Had to whack him upside the head!!

[Wynette]

LOVE the vinegar and water idea! I'll try that with my Maurice next time he challenges me. I don't have that much trouble with him but just 2 days ago, he tried to pull the "I'm top roo" thing with me. He hadn't done that in probably 4 months. Well, when I got back to the house, I told DH about it, who said, "Well, you're wearing red!" As if to say, DUH! I said, "What do you mean?" He said "My grandfather raised chickens and had at least 200 all the time. He ALWAYS told me to NEVER wear red when you're going in a pen that has a roo in it." I've NEVER heard that! Anyone else heard of that?

Yesterday, I ended up splashing Maurice with a bunch of REALLY COLD water from the snow that had melted. He didn't like that one bit, but it stopped him.

I have trouble picking him up when he's upset, too, but what I do is chase him into a corner and keep him there with my body language so he can't get to his girls. This really upsets him! I don't let him get away until he calms down, and is back to a "normal" state. That really well, too.

I also haven't tried the box idea, and I have a big plastic box/bin in the coop for them to jump on, so I'll try that, as well!

BEST OF LUCK, Countrygirl! With all the suggestions here, you're bound to have found one that'll work withi Big!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Quote:

I have a red coat and a red sweatshirt that I wear into the coop all the time. Never had them have any trouble with red.

 

[hooligan]

I have heard the red thing...though it hasn't affected anyone here

Supposed to have to do with the fact that red attracts chickens to peck, like with a wounded bird.

 

[pepperluvsmee]

YAY! I am so glad that the vineger thing is working for some of you.

As for the red clothing..I am almost certain animals are unable to see in color. If you are thinking well "Bulls are attracted to red". No, they are attracted to that stupid man that is giving off the body language of "Let's fight!" in the middle of a ring!
I would have to say that you just have a real naughty roo who considers you the dominant one and will challenge you. Don't think that if he hasn't done it in a while, it will stop. He will always "attempt" to challenge you. It is in thier nature. Survival of the fitest. The strongest get to breed.
Animals have only 4 major concerns. Safety being first. food, spreading thier seed (Not corn either!!) and then comfort. Animals are animals, not little humans. They do not think as we do. Just keep that in mind next time you get flogged or attacked. They are just doing what they do!

 

[patandchickens]

some animals are various degrees of colorblind but others are not -- most if not all birds, 'not'. I have not looked up whatever may have been formally tested w/chickens but from the way they behave it is pretty clear to me that they do see red.

Not to say it necessarily affects whether a roo will go after you, of course.

JM2cents,

Pat

 

[JaciesCoop]

Chickens do see in color.

 

[countrygirl4513]

I'm just curious...wonder how they decipher if an animal can see color. Can you imagine the test?

"Okay Mr. Roo...tell me if this hatchet is red or blue" or "What number do you see in the circle of dots?"

I mean seriously... how do they do it? My son is red/green colorblind. And he can't understand those colors. To him they look brown. Isn't it awful not to be able to see green grass? And my nephew is so colorblind all he sees is grey and white. He bought the most hidious colored truck cuz he thought the color was pretty. But it is this pea green funky color. It's awful!

 

[patandchickens]

They get cards or paddles or whatever that are different colors (e.g. one red one green) but the same saturation of each color, so that for instance if you took a black and white photo of them they'd both look the same shade of gray.

Then you take an animal and see if you can train it to (say) always pick the red rather than green one when presented with the pair (if it gets it right, reward with food or etc). If you cannot train the animal to reliably discriminate between those colors (but CAN train it to discriminate between, say, a black card and a white card), then you conclude that it's red-green color blind.

Some insight is also gained by studying the structure of the eyes, in terms of what rods/cones/whatnot are present.


Pat, former biologist

 

[dreamgirl]

I'm lucky, I guess. I have a very large roo who was not handled at all (I didn't get him until he was 10 weeks old) who won;t let me withing 5 feet of him. Never have been able to catch him in daylight. However, he frequently goes after my BF and any other man who comes on the farm! My BF chases him around yelling at him since he's pretty much uncatchable, and then George behaves for a few weeks. Interesting though, he never bothers my BF when he goes in to feed them or collect eggs, only when they are outside in the yard...

 

[pepperluvsmee]

You know what, I think I do remember seeing something on TV about chickens pecking at different color cards and shapes or was that a African grey parrot? YES!! I forgot all about that. I swear I saw something on TV about birds not being able to see in color. Sorry for the bad info.

I know that BULLS can't see in color! hee hee
Remeber that parrot that could identify cars, colors, shapes, textures, it was way cool!
-T