Cream Legbars

[ChicKat]

what a good observation now that you mention it. I wonder if they get weakened eyes as they get old and it isn't just 'grumpy old man" syndrome - but instead it is a predator-alert response. That makes so much sense to me (predator response that is -- the eyesight thing is pure speculation!!)

Talking about protective...Junibutt mentioned that I had said I noticed that when they are just teeny! I have a brooder with 7 females and a lone male - hatched about 3-weeks ago. He is always looking out - he always find the highest spot he can find...and is alert to what is going on around. It is so cute to see such a little guy taking his responsibility so seriously. The next oldest hatchlings, again only one male in the bunch -- he is the first to come forward, he usually stations himself between me and the pullet chicks. Co-incidence? Male chicks just more curious? instinct?

 

[TherryChicken]

regardless of the hens?

my last rooster I got quite a few cockerels with

 

[chicken pickin]

my last rooster I got quite a few cockerels with

Hmmm... It is said that the hen determines gender not the rooster...

 

[TherryChicken]

Hmmm... It is said that the hen determines gender not the rooster...

idk, last rooster I got quite a few cockerels with, this rooster ive gotten 80% pullets with each time

 

[lonnyandrinda]

The rooster im selling has given me 80% pullets each hatch

Hmmm... It is said that the hen determines gender not the rooster...

Exactly. Do not attribute this to the rooster EXCEPT if the case is the one fathering more sons is more abusive/stressful to the hens.

Chickens are opposite people- as are most birds- in that the hens are heterozygous sex, ZW, and the roosters are ZZ. Roosters always pass a Z on, only the hens can create a girl by passing on a W gene. BUT just as some men father more sons than daughters, some hens have more male offspring (or female) than others. For humans, they say for each child of the same gender a man fathers, the odds of getting the same gender child next goes up. That is why so many families have all girls or all boys, or only one opposite gender child.

Some studies do show that stress on a hen releases more of a hormone that MAY skew the gender ratio slightly to male. Some people recently on FB mentioned they were going to try not collecting the eggs until they had removed the rooster, collect for a week, then put the rooster back to see if they could get more females that way.

In addition, stresses during incuabtion, especially incubation temperature swings, can cause more of the weaker female embryos to die, leading to a male heavy hatch. Some old farmers swear you should never let a hen sit on eggs in the summer because they hatch more roosters. This would be because the male embryos are better able to withstand the higher temperatures.

 

[Ashdoes]

My broodies sat on eggs last summer, and they got exactly a 50-50 hatch, both of them.
It's only frustrating in the fact that we can't keep all these males, and no one buys them.

 

[dretd]

My CL rooster was sweet as a baby and into a teenager. Once he hit around 6months old I noticed he was becoming cautious of me. Not mean but eyeing me and walking in a manner that resembled dancing. He started trying to spur me at about 1year old. It seemed he didn't like the water and food buckets I carried with me. The spurring went on for about 3months and I was just done with watching my back so sadly he got processed 2 weekends ago. I have some fine looking CL boys growing out, one of which will take his place. I hope the one I choose will be sweet natured.

I agree with what ChicKat said about the roosters being very good to their hens and also very protective. I don't think my rooster was human aggressive per say, I think he for some reason saw me as a threat and he wanted to protect the hens. It really did seem to revolve around the feed and water buckets

That's funny becasue my fellow doesn't stalk me if I have anything in my hands. Mostly he is perfectly 'normal' but sometimes--usually in the morning--he will stalk. This morning he rushed from the side and so he got to be carried around for a good long time. Hopefully he will learn that when he is in my space he gets to be picked up and carried around like a baby. Of my two roos I love his color much better so I hope he turns the corner for his sake.

I think that a lot of our normal behaviors may be seen as dominance behaviors by the rooster. I am forever stopping, bending down to pick something up put feed down, amy even turn as I bend down to mess with several feed pans--if you think about it this would look a lot like a rooster bending over to pick up rocks and sticks to challenge another. Plus if we are going about our business we are not making direct eye contact with the rooster and that eye contact is important to maintaining a superior place in the pecking order IMO. If my boy stalks me all I have to do is stop and look at him in the eye and he will walk away after a short period.

so interesting - on the rooster behavior question.

