Adventures of a randy rooster

[TJAnonymous]

This spring I picked up 6 straight run Easter Eggers from TSC. Five of them ended up being roosters. *sigh* I have owned a few roosters in the distant past but they all acted pretty aloof, dignified, haughty, and took their role as overseer *way* too seriously.... These young fellas have been an entirely new experience and quite a hoot to watch. They are approximately 18-19 weeks old now and starting to feel those yearnings, if you know what I mean.

There is one, in particular, whom I have nicknamed Casanova. He was a pretty chick but has turned into somewhat of an ugly & awkward rooster...but this young fella thinks he is a ladies man. He looks like a mix of maybe a Leghorn and an Ameraucana. He is tall, gangly, skinny, with white and black feathers (with a splash of beige) and extremely short (read: non-existent) tail feathers. His comb almost looks like a bright red, squashed flower on his head. He has become almost comical to watch.... He wants the girls to pay attention to him so badly but every time he comes around, they peck at him and chase him off. So he has come up with an alternative "method" instead.... He nonchalantly walks up to the area wherever the girls are scrounging for bugs, acting like he's minding his own business. If he catches a girl with her back turned who doesn't see him, he will suddenly rush over and jump on top of her, much to her squawking surprise. A hysterical rendition follows that is somewhere between an amateur balancing act and a drunken bronco ride (can't decide which)..... Only to have him leap off unexpectedly as if the hounds of hell are coming after him while simultaneously kicking his heels up in joy. This really has to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen.... None of the other roosters act this way.

Does anyone else have a rooster that acts almost like a serial flasher???

 

[LateBirdFarms]

That has got to be the most awesomely amazing description of a juvenile roo that I've ever heard!

I had a youngster who was a hideous mix of brahma and EE, I so wish I still had a picture of this parody of rooster manliness with his massively bulky body, ostrich neck and giant startled eyes above his fluffy cheeks. He never got a beard, so his scrawny neck and absurdly small head looked even narrower with those cheeks. His teenage veloci-nugget stage seemed to last forever and the ladies wouldn't have anything to do with him, wouldn't even let him free range or roost with them, poor guy slept on the floor. He had a habit of tidbiting the ladies into a state of distraction, come up with a tasty treat, drop it and run as they pecked furiously at him, getting to the back of the fray as the girls clustered and fought over whatever he had brought and he'd leap onto the back of who ever was at the back of the crowd! More often than not the pair would go a$$ over applecart into the crowd and be beaten mercilessly for his attempt, but he was so big that when he was successful he would completely envelop the poor unsuspecting hen. I'm pretty sure he only got away with it because his target couldn't be seen, as soon as he'd start to slide off and a part of her was visible, the hen party would be on him like a hungry pack of feral dogs and he'd be on the run. Him on the run had to be the best part, he was the most uncoordinated, graceless chicken I've ever seen, tripping and running into things as he cornered badly trying to get away. I highly doubt he ever actually got to enjoy a moment of afterglow, there were a few times I swore he broke his own neck in those tumbles, but he was big enough that he rolled beautifully when he had decent momentum! Needless to say he wasn't a keeper, despite his fantastic friendliness.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Nope, I think you won the award for funniest youngster.... That was awesome! I think our roos must be twin souls.... Ha ha ha

Here's Casanova who was being incredibly camera shy... (The darker Roo in the 2nd picture is his sibling. I have two darker roos who look like twins.)

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Stretch his neck out another inch, round him out a bit and give him that perpetually started look and that could have been my boy! That's too funny!

We named him Lennie, after the "Of Mice and Men" character. In his defense, he had other fantastic qualities... I've never seen another rooster so tolerant and affectionate with people, but an effective ladies man he was not!