Cockerel has earned the right to stay

[chicknerd]

Hi all

We have a Polish cockerel 'Rod' who has come into his own (he is about 22 weeks old). He is young and a little aggressive with the girls, but he is starting to show why he is also earning his keep. At night he sits at the pop door and waits for everyone to come in.

But what really impressed us today was at dusk. My DH went out to check on everyone and the dogs went crazy around the coop. He says there was definitely something there. Our coop is very safe, but just to make sure DH went into the run and checked that everyone was inside. He went to put his hand in the pop door and got pecked by Rod, who was obviously agitated as well.

Everyone was in to coop, no openings around the run. But Rod had done his job to get the girls in and safe.

I guess I will keep him.

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

Good for Rod! My Theodore is 19 weeks old and has just started to crow and now is going through the beginnings of learning how to mate. He grabs the pullets by the neck feathers in an attempt to figure out how to mount her. The pullets of course want nothing to do with it. He is also very good to get all the girls into the coop at night. He is always the last to go in. So far the only thing that will cause him to take the "final walk" is if he starts to crow to early in the morning or if the neighbors complain. My DH said from the beginning that he didn't want any noisy roos so all I can say is shhhhh........ to Theodore.

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

How cute!!

My first roo is an 8 week Old English Game bantam. He just started "crowing" if you call it that. Its still more of a squeak, but he definitely knows what he's trying to do! He's still very snuggly and sweet at his age. I hope he stays that way.

 

[cafarmgirl]

It's nice to have a good rooster. Mine patrol's the coop and run in the evening until he see's that all the hens are on the roost for the night, then he goes up. In the morning he's the first one down and when I open the pop door nobody goes out until he goes out and has a look around the run first.

Maggiemooscluckers, good luck with the not crowing too early thing! Mine can often be heard well before 4:00 a.m.! Even in the dead of winter, pitch black outside!

 

[TeamChaos]

I love the idea of Rod the rooster getting the drop on anything coming in that pop door- that's awesome!

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

cafarmgirl Theodore seems to be confused about when to crow. He crows off and on all day long. Sometimes he will crow at 4:30am and other times he is quiet until after seven. Who can know about these silly guys. I have stopped petting him. He still comes close as if he would like to get some of the loving but I am doing as some have said and have started just letting him be a "top of the world" chicken. He really gives me some weird looks. Yesterday he was standing in the run making what I have thought to be the song of a hen who just laid an egg. He just kept squawking and finally the hens entered in. I wondered if he was letting out a "predator alert". I didn't see anything but I'm not a protective roo either.

 

[bburn]

Nope....they all crow all day long. Sometimes they can hear other roosters off in the distance. My BO crow when his girls start laying eggs and so does the BR. And it is not unusual for me to hear a rooster crowing at 4 am......but I love the sound and I live out in the country. And....they are outside my bedroom window and I still love the sound.

 

[annie3001]

yeah for roosters!!!!!

 

[jettgirl24]

Awesome! My first roo, a BO, was not so good about protecting the girls... One time a feral cat got in the yard and he was outta there, nowhere to be seen for over an hour

My new roo (Blue copper Marans) seems much better so far. He's very conerned about his girls. He has just started trying to breed though and it's pretty darn hilarious. This morning he got my blackmarans girl by the neck feathers, then jumped on top of her and just stood there on top of her for like 30 seconds

LOL

 

[HeritageHens]

My roo is going to a farm tomorrow provided we aren't snowed/iced in. I really like Toby but the crowing won't be missed. He also has no sense of time. Their coop is right outside my bedroom window and I can hear it well even with the window closed. Once the weather warms up, I would be ready to murder him!

I have not seen 22 week old Toby try to mate with any of the girls but he's been a good protector. I have seen him dance but the hens didn't drop and he didn't pursue any romance. His strongest asset is that he will get in between the hen squabbles, which is almost always Cashew, the Buff Orpington, and one of the others. I heard him call the girls to a tasty food find today; it was so cool!

Toby has always been one of the first to jump up on my lap when I sit down in the coop. I don't try to pet him but just let him do his thing on my knee. Today I needed to clean some poop off the Plymouth Rock, who is totally skittish. When I got hold of her, she screamed bloody murder. Toby came running over but just acted concerned, standing in front of me. All of a sudden the little sh!t bit my hand! I finished cleaning Adrianna and then picked him up, something I haven't done in a a LONG time. I kept holding him with his legs dangling under him until he quit struggling, which took several minutes. The bite stung under I put tea tree oil on it and it looks like a tiny, tiny Cookie Cutter Shark got hold of me.

Obviously, hormones are catching up with him.