I have one here that is as mean as sin...I don't know what the deal with him is. I had always noted that CL roosters are good with hens, both non-abusive and highly protective - but only of late have I heard of aggression toward humans (almost as if an abused animal--and I'm 99% sure this one wasn't ever abused - because I hatched him and the friends who had him aren't abusive people, and have no children to tease him) That being said, he was the only rooster on their place until about January - - I think that maybe CLs seeing other roosters on the property take offense.

His name was "Heart" because his white head dot a hatch was shaped like a heart - and now I'm changing his name to Coq au Vin.

When asked, I have told a lot of people CL roosters are gentle - but now I think I will have to qualify it and say --until they are 2-years old.

There has been no abuse at all at my house. I think that each rooster is an individual and has their own personality. Just like any species, really. Some are nice, some are jerks and some are in-between and can be trained to be social but it could just as easily go the other way if the training goes awry. I am willing to work with him to a certain extent but as I said he is free-range in my backyard and I will not put up with a bully if that is who he decides to be.

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks for the info....I didn't mean - although I can see how that conclusion would be drawn, that every mean rooster has been abused. I have heard of rooster abuse that would make our hair stand up on end. Usually pre-teen boys with too much time on their hands...who aren't part of the family that owns a rooster. Someone was telling me about a gorgeous rooster that they got for nothing - because it was so mean - and it turned out that the boy (in this case of the family that owned the rooster) had been teasing the rooster mercilessly. This particular rooster responded to good treatment and became a pet.

What I was saying was in regards to Coq au Vin right here---I don't think he has ever suffered abuse or teasing - even by the family's dog. But the idea that something may seem like a predator sweeping in -- that seems plausible. I did have my other Cream Legbar guy go off on an orange feed sack filled with sunflower seeds. I thought he was trying to get ME, but now that I think of it -- it was the orange sack that he was after.

LOL - the first time the rooster started picking up and dropping sticks, it was like he used to do with treats for the hens.... I couldn't figure out what was going on.... Didn't know it was a pre-attack demonstration. Funny to think back -- I think it was BYC sourland that clued me in. Seems like so long ago. Roosters - you gotta love 'em if they are doing their job.

 

[TherryChicken]

Exactly.  Do not attribute this to the rooster EXCEPT if the case is the one fathering more sons is more abusive/stressful to the hens.

Chickens are opposite people- as are most birds- in that the hens are heterozygous sex, ZW, and the roosters are ZZ.  Roosters always pass a Z on, only the hens can create a girl by passing on a W gene.  BUT just as some men father more sons than daughters, some hens have more male offspring (or female) than others.  For humans, they say for each child of the same gender a man fathers, the odds of getting the same gender child next goes up.  That is why so many families have all girls or all boys, or only one opposite gender child.

Some studies do show that stress on a hen releases more of a hormone that MAY skew the gender ratio slightly to male.  Some people recently on FB mentioned they were going to try not collecting the eggs until they had removed the rooster, collect for a week, then put the rooster back to see if they could get more females that way.

In addition, stresses during incuabtion, especially incubation temperature swings, can cause more of the weaker female embryos to die, leading to a male heavy hatch.  Some old farmers swear you should never let a hen sit on eggs in the summer because they hatch more roosters.  This would be because the male embryos are better able to withstand the higher temperatures.

so in this case, this rooster is more gentler and not as forceful to the hens as my past rooster and that could be why I get more pullets? See out of 9 chicks only 1 is a roo this time around. Last time I had 18 and 3 were roos

 

[sol2go]

re: raging roosters

Has anyone correlated color with the aggression they are experiencing?

I noticed with all my troublesome roosters (non-CL's) the problem seemed more apparent to me after I was wearing a coral colored raincoat or other red/coral clothing. With some, the problem persisted and/or increased regardless of color.

Recent comments made me wonder about the color of the buckets, clothing, or boots when people have had problems.

My buckets are blue (scraps) or white (regular feed) and they about do backflips when they catch sight of them.

I haven't had any problems as a result of looking the chickens in the eye, but I understand with African greys as well as other birds that can pose a significant problem.