Raising a rooster

[Shadrach]

@centrarchid youre taking an awful lot of credit for doing something special with those birds. Anybody can do it with gamefowl. I have very few issues getting hens to come to me. Roosters to fly up to my hand etc.. The main difference is I don’t have loose “gamecocks” like you do.

You wouldn't have any tips on how to stop a rooster fancying my boots would you...

 

[roosterhavoc]

You wouldn't have any tips on how to stop a rooster fancying my boots would you...

Honestly I’d just ignore him. If you pick him up do something to him like wipe his legs down with oil, cut his spurs, treat for lice etc.. and then just put him back down.

 

[Shadrach]

Honestly I’d just ignore him. If you pick him up do something to him like wipe his legs down with oil, cut his spurs, treat for lice etc.. and then just put him back down.

That's okay then. That's pretty much what I do. I've been trying to Vaseline all the roosters legs on a regular basis since you mentioned it on the other thread.

 

[roosterhavoc]

That's okay then. That's pretty much what I do. I've been trying to Vaseline all the roosters legs on a regular basis since you mentioned it on the other thread.

That kind of behavior just isn’t that common with gamefowl. You may get some that will fight you when you’re trying to mess with them but that’s not the same at all.
I’ve raised a lot of roosters and I’ve only killed 5 for being unmanageable. Out of those 5 only 1 was what I would consider dangerous. Generally if you notice a lot of the roosters that will come after you are some of the best with the hens. They take “their” job very seriously.

 

[Shadrach]

That kind of behavior just isn’t that common with gamefowl. You may get some that will fight you when you’re trying to mess with them but that’s not the same at all.
I’ve raised a lot of roosters and I’ve only killed 5 for being unmanageable. Out of those 5 only 1 was what I would consider dangerous. Generally if you notice a lot of the roosters that will come after you are some of the best with the hens. They take “their” job very seriously.

I haven’t raised anything like the amount of roosters you have (75 I believe at present) but as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts the problem I’ve had with roosters that have imprinted on me rather than their flock at an early age is while they will come when called, stay calm when handled and in general seem to be more gentle with the hens, they aren’t aggressive enough to a) fight for their hens b) defend the group.
The most aggressive rooster I currently have was a nightmare at the outset and it took me quite a while to work out how to stop him from trying to attack me when I approached him or his hens. We got it sorted in the end but he is by far the best flock protector. His hens are almost always in a close bunch around him. I’ve never seen him leave his hens anywhere unsafe if he’s gone to escort a hen to or from a nest site. He is still a bit of a bully towards some of the others roosters but he lost a couple of fights last year and that seems to have backed him off a bit.

 

[WNYgardener]

I don't think picking up or petting a bird significantly alters their original temperament. Also, birds may tolerate us picking them up, but I am not sure they really enjoy it.

 

[centrarchid]

I don't think picking up or petting a bird significantly alters their original temperament. Also, birds may tolerate us picking them up, but I am not sure they really enjoy it.

Mine say they do not like being picked up. They are cool with jumping up on their own accord and I am too so long as i give the single to do so first.

 

[Shadrach]

I’m only going to comment on this video, the others aren’t much better.
“Socializing Bitties For Flight School.”
It is quite apparent from the hens behavior that she doesn’t want the person holding the cup of feed to feed her chicks. Mother hens are particularly sensitive about this. It’s their job to feed the chicks. She needs to train the chicks to scratch for their food, but more importantly, to learn how to keep out from under her feet while she scratches and respond quickly to found food. Eventually the chicks learn to approach food from the front of the hen and avoid getting knocked over by the hens scratching motion.
The hen stands in the cup and tries to scratch the food out and in other instances makes attempts to dislodge the cup from the human hand.
Basically the hen wants the food on the ground where she can spread it by scratching. The advantage to this is the weaker chicks get a better chance of being fed.
I would never feed chicks like this. If I hand feed them I lay my hand flat on the ground, palm upwards with the food spread in my palm. This way the hen and the chicks can scratch it out of my hand and spread the food on natural ground. Usually I spread the food on the ground and leave my hand palm up with some food in. The chicks can then run over my hand and get used to ‘the hand’.
As for grabbing a chick from above.....
When picking up any chicken you should slowly move your hands towards them below their eye level and close your hands around the chicken letting your thumbs gently restrain the wings gripping the legs between your little finger and adjacent.
There is no socializing going on here. This is someone trying to show off and in the process showing a complete lack of understanding of chicken behavior.

 

[centrarchid]

You saw only a tiny fraction of what goes on. Try not to be scared of perspectives held by others. Remember, I had to hold a camera while doing the recordings. The same hens will bring broods to me, up on to my lap, then after the chicks settle the hens walks off to forage by herself as the chicks loaf under my protection. Have you ever experienced such a level of trust from your charges?

Sometimes more is less.

 

[Shadrach]

I have yes and it's something I try very hard to discourage.
Simply, I am not reliable, nor am I a chicken. Protection of chicks on the rare occasions a hen leaves them, say to lay an egg for example, becomes the job of her rooster, or more often the junior rooster of her tribe.
I try very hard to not have chicks imprint on me. I'm not a chicken.
On those rare occasions when I am left with no alternative to having excessive contact with chicks, below shows the result. Sure it looks super cute for forum pictures and thankfully, so far at least, maturity means such youngsters eventually learn how to adapt to their position in their tribes.

This young cockerel will follow me about for a few more weeks until he learns how to attract a hen (he's recently started on this by taking up escort duties for a couple of the junior hens of his tribe)
The problem is, all the time he spend with me is chicken learning time missed. If he's going to survive here he needs to learn as much as he can from other chickens. I can't teach him much. I don't know what he needs to know.
The reason he is like this is because his mother got attacked by a gos hawk when he was very young and naturally I didn't separate them while mum was recovering and they both lived with me until mum felt fit enough to rejoin her tribe.

So yes, I receive an enormous amount of trust from the chickens here but I'm just not as reliable, or as quick, or as alert, or as smart as a chicken so it's better if they stick to their best option, chickens.