Dueling Crows or Teaching ?

[Cetawin]

Okay here is the deal...my neighbor has a flock of BOs and a couple Arconas (sp?). They have a 2 1/2 yo BO Roo named Brewster....he is an awesome Roo. Well I put my kids in Eggtopia and Deville had just started trying to crow. Eggtopia is near my side fenceline (about 30 feet from it) and so is Brewster's flock on the other side. They are maybe 75 feet apart.

This is Brewster and part of his flock:

a close up of Brewster:

If you notice the missing feathers down one side of his neck...he lost those doing battle with a small fox recently.

Now, several times a day, Deville and Brewster are crow dueling. Deville crows and Brewster answers...they continue this for up to an hour each time. It is like Brewster is literally teaching Deville how to crow, he gets better each day. Deville is my 14 week old EE.

This is Deville....my baby boy with one of his fav girls already, a Golden Buff:

So what is the real story for this behavior.... are they announcing their presence, posturing or is it a teaching thing?

 

[gritsar]

I really don't know Cetawin.
My sub. roo rarely crows. Yet the other day when the SIL was here my roo followed the SIL everywhere and I do mean everywhere and crowed. He'd walk up behind the SIL, get about 2 feet away and let one loose. He did this all day long.
I felt like he was telling the SIL, whom he somehow sensed was male, "look I'm #2 around here and I'm not willing to go any lower". Challenging perhaps?

 

[chicknmania]

I think it could be either or both. Our roos crow back and forth lots of times, and sometimes we can tell that they are communicating about different things, other times they are just chatting or competing, or...who knows. Roosters crow for a variety of reasons and certainly it is a means of communication.

 

[debilorrah]

Every morning and every night, one roo starts and then the neighbors crow, and then their neighbors roo crows and then their neighbor, and so on for about an hour. I think they are gossiping.

 

[swtangel321]

Not 100% sure why they do it, but mine do it also.... I always thought they were doing it b/c the other one was doing it, kind of like talking !!