My rooster keeps singing the egg song.. Rant

[Tuppemor]

I have a small free range flock and I'm waiting for my first eggs. So I've read all about everything, and heard the egg song from several chickens on youtube. So a week ago I heard "Bak-bak-bak-BAAAAK! Bak-bak-bak-BAAAAK!" and ran out to see if there was an egg, only to find my bantam mix roo squawking about a bird of prey overhead (probably too small to take chickens anyway).

Now he sings the egg song at all hours of the day, at least three times a day, for no apparant reason. I was sitting on a chair watching them, petting Edgar the LB roo and he just started singing again, no danger to be seen and the others don't pay any attention to his calls. WHY?!

Is he just trying to make sure I don't find out when the eggs do come?

Of course I don't go out running anymore, he has taken the pleasure out of that sound.

I haven't found anything that even looks like a nest out there, and I have shut them all in for many nights to see if there were any eggs.. Nothing.

Light brahma is 37 weeks, it's about time. My plymouth rock and buff orp are 18 weeks, so a bit more patient there.

 

[gritsar]

It's probably not the egg song, but a predator warning. My rooster has done that when I don't see the danger, but sure enough he was right.

 

[Tuppemor]

Well, there wasn't any perceivable danger. The others couldn't care less about his squawking. Perhaps he thought I was attacking Edgar.

He's not a very cuddly roo, so I wouldn't be surprised if he thought "Oh my God, she's gonna eat him! Everyone RUN for their lives!". No wonder they don't listen if they know he's paranoid.

 

[Chicks R Friends NOT Food]

I agree it sounds like a predator warning. My white rooster does it when he feels threatened by new people and animals. He hardly ever does it aside from then because most of our predators are nocturnal. If you have more day time ones, you'll hear it more.

Poor rooster is probably all flustered nobody cares about his squacking. The rooster that "bawked" wolf?

 

[Tuppemor]

Only potential predators are foxes, badgers and hawks. Besides from cats and dogs that is, but the entire yard is fenced in, and I have only ever seen a fox here once (it was out in the field hunting mice). A hawk I would have seen too, if he saw it. Never seen a badger around here, and I would assume both badgers and foxes would come at night.

We have cats and dogs, but they pose no threat to the chickens, and there were none around at the time.

 

[gritsar]

My roo will sometimes scream the predator warning if I sneak up on the flock while they are free ranging.
He'll scream it, the hens look up and see it's me and then look at him like "you're such a dork!"