Broody Roo?

[KiwiandPeachthePigeons]

I’ve been catching my Frizzled Cochin rooster sitting where the hens lay their eggs and when I get too close he puffs up, growls, and pecks at my hand. He always gets up but I thought it was strange. Is there any explanation for this or is he just wierd?

 

[aart]

Roosters can go broody.
@centrarchid

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I find my bantam roosters in the nestboxes a lot. They like to show the hens where to lay.

 

[centrarchid]

I do not know what is going on there, but do see two potential selective advantages. First if he can make so eggs deposited in nest are sired by him. Second if he can reduce odds you do something bad to his offspring. A third indirect benefit would be his activity is positively correlated with the ability of females of his line being able to successfully defend their reproductive efforts even if rooster does not directly benefit his own offspring.

The behavior would likely be very strongly selected against in a natural setting where predators would take him out far faster than males that do not defend nest sites like that. Exception would where nest predators are not a real threat to rooster.

I may be smoking doobies to come out with these ideas.

 

[KiwiandPeachthePigeons]

He’s one of the roosters lower in the pecking order, so he has no hens for himself. I found out he sleeps there too.

 

[cottontail farm]

I do not know what is going on there, but do see two potential selective advantages. First if he can make so eggs deposited in nest are sired by him. Second if he can reduce odds you do something bad to his offspring. A third indirect benefit would be his activity is positively correlated with the ability of females of his line being able to successfully defend their reproductive efforts even if rooster does not directly benefit his own offspring.

The behavior would likely be very strongly selected against in a natural setting where predators would take him out far faster than males that do not defend nest sites like that. Exception would where nest predators are not a real threat to rooster.

I may be smoking doobies to come out with these ideas.

Awesome thoughts on this!

 

[centrarchid]

He’s one of the roosters lower in the pecking order, so he has no hens for himself. I found out he sleeps there too.

Try placing a small number of eggs under him. I would go as far as to mark the eggs. Look to see if he rolls them. Does he have a broody patch exposed? Also look to see his feces. Does he defecate in the nest? Is it really big?

If truly broody, he might even be far enough in to bond with chicks like a hen does. Roosters in general, I have seen, do not have the tight window hens do required to imprint on chicks.

Would be a nice to see a video depicting current behavior.

 

[KiwiandPeachthePigeons]

Try placing a small number of eggs under him. I would go as far as to mark the eggs. Look to see if he rolls them. Does he have a broody patch exposed? Also look to see his feces. Does he defecate in the nest? Is it really big?

If truly broody, he might even be far enough in to bond with chicks like a hen does. Roosters in general, I have seen, do not have the tight window hens do required to imprint on chicks.

Would be a nice to see a video depicting current behavior.

I’ve been leaving the eggs there because the space is really hard to get to, and he’s always on them. Not tight, like a true broody but he get really defensive if I get too close. He always leaves in an hour or so. I don’t think he could bond with chicks because I’ve seen him take chicks from mother hens by picking them up by the scruff of the neck and then carrying them away to peck them some more. I’ll get a video later.

 

[centrarchid]

I’ve been leaving the eggs there because the space is really hard to get to, and he’s always on them. Not tight, like a true broody but he get really defensive if I get too close. He always leaves in an hour or so. I don’t think he could bond with chicks because I’ve seen him take chicks from mother hens by picking them up by the scruff of the neck and then carrying them away to peck them some more. I’ll get a video later.

This is very interesting.