeks old and still is a friendly roo. He has some odd behavior though. When I call him or talk to him, he will walk sideways up to me and make all kinds of chicken noises. sometimes he will lift one wing a little higher than the other and he walks sideways to me. We can pick him up and hold him, but sometimes he will try and peck at us. Does anyone know rooster body language to explain this 'dance' he does.

 

[AmericanMom]

I agree with the other posters, he is starting down the long road of domination and unless you check him now he will be a danger to you and your children. I once had a rooster that almost took my eye out, they can be vicious, unpredictable creatures and learning how to deal with them from day one is imperative to having a happy flock.

You must learn right now that he is not your pet, nor is he your friend. He serves one purpose, to fertilize the hens eggs and offer some protection to the flock. When you walk out into the coop/run walk with purpose, walk tword him with confident strides and force him to remove himself from your path. if he just merely moves out of the way and watches you, keep at him until he moves and keeps moving. If he does the side step dance twords you make him stop.. Part of me thinks it may already be to late and hopefully others will chime in with more suggestions.

For future reference... Never hand feed or "cuddle" your cockerels.

 

[centrarchid]

To OP. See following thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/897832/2-yr-old-rooster-has-gone-psycho

Key post as follows.

To give credibility to what I write. Much of my background involves gamefowl (fighting chickens) but I also keep at least fifty American Dominiques and as a kid my family commercially produced hatching eggs for a chicken hatchery that sold to just about everyone interested in backyard / farmyard chickens. I likely have more roosters than most backyard people have chickens in total and that is when my flock size is at its lowest in early spring. My games need to be easy to handle because it is done a lot. My Dominiques need to be easy to because they are supposed to be. I also use my birds for educating the public and most of my contacts are kids and some of those are very young. Finally I always have at least one flock that free-ranges around house and others that free-range in adjoining pasture. Almost all male gamefowl are confined with the exception of one around house and those on walks. My very small kids intermingle with the flock that free-ranges around house and 4-year-old harem master is intact with respect to spurs. I also have been around chickens for well over 40 years.

Below are aggression categories as I recognize them and eluded to previously in thread. Each is defined when answering description of aggressive behavior. Pictures and videos I feel would help greatly and such are in the works. I also think maturation process needs to introduced to discussion where the term ”rooster” is avoided. Also, many of the forms of aggression below are not exclusively the realm of males.

1) Is he just running over, pecking / flogging then running to a safe distance to deny your counter attack and simply watching you?

Bird has associated such behavior with a reward. In most instances I have seen the bird has obtained food faster or in larger amounts by engaging in some behavior directed at you. This is frequently realized with brooder reared birds interacting with you as feeders are armed or eats otherwise become more evident with you present. Another situation is where birds work their basic tendency to try and get at the most attractive food which to them often involves it appearing fresh within their field of view. For me that can involve putting feed out from a bucket as feeding a flock of hungry birds. They rush after you pushing each and sometimes in the excitement the bucket or even you. Many people see such behavior and promptly put feed out for the apparently famished bird. It takes very little for bird to associate intense response with getting more or faster.

Prevention: Avoid rewarding exploratory behavior such as pecking and jumping up for food. Make so food reward is delayed relative to your activity around birds. My favorite technique is apply feed either when birds are asleep or foraging elsewhere. With latter you just call birds in after feed is applied.

Correction: Move about flock / bird even with feed but do not give feed out until bird looses interest.
Benefits of Behavior to You or Bird: I manipulate this behavior train birds for experiments and interacting positively with the public. Behavior promoted simply does not involve what a person would see as aggression. Smart birds are really prone to this.


2) Is he standing his ground and flaring his hackles and interspersing this with outright attacks with spurs, wings and bill?

He is outright fighting you for rank and treats you as a conspecific. Based on most discussions this the assumed by keepers of man-fighters. Something is or has gone on that got him into mindset that you need to be and can be defeated so as to be a subordinate. Somewhere along the line you got too familiar with him and / or he learned through exploratory pecking he can make you retreat. This is particularly prevalent with folks that are uncomfortable around their birds. Even many experienced keepers are afraid of their birds for one reason or another and sometimes these people are prone to act aggressively against the birds and even bully them. This situation is more frequent than you might suspect and denial is often a part of the problem. Folks like this may need to visit with the equivalent of Alcohol Anonymous to work problem out. I have even seen people into gamefowl that are scared of their birds and they would be ready to fight you if you said they were such. Males in particular will take advantage of activities that make them feel tough. This is where genetics can also impact predisposition for man-fighting.

Prevention: Do not retreat from him when exploratory pecking or even flogging occurs. Do not attack him in response to an attack as it is very difficult to do so with appearing to alternate between bouts of attack and retreat like which occurs when birds fight.

Correction: Make so aggressive bird can engage you by fighting you but do nothing that would be interpreted as fighting back or retreating. Let him wail away (flog) which may last several minutes. If he breaks off attack, then move towards him but do not even give him the respect of eye contact. Do not strike or push him. Repeat until he stops. Process may need to be repeated in subsequent days with hardheaded birds. You want him to start thinking of you as something that is very much not another chicken. This may mean a flannel shirt or sweat shirt and jeans. Ideally you will appear the same as you do on other days so he does not test you for days when you are weak. If spurs are an issue which they can be with birds more than 18 months old, then they can be neutralized by removal, trimming or covering with the equivalent of boxing gloves (most laymen will not have last option owing to legal restrictions). An alternative to this approach can involve the restraint / time-out sessions where bird does not get the release associated with combat but does get a penalty he will learn to avoid. This technique does appear to work although it takes more time and is hard on birds that are flighty and prone to panic when restrained which is a form of stress.

