Question about being gently pecked by young rooster

[Edward7]

Hi y'all. I'm a new chicken keeper, and I've got a small, young flock, including a young rooster who is approaching 4.5 months of age.

I recently got rid of a second male of the same age - I was able to return him to the farm where I got him as a baby.

Anyway, this morning, the remaining young rooster was excited when I brought out the feeders (I currently put them away at night to help avoid rodent issues). This happened about 15 minutes later than yesterday morning, so maybe they were extra hungry.

Anyway, the rooster was so excited, that he gently tapped me on my ankle with his beak as I was setting up the feeders.

My question is... what does this mean, and how should I respond if I want the rooster to respect me? I know that chickens use body language and "touch" on a daily basis as a way to communicate and maintain order in the flock. I've never seen any of the smaller female birds go up to the large young rooster and gently peck him out of excitement - they give him a wide berth. They show him a huge amount of respect, and when they don't, he will grab one by the back of the head for a few seconds to help send a message.

So I wonder if the young rooster here is very gently testing my boundaries, to see what he can get away with? But I'm brand new to all this stuff, so I could be wrong. Maybe it was just a friendly, happy peck to show how happy he was to be getting ready to eat!

Oh, a few days ago, I was barefoot, and the same young rooster tapped my toenails with his beak, which made me uncomfortable, so I gently touched the feathers on his back (normally I never touch him) and he jumped like an inch or two straight up in the air - I guess he was surprised.

I should mention that this guy, so far, has never been human-aggressive, and I'm told that his father has never been human-aggressive. He has a favorite female chicken and he calls her over if he finds a bug to eat. So he seems to have a good attitude in a lot of ways.

I just read somewhere some advice once that you should "never tolerate a rooster pecking you" because it can allegedly escalate over time... Is that true? And does it include gentle pecks when they are excited about eating?

Thank you.

 

[Yardmom]

It depends on the motive of the cockeral. Was he curious about your toe nails? Was there something of interest on your ankle? Then nothing to worry about. Or was he trying to chase you away from his hens? Keep your eye on him to make sure he respects people.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Hmmm. Yeah idk, if I had a young guy who was doing that, I'd probably say "hey!" or something and stand still and firm. Definitely keep an eye on him. I have 1 year old boy who I got a month ago, and he doesn't bother me at all, nor do I him. We give each other room and it seems to be fine. Obviously, I might need to help him someday so I can only hope he will let me... he gets excited when I come to give them their morning and evening treats, but he doesn't do anything but walk next to me.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Honestly, if he didn't draw blood or grab and pull, I'd just give him the benefit of the doubt. I have birds that occasionally get a finger because they're a bit too excited about food and just moved faster than I did, but they never do more than that and even then it's not common at all

 

[Edward7]

Thank you for your responses. Sooo helpful to read and consider.

Regarding beaks and food excitement, I just remembered: I witnessed something interesting with this same cockerel a couple days ago. He found a bug in the grass, and he did his little call to call the females over to eat the bug.

I stopped and watched, because his favorite female, or really the only one he shows the slightest interest in, was the farthest away. So I was curious to see what would happen.

The other females approached, and when one of them got too close to him, WHAM! It happened so fast, but he grabbed one of them by the back of the head and held on for a few seconds, as if to say "This treat is for my one true love, not for any of the rest of you, so back the f__ off!" Finally the one that he likes came forward and ate the bug.

But I was impressed at how immediate the feedback was, and how it was done via touch when one of the other females came too close to him with his special bug prize. Even though it seemed normal for the other females to be excited about the bug that he found. But he did not tolerate one ounce of food excitement in his immediate space, in that occasion, until his favorite female came up to him.

I had never seen him grab another chicken by the back of the head before so it was pretty dramatic.

All this stuff reminds me a bit of a Mexican guy I used to watch on TV many years ago. He grew up in a rural part of Mexico and claimed that dogs have very sophisticated systems of body language and touch-language. (Years later I was sad to discover that many urban dog owners did not like him.) Anyway he claimed that the relationships in a pack of dog are not "fixed" or "set in stone" forever, but they involve daily signals and body language cues, and he suggested that a dog owner could learn to speak the same language. Kind of interesting.

Anyway yes I will try to pay more attention going forward to how the cockerel relates to me, and to how he relates to the other chickens also.

