fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[lightm]

Your garden looks sooo good!

 

[Shadrach]

Silas did something this afternoon that I hadn't seen him do before...

...he tidbitted!

When I have offered extras like bits of fruit or seeds Silas would gobble without regard for the hens. I threw a handful of wild strawberries in the run this afternoon, and noticed that when Silas found a strawberry he called the hens to come and get it!

He's almost 11 months, and growing up.
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He's learning. I'm not sure why but it takes some cockerels quite a while before they stop trying to force a hen to mate to understanding that if he wants his genes to continue and the hen to hatch, bribary was likely to be more successful.
The fast learners learn to do the chest bump after eighteen months or so.
The rooster (I don't recall ever seeing a cockerel do it( walks up behind the hen and bumps her tail with his chest. If she crouches they'll mate but if she doesn't crouch the rooster moves on.
Some people say they can tell what a cockerel is going to be like at say six months. I'm not really confident I've judged it right until eighteen months or more.
But, when a junior rooster starts calling the hens for something he's found is when the senior rooster is likely to kick off. The junior becomes competition if he titbits the hens.

 

[Shadrach]

I have a GF rooster that gets into the nesting boxes with the girls and does that or sometimes he's in the nesting boxes by himself covering himself with shavings and straw making that noise.

I went out there one day and he was in the box carrying on, all the girls were standing in front of the box just looking at him.

I used to see young roosters nest hunting with a favourite hen. They get in the nest site and scratch about and talk to the hen, who from what I've seen doesn't look remotely impressed, Usually the hen walks away and the roosters get up and follow, I imagine saying "what was wrong with that one?"