Benefits of Behavior to You or Bird: Can be used to help sell a gamerooster to a fool. In a competitive breeding setting such as in a commercial flock more aggressive birds garner more fertilizations of eggs therefore tend to be more prolific. This not directly related to what is referred to as gameness in gamefowl.


3) Is he attacking while fluffed up like a hen making lots of noises and moving about in a very fussy manner? This if often associated with roosters where members of his harem (hen(s) or offspring) are scared. Many roosters, especially games will attack whatever they see as the threat and sometimes, real or not, that can be you. His response will be in trying to repel you. Rooster may also get touchy when new feathers are coming in during molt.

Prevention: Be careful around birds, especially when hens or chicks are involved. Avoid grabbing birds during daylight. Get birds to move voluntarily. Any rooster is easier to work with when his charges are calmer so always having all birds tame helps immensely. One crazy hen can stir up a male. I always manage for calm birds and that means starting from before hatch of an individual. Be careful when handling birds, especially during molt.

Correction: Frequent low intensity interactions without stirring anyone up reduces sensitivity to your activities.

Benefits of Behavior to You or Bird: Such behavior can increase survival of males offspring which can benefit you. This especially with small predators a male can repel or distract.

Culling can also be employed, but some parties will, as a function of their husbandry technique, be culling a lot of birds that would not be problematic for most poultry keepers.

 

[centrarchid]

I also would not allow a rooster to flog me, or dance for me, and will not allow my roo to mount hens in front of me.  IMO, allowing a roo to flog a human, reinforces the behavior.  I can see where you are coming from with this, centrarchid, but, that will not be happening in my flock.  Roosters who don't respond to basic training, get invited to lunch.  And, IMO, if they are handled correctly from the egg through adolescence, basic training may never even be required for a lot of roos.

Your opinion is duly noted.

That is precisely my point. My birds are no where near as aggressive towards humans as likely most in a backyard setting, very likely this is to includes yours. I can go out and grab any bird save for one and let it interact freely with any human without incident. Those birds can also be taken elsewhere and be allowed to freely interact with small children not my own without discord. Most people with rooster problems are not even aware of the problem during earliest stages and that is where your opinion applies, not with my approach. My intent is for BYC'ers to better understand their birds so as to most appropriately respond. The culling approach is resulted to more frequently when ignorance prevails. I do cull a good number of birds annually but very seldom for this particular issue because it is easy to prevent.



The exceptional bird noted above has been treated like many advise on this forum which is reason he is aggressive. He will be trained in a documented manner once I am confident he is "set in his ways". Based on previous exchanges on this matter, only that one exceptional bird will be carried forward as an example that represents my knowledge by next poster on this topic. That be stupid but parr for course.

 

[AmericanMom]

Well spoken AM.

I think people need to remember that not all of us have had chickens for our whole lives, To many of us this is a new experience.. many people who start with them don't always end up keeping them and one bad experience can leave a life long mark on a child.. My neighbor is nearly 60 years old and she often talks about when she was a child and being attacked by her Grandmothers goose, to this day the sight of a goose will send her running for the house.

To tell a person that allowing the Rooster to attack again and again until the rooster grows tired is irresponsible. Someone could get seriously hurt and I am sure nobody would want that on their conscience. We all need to remember, we are here to help each other. A rooster can be a dangerous animal and God forbid the one that gets attacked by the "families sweet rooster" is a helpless child.

 

[enola]

It is his first attempt of impressing you with his manliness. Most likely is his first attempt at dominating you. There are several good threads on this site about how to train roosters to respect people. Try to find one ASAP and teach him some respect. Otherwise, you will have two options...... Learn how to live with a mean rooster or learn how to live without him in your flock.

 

[krista74]

It is his first attempt of impressing you with his manliness. Most likely is his first attempt at dominating you. There are several good threads on this site about how to train roosters to respect people. Try to find one ASAP and teach him some respect. Otherwise, you will have two options...... Learn how to live with a mean rooster or learn how to live without him in your flock.

x2

Completely normal for a rooster to dance around his hens, but very much unacceptable behaviour for a rooster to try and dominate you - and that is exactly what he is trying to do.

- Krista

 

[ChickenLady2014]

It is his first attempt of impressing you with his manliness. Most likely is his first attempt at dominating you. There are several good threads on this site about how to train roosters to respect people. Try to find one ASAP and teach him some respect. Otherwise, you will have two options...... Learn how to live with a mean rooster or learn how to live without him in your flock.

X2

 

[dawno33]

I agree with the other posters, he is starting down the long road of domination and unless you check him now he will be a danger to you and your children. I once had a rooster that almost took my eye out, they can be vicious, unpredictable creatures and learning how to deal with them from day one is imperative to having a happy flock.

You must learn right now that he is not your pet, nor is he your friend. He serves one purpose, to fertilize the hens eggs and offer some protection to the flock. When you walk out into the coop/run walk with purpose, walk tword him with confident strides and force him to remove himself from your path. if he just merely moves out of the way and watches you, keep at him until he moves and keeps moving. If he does the side step dance twords you make him stop.. Part of me thinks it may already be to late and hopefully others will chime in with more suggestions.

For future reference... Never hand feed or "cuddle" your cockerels.

ohhh, too late for hand feeding and cuddling, but I will definitely take the advice given and then check and see what other threads I can find. Thank you.

 

[dawno33]

If anyone knows the name of a good thread to read, please post it. So many threads, so little time.