 

[SourRoses]

The species appropriate discipline is to peck him on the back near the neck with your finger. I wouldn't use the word gently, but it shouldn't be more force than would smart for a moment, so you kind of have to judge that in the moment.
This is what a mother hen would do. If the babies don't run away from her first discipline peck, she pecks again and again. In chickens, fleeing is a sign of submission, but they don't have to go very far for the moms to accept they learned their lesson, there's no chasing as there is with adult chickens being bullies, if that makes sense. It's the yielding of space that shows the lesson is learned.
On that note, a cockerel or rooster should always yield space to you. He doesn't have to act terrified, but he should definitely think "let me move my little self out of Big One's way". Thoughts other than this all lead to aggression. So you don't back up or dance around him, when you're coming in it's "clear the path" time.
Chicken body language is fairly subtle and hard for most people to learn. It's easy to miss those early signs and easy to excuse behavior that doesn't do damage. A lot like people who keep tiny dogs and let them get away with behavior they would never accept from a large dog.
Then one day your rooster has sharp spurs long enough to tear your femoral artery and you're running away from an animal a fraction of your size.

 

[SourRoses]

The other females approached, and when one of them got too close to him, WHAM! It happened so fast, but he grabbed one of them by the back of the head and held on for a few seconds, as if to say "This treat is for my one true love, not for any of the rest of you, so back the f__ off!" Finally the one that he likes came forward and ate the bug.

Actually, that's not quite what was going on. He was attempting to mate with the timid pullets using the treat as bait, and they were frightened by him.

Roosters use treat calls to reinforce bonds in the flock. Hens are very food motivated, so it's a prime courting gift to receive treats. Hens are just as set on this as some human women are on jewelry. A social study showed that if the rooster lies, hens remember and don't respond well to his calls in the future.
Why would the male lie? It's fairly common among young cockerels, as they wish to mate and the pullets generally aren't mature enough yet... so they want to figure out how to get them close.
When the girls think they'll get a snack, they come in close with their heads low. The opportunistic cockerel grabs the back of their neck feathers and tries to hold on, but since he's not good at mating yet, the pullets usually pull away, albeit it hurts them (feather quills connect to sensitive nerves).
The pullets won't be ready for mating until they're laying eggs, or in the days leading up to it. Any breeding before that is often against their will and stressful for them.

A mature rooster will allow his hens to eat the treat before attempting to mate. If the hen turns away, he usually lets her go and turns back to finding more treats to win more of his ladies affections.
He will also try to mate separate from treats, if the ladies already see him as their flock leader and trust him, they will squat when he comes close at random times during the day. Most roosters also try to mate with the hens first thing in the morning when they come out of the coop. It's usually the time when he'll show the most assertive behavior, and even cause some drama depending on his general demeanor.

So the pullet you think is his favorite is actually the least intimidated by him. That may change if he torments her, or he may stick to targeting the submissive ones, using treats as lures to get them close. In any case, they are not ready for what he's ready for. Which is why when there's no older hen to keep a cockerel from getting full of himself, I often resort to putting him in "jail" a separate pen that's inside or next to the main pen, for a month or two. That way they can still see each other and stay integrated, but he doesn't get the chance to hurt the pullets.
Cockerels are capable of really hurting pullets, btw. Scalping injuries are common enough to warrant concern. Yanking on a big beakfull of those neck feathers can pull on the delicate skin near where the head and neck meet.
I had a nice hen scalped by a small cockerel, her brain was exposed so I had to put her down (and him).

 

[FunnyBunny89]

B

The species appropriate discipline is to peck him on the back near the neck with your finger. I wouldn't use the word gently, but it shouldn't be more force than would smart for a moment, so you kind of have to judge that in the moment.
This is what a mother hen would do. If the babies don't run away from her first discipline peck, she pecks again and again. In chickens, fleeing is a sign of submission, but they don't have to go very far for the moms to accept they learned their lesson, there's no chasing as there is with adult chickens being bullies, if that makes sense. It's the yielding of space that shows the lesson is learned.
On that note, a cockerel or rooster should always yield space to you. He doesn't have to act terrified, but he should definitely think "let me move my little self out of Big One's way". Thoughts other than this all lead to aggression. So you don't back up or dance around him, when you're coming in it's "clear the path" time.
Chicken body language is fairly subtle and hard for most people to learn. It's easy to miss those early signs and easy to excuse behavior that doesn't do damage. A lot like people who keep tiny dogs and let them get away with behavior they would never accept from a large dog.
Then one day your rooster has sharp spurs long enough to tear your femoral artery and you're running away from an animal a fraction of your size.

I find that my chickens remind me a lot of my cats, but the rooster reminds me of a dog. I instinctively feel the need to stand firm with my guy even though he shows zero aggression towards me. I guess I assumed it follows the same line as "animals can smell your fear" and I just didn't want him to get the impression that I'm fearful of him. So far so good! A friend of mine had a rooster come at her and she grabbed him by the tail and slammed him on the ground. He wasn't injured, but she said he hasn't tried anything since and her philosophy is, "you only get one chance!" I can't even imagine! If I end up toe-to-toe with a rooster, he'll probably get a foot to the face. I wouldn't want to cause injury, but I can see that being my reflex.

