Buk buk buk ACK Rooster duel

[Trixie Chicks]

I have two adolescent roosters vying for alpha status. They often have crowing contests, but yesterday I heard a different sound. Two pullets were tussling, and as they chased each other around, the two roosters started calling Buk-buk-buk-ACK repeatedly. What does this mean? I've heard this call several times before, but this was the first time I heard the two competing roosters use it as they called back and forth.

 

[warmfuzzies]

That sounds like the sound that mine make when something is bothering them. The hens do it too. Almost a distress call of sorts.

 

[ChickDaze]

That's what mine sounded like when they first started to cluck.

 

[azygous]

Yes, this is the phrase chickens use to announce that something is upsetting them, usually a sudden disturbance.

If you listen closely, you will notice that chickens speak in sentences. They actually have syntax, stringing several notes together with different inflections to form different phrases that mean different, but specific things. All birds have this, best demonstrated by parrots who can actually communicate with us using our own language and syntax.

I've learned several of their phrases, and several weeks ago, it proved extremely useful. I was inside the pen, making repairs, when the rooster, then several hens, vocalized the phrase that means: an unfamiliar animal is approaching. It was the same phrase as, here comes the squirrel, or here comes the deer, but this was in a very sinister, low-key tone.

I got up and went to investigate. As I was coming out of the pen, I saw a black bear sow not ten feet away. When she saw me, she charged. I had just time enough to back into the pen and slam the gate as she crashed against the fence. I slammed my palms against the fence and hollered at her to get away! She was so intent on the chickens, I think this was the first she noticed the human in the picture, and she ran off.

But she was only regrouping. I ran into the house for the shotgun as she circled the house, remaining just out of shooting range.

Then she charged the pen again. This time she was targeting the rooster who had retreated into his pen, but the gate was open and he was vulnerable. I didn't have time to raise and sight the gun, just fired a round for effect to distract the bear. She ran off, but circled around again, settling under a pine some distance away. I took advantage of the lull in the action to call in the game officers, who arrived twenty minutes later to get the situation in hand.

It pays to learn chicken language. It might come in handy some day.

 

[Trixie Chicks]

Thanks very much for the info and the great story about the bear. I'm amazed by the complexity of chicken language, and I'm just starting to distinguish calls, phrases, and individual chickens' voices. They're very talkative!

 

[TroutsChicks]

holy crap!! Where are you at? I love hearing mine and starting to learn it. I just got two 3 year old roos and now hearing them all its crazy..the roos have their own sounds..I try my best to make the same noises they do and then try to do the hawk alarm and see if i can get it right. I did once yesterday! They werent laughing.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

so what did the game officers do about this bear? What kind of bear was it?

 

[azygous]

Achickenwrangler#1 :

so what did the game officers do about this bear? What kind of bear was it?

I'm sorry to have to report that they had to put the bear down. I would have rather they relocate it - there's thousands of acres of surrounding wilderness here, but when an incident directly involves a human, department policy is inflexible.

She was a young, shiny, cinnamon coated American black bear, in her prime. She had also been raiding my gardens for produce, doing unimaginable damage to the infrastructure, but this time she noticed the meat market. We're in severe drought here, and the bears are frantic to eat enough to survive winter.

This is far from being the only incident involving predators trying to consume my chickens. I spent the entirety of last summer fighting off a bobcat that managed to open the pen and snag my favorite hen. I finally got off two direct hits of rubber shot at him and he stopped coming around. This is the Rocky Mountains, and it's still the wild west here.

By the way, chickens know language at birth and begin speaking it right away. Even two-day old chicks will vocalize the phrase for "here comes the cat".​

 

[TroutsChicks]

Its beautiful out there. Theres a bobcat in the area of where we are. So far we haven't had any break in and its humans= 2 coons animals= 0 Shame about the bear, but if shes not scared of your place, it could have gotten bad in the winter. This winter will put our coop/run to the test b/c of the animals being hungry ...thankfully I don't live where you do!!

 

[<3 N.C Chicken Chick <3]

They were probley saying "stop it, stop it, stop it"