I LOVE my roosters!!!!

[Lobzi]

My roosters have so much more personality and are much more friendly than my hen. Im not sure why but perhaps it is a natural protection mechanism for the female to be more skittish and the males more curious. I need to get more hens to know for sure, but right now Im thinking that roos are much more fun to have as pets.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
What you descibe as "getting aggressive with the girls", is more than likely mating behavior. If he is grabbing a hen by the neck and pinning her down, that's mating. He's not doing it to be mean, it's just how it's done in the chicken world.
When the hen is immature and not ready to be mated and fights it, it looks terrible like he's really hurting her (he's really not though). Once she's mature enough to accept the roo without fighting it's not so bad.

 

[Chef]

I don't know. My hens love attention and treats. They will come and jump right up on my leg. I really think that it starts when they are chicks. I was really hands on with the birds I have now which probably helped with them not being so skitish. I also think that the hens are instinctually more skitish because they dont have the weaponry to defend themselves like a roo. For me I'd rather look at roo than a hen anyday. Although I love my girls!

Chef

 

[Bec]

Quote:
Yep, but my alpha is sneaky and lazy! He'll make the noise to call the girls over while he acts like he's found something really yummy. Then when the girl bends over to see what it is he's found, he mounts her!

Beats having to chase one down I guess.

Oh that sneaky Pete!