Well, it wasn't raining today, so when I went into the run this afternoon, I walked straight up to the rooster. He moved out of my way. The hens walked over to the other side of the run, and he got between me and the hens. He had one shoulder lower than the other, so I walked up to him. He moved again. I did all my coop chores, and let the hens in to eat, but chased him out. He did fine with it, so after a little bit I let him back in to eat with his ladies. He kept an eye out for me, like "she's back"!
As to the crowing, he crows when he sees me heading towards the coop. I've always thought it to be like a greeting, nothing more. When I get close enough to the coop to talk to them, the crowing stops. Of course, when he crows the little 14 week old cockerel has to crow too. He's getting better at it, but is still has a bit of a high pitched voice. The 12 week old has a deeper voice, but he doesn't chime in with the other two. I have two coop sections, and 1 large adjoining run. I rotate access to the run every other day between 2 groups. Whichever group is penned in their coop, and doesn't have access to the run, I give them treats, usually mealworms. Let me pen the Australorps and turn like I'm going to leave without giving them their treats, and the hens start squawking, then the rooster crows at me. Again, I have never considered this to be any type of aggression. He has answered the rooster down the road a few times, but never when I was actually in the run with him, or in the coop with him. I'm satisfied with his behavior.
