Mottled Houdan roo with Strange Behavior

[Jamesriver]

I have a roo that is ten months old, & he is the oddest bird. He runs around the yard making weird noises like he has asthma. He drops a wing and prances up to me and stops. Sometimes he hits my leg. Then runs away. All other Roos pick on him so he spends a good bit of time in the woods with his ladies. (Another mottled Houdan and three white crested Polish). When catching him, he screams as if you've scared him to death. When he is finally caught he lies down on my lap and sleeps. I wonder if he has vision problems? Is anyone familiar with the Mottled Houdan breed? Thanks!

 

[andreanar]

Well, the prancing and wing dropping sounds like he is doing his mating dance for you. Does the sound he makes sound like he is doing it on an inhale? If so, that's normal. I have a few chickens that scream when I pick them up, but settle once I've got them. Your roo sounds like a normal roo. I wouldn't let him hit your leg tho, that's naughty roo behavior.

 

[Jamesriver]

He doesn't do the noises always, but I suppose on inhale only. I think he hits my leg by mistake. One recent day he marched up to me, dropped his head, and started looking at my legs as if trying to figure out what they were. I reached down to pick him up and he screamed as if he didn't know I was there. He's SO docile, I love him to bits! Thanks for your help.

 

[andreanar]

He's an awful pretty boy so Im glad he is sweet!

 

[azygous]

He does look like a cutie! I'm guessing, yes, his head crest does cut down on his vision. And he's under one year, so he's still trying to make sense of his hormone surges. So you'll see erratic behavior over the next few months.

I bet after he gets through one more spring, he'll settle down and become sweet and docile all the time.

He should be easy to discipline and you can help him by showing him that attacking your leg isn't acceptable behavior by pushing him to the ground when he does it. No sense in allowing him to pick up bad behavior patterns during this adolescent period.