 

[Edward7]

Well this morning I let the chickens out of their coop and into their run. (I have to do this manually each morning because the chicken tunnel between the two + automatic door = aren't setup yet.)

The young 4.5 month-old rooster gave me the impression of trying to push me around a bit. He sort of got in my way, seemingly intentionally. Instead of going around him, I waited for him to move out of my way, and I got ready to use "touch" to communicate with him. He more or less got out of my way, and I got ready to toss some feed on the ground, since they seem to much prefer eating off the ground to eating out of their beautiful feeders.

As I was messing with one of the feeders, the young roo acted like he wanted to peck my hand, so instead of fearfully pulling my hand away, I rested my hand on top of the feeder where he could reach it, to see what would happen. Sure enough, he tried lightly pecking my hand. At that point I reached down and tapped him lightly on his back. He jumped! away at that point. Then, as if to take out his frustrations on someone smaller, he began chasing a 3.5 month old female around, so I got between them and blocked his movements (sort of like how that Mexican guy used to do with dogs on his TV show). The cockerel seemed slightly irritated, but he kept his distance from me, which is what I wanted. All the females watched this.

Eventually I left to do other things.

I'm hoping that this is just a phase he's going through, sort of like a teenager testing his parents' boundaries. When I hear stories about roosters trying to fight a human to the death, it doesn't sound very pleasant. This young guy has tiny little nubs near his feet, which I assume will be his spurs later on. As I said before, I'm told that his father is very well behaved both with hens and with people.

I should mention that I let them free-range for a couple hours a day. I would let them do more but it seems to attract the local eagles when we do that.

Oh and I've never seen the cockerel trying to mount anyone so far, but I don't watch them all day. The one female that is his favorite is his half-sister that he grew up with from the time he came out of the egg. The two of them will free range together and leave the other birds behind. The other females that he doesn't care for - they arrived later on and are younger.

Thanks again for sharing your comments, everyone.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Well this morning I let the chickens out of their coop and into their run. (I have to do this manually each morning because the chicken tunnel between the two + automatic door = aren't setup yet.)

The young 4.5 month-old rooster gave me the impression of trying to push me around a bit. He sort of got in my way, seemingly intentionally. Instead of going around him, I waited for him to move out of my way, and I got ready to use "touch" to communicate with him. He more or less got out of my way, and I got ready to toss some feed on the ground, since they seem to much prefer eating off the ground to eating out of their beautiful feeders.

As I was messing with one of the feeders, the young roo acted like he wanted to peck my hand, so instead of fearfully pulling my hand away, I rested my hand on top of the feeder where he could reach it, to see what would happen. Sure enough, he tried lightly pecking my hand. At that point I reached down and tapped him lightly on his back. He jumped! away at that point. Then, as if to take out his frustrations on someone smaller, he began chasing a 3.5 month old female around, so I got between them and blocked his movements (sort of like how that Mexican guy used to do with dogs on his TV show). The cockerel seemed slightly irritated, but he kept his distance from me, which is what I wanted. All the females watched this.

Eventually I left to do other things.

I'm hoping that this is just a phase he's going through, sort of like a teenager testing his parents' boundaries. When I hear stories about roosters trying to fight a human to the death, it doesn't sound very pleasant. This young guy has tiny little nubs near his feet, which I assume will be his spurs later on. As I said before, I'm told that his father is very well behaved both with hens and with people.

I should mention that I let them free-range for a couple hours a day. I would let them do more but it seems to attract the local eagles when we do that.

Oh and I've never seen the cockerel trying to mount anyone so far, but I don't watch them all day. The one female that is his favorite is his half-sister that he grew up with from the time he came out of the egg. The two of them will free range together and leave the other birds behind. The other females that he doesn't care for - they arrived later on and are younger.

Thanks again for sharing your comments, everyone.

Sounds perfectly normal. Testing to see where he's at on the totem pole with you. The way I see it, I won't touch the roo unless I have to, and if he pecked me, that would give me a reason to poke him. Otherwise, as long as he respects my person, I will respect his. He is still young so things could change when he reaches 1 year. I am caring for a friend's rooster is also 4.5 months old and he hasn't shown aggression, but he is certainly curious and runs after me every time I go to the gate. He knows I come with food and treats so he sees me that way, but he hasn't tried anything.

Something to consider; do you know if he's getting enough protein? I've read that chickens will pursue whatever their nutritional needs drive them towards. I saw one of my pullets try to eat a feather, so I started adding mealworms to their daily treats and she's doing better now. Maybe he's looking for meat and testing you??? Lol IDK just a thought. Probably not.