- May 19, 2010
- 131
- 6
- 164
My Barred Rock rooster, Dominick, is pretty typical, I guess. He loves his nine girls; gives them the best of everything and always looks out for them and finds treats in the yard. Of course, like all roosters he gets his fringe benefits, too....but the girls don't seem to mind and I have never seen him get excessively rough. Yesterday, though, I experienced something pretty extraordinary, and I ran through pretty much the whole gamut of emotions withing just a few minutes in time.
Dominick had mounted one of my Production Red girls and was doing his thing. Then when he was through, instead of stepping off as he normally does, he took one step off and then, like in slow motion, tottered over onto his back with his feet sticking straight up in the air...then he started shaking his head and his toes started curling up. He looked as though he had been shot. A few seconds later, he rolled over on his side and he was looking around 360 degrees like his neck was broken....the only thing missing was little cartoon stars floating in a circle around his head. After a few seconds more, he slowly got up, straightened his feathers out a bit, regained his composure, and carried on as usual.
I can tell you that, at first, I was petrified to see him like that...I actually thought he was dying from some kind of heart attack or seizure or something...but I also have to admit that, after he got back up and got on his way, I had tears in my eyes from laughing....it was the funniest chicken behavior I had ever seen.
I was trying to confirm my suspicions about just what happened, and the lady at my local feed store seemed to be thinking what I was thinking. I described what happened to her, and she just looked at me, straight-faced, and said, "Sounds like it was the best he ever had".
DD
Dominick had mounted one of my Production Red girls and was doing his thing. Then when he was through, instead of stepping off as he normally does, he took one step off and then, like in slow motion, tottered over onto his back with his feet sticking straight up in the air...then he started shaking his head and his toes started curling up. He looked as though he had been shot. A few seconds later, he rolled over on his side and he was looking around 360 degrees like his neck was broken....the only thing missing was little cartoon stars floating in a circle around his head. After a few seconds more, he slowly got up, straightened his feathers out a bit, regained his composure, and carried on as usual.
I can tell you that, at first, I was petrified to see him like that...I actually thought he was dying from some kind of heart attack or seizure or something...but I also have to admit that, after he got back up and got on his way, I had tears in my eyes from laughing....it was the funniest chicken behavior I had ever seen.
I was trying to confirm my suspicions about just what happened, and the lady at my local feed store seemed to be thinking what I was thinking. I described what happened to her, and she just looked at me, straight-faced, and said, "Sounds like it was the best he ever had".
DD

Last edited: