As many of you know, I have 5 production reds.. The eldest is a 7 month old roo and the others are 5 months (1 roo, 3 pullets).. The girls have not started laying yet although the older roo really wants them too.. He dances, finds food for them, and is very protective with them.. I've not had any problems with him and the younger roo fighting or anything like that.. But, I have noticed he is very bossy... In the mornings, he will jump down off the roost and walk around the coop/run eating and crowing starting around 4:30am... If *any* of the others try to jump down off the roost before the sun is completely up (now around 8am), he chases them and bites them on the back of the neck until they go back up on the roost.. It don't look like he's trying to mate because he does it to the younger roo also.. Just warning them, i guess.. Then in the evenings, he will chase any of them about 30 minutes to an hour before sunset until they go up on the roost, like he's telling them it's bedtime.. And then the strangest thing i noticed is that when they *are* on the roost, if they are standing and not "perched", he will peck at their feet until they sit on them... is this normal or is he just unusually bossy?? I can see how not walking around in the dark could be considered "dangerous" in his mind so, is he just doing his job? Goddess
i had a black australorp roo doing the same thing in the morning. his girls wouldnt lay eggs so i put him in a holding pen. cant tell you how it ended, a coon got to him. then i got to the coon, what goes around comes around.
