A new kind broody? What do you all make of this?

[chicken_china_mom]

One of my broodies is not like the others...

Do you see the egg? No, he didn't lay it. He kept trying to steal my frizzle's eggs, so I gave him one. He was making these cute little whimpering sounds and scratching the bottom of the box:

And finally he laid down. I had to move him to the empty nestbox cause he kept trying to push the girls out of theirs:

Thought you all would get a kick out of this. I don't know what his problem is, he won't stay out of the nest boxes!!! And he is a roo, not a hen. I'm just wondering if he's having an identity crisis?

 

[WingingIt]

Well, if he can't be top rooster, he'll just go hang with the girls, huh?

Too cute!

 

[Illia]

It is a common behavior done by roosters. . . They go in any nest or nest-like area they find, start scratching and digging it up to perfect it, and make those adorable trilling sounds to call the ladies over. My EE rooster does it all the time and it melts my heart every time.

No identity crisis, just a rooster being a gentleman.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

He is being a good man. A good roo will check the boxes out, make sure they are safe for his girls, talks to the girls to tell them "this is a good place to raise a family". I catch mine in the boxes all the time, sometimes he will sit with a hen who is laying - after he fixes the nest up nice and purdy.

He will also try to get them to lay in the corner of the hay stack, or under the riding mower - silly guy!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

What a sweet man.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Oh, that makes sense then! I'm so glad to hear that he isn't trying to take over their duties! He is a sweet boy. I didn't know any better so I pulled him out of the box with my frizzle cause he was pushing her out. He had already pushed out my splash hen so I placed her in the next box over. This boy is not the alpha, and is nowhere near being the alpha. As far as rank goes, it's my Barred Cochin, then my Mottled Cochin, then my Splash Cochin, then it's a jumbled mix between 3 Buff Orpington roos, my Silkie roo who just hit sexual maturity about 2 weeks ago, my White Cochin, and my Dark Brahma roo. For the longest time the BO boys were not allowed to mate. They have recently begun to be allowed to, though not often, and the Dark Brahma almost never gets to. He's the lowest roo in the pecking order. My Barred and Mottled boys are the peace keepers. The White Cochin is a brat and picks fights every chance he gets, and has caused a lot of damage, but the Barred and Mottled work hard to keep him in line, and so far it seems to be working. I'm making plans to divide the flock, and I've been working on the best ways to do it. I'm thinking of putting my White Cochins, including the frizzled hen, in with the White Silkies, and keeping my Mottled and Splash together so I can get Mottled, Blue, Black, and Splashes. I'm working on getting Blue Mottled. But for the sake of the roos, that's what I want to do. But I don't know what to do with the BO's. I lost 2 of my hens over the winter. I had 3 pairs, but now I have 3 boys and a hen! I might put all the extra hens in with them, like my Mille Fleur d'Uccle, a Black Silkie mix, and a standard Welsummer mix that I hatched out last year but that the standards didn't accept. The BO boys like her, if you know what I mean, lol.

Plus I have some mixed Bantams in my brooder right now, and more Bantams set to hatch. I'm planning to thin out the boys from the girls, and keep more hens. Should be interesting to see how I'm able to divide the pens up. But it's good to know that this little roo is being a good husband.

 

[chicmom]

Maybe he's just getting in touch with his feminine side!

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Quote:
Lol, that's what I was thinking when I was standing there watching him in the nest box! And one of my other BO roos came in and was watching him with this odd look, like he was wondering what was wrong with his brother, lol! If only I could read a chicken's mind I would have loved to have known what the other BO roo was thinking!