Rooster behavior

[Bp10244]

Lately my rooster has been following me when I go out to give the girls treats. Today I put down the treats, dropped the bag, then started walking away and my roo kept following me, as he did throughout the rest of the day. Is he just being friendly and wanting food or is he going to try and assert his dominance at some point?

 

[Sneebsey]

If he's following you when you don't have any food or any indication of providing food, then it's plausible that he thinks you are intruding on his territory, and that he is the top rooster. This is unacceptable; you must be the top rooster. As @BirdGirl2004 says, asserting your dominance by advancing on him when he does so to you and not allowing him to mate hens or crow in your presence will put him in his place.

What kind of noises does he make as he follows you? If it's that chuckly little 'treats' noise then I wouldn't be concerned, but any alarm call or a threatening growl would be unacceptable.

 

[Crow-ded house]

My 10 pound barred Mr Spot is the sweetest ever. Whenever I go outside he starts clucking, making dinosaur noises and chirping. It gets his girls excited and by the time I get in the run, they are all there waiting for treats. I give them and he inspects then tidbit noises then steps out of the way so I sneak him his own treat for being a good boy. Mr Toughie is maybe 3 pounds if even of bantam that will sideways walk to me like a dance giving me the evil eye. I make a point of walking toward him til he is in a corner or backs down and leaves. He did actually strike at me once so I picked him up and cuddled him for about 10 mins and he hated it but I told him it sucked to be him as I called the shots. He keeps his distance now but still gives me the eye. Point is both were raised same way and you do not know what you will get. We have 6 other roos that are just turning 4 mths old and one comes up wanting the treats the orhers keep their distance. I figure next couple of mths will tell who is good and who is bad.

 

[aart]

This may be a little long, but I am curious. I am new to chicken keeping, I've only had them for a few months and it has never occurred to me to be afraid of my rooster. I have been around animals my whole life and sort of figured if I can take a young horse and train it to be controllable and gentle without any sort of halter or saddle or bridle, then I have no need to worry about being bullied by a 6lb rooster. I do realize that some people are more timid or less comfortable around animals than I may be, but is my rooster suddenly going to grow fangs or something? ( I'm obviously not being serious about that part) I know that as he grows he will develop spurs and I intend to keep those filed down, but all of this talk of not looking them in the eye or not picking up a hen because he is around has me worried that I might do something wrong because I did not know better. Thanks in advance for your help!

You are in my boat. I have grown up around every kind of farm animal (except chickens) and even have six horses now. I have never been afraid of any of them, other than respecting the breeding males. We have a stallion now, and even though he’s young, he doesn’t worry me as much as the thought of one/all of my roos going rogue. I think I’ve been reading too much!

You two have an advantage of understanding human behavior around livestock, especially male livestock....just keep that going, it applies to chickens too, tho there might be a bit of a learning curve as you become more aware of the avian 'warning signs'.

 

[meetthebubus]

There may be another reason he is following you. It is a very important job/pride thing for a rooster to provide food to his hens. It makes him look good. I always make sure my roo gets treats when he wants it bc what he does is drops it for them, sometimes passes it directly from beak to beak, and sometimes he calls them over and gives it to them it always makes him look good

So he might be asking you to give him treats to give to them too

Whenever I find a few live worms I give them to the rooster so that he can choose who gets this special treat as well

I also think the rooster will appreciate this that you do this, I think mine do

 

[meetthebubus]

I just want to restate it totally depends on your actual bird

Chickens aren't cookie cutters they have different personalities and just bc a person is nice to one they aren't going to turn on you, I mean they could, but the point is they are each unique in some ways and different things trigger different behaviours for different roosters,

Anyone reading this in the future (cause I often come upon 8 yr old posts on google) keep in mind I don't think there is always one or two ways way a rooster will turn out

out of 6 roosters only 1 pecked my toes
A different one tried to corral me
A third one charged at me
Another is completely docile
And still another defends me anytime the other has a 'tude

One more thing, my first 3 were pretty mean and fought amongst each other too

My other 2 which I still have I bought as pullets, and they taught me that roosters can be really great and important and fun and etc.
I'm so glad my experience with roosters didn't end after the girst 3.

 

[centrarchid]

My experience involves mostly American Game roosters. Over the last ten years I have been working with American Dominiques and their hybrid with American Games. As kid we kept RIR, Barred Plymouth Rock, and White Plymouth Rock although those seldom reached maturity on the male side. Those that did were good natured although birds of same stock kept by neighbors were not pleasant. Difference I attribute to husbandry methods. Neighbors then and many people I see now interact with roosters in a manner that is not allowed here. No aggression towards rooster and their charges nor recoil if a bird pecks you.

 

[The Phantom]

Lately my rooster has been following me when I go out to give the girls treats. Today I put down the treats, dropped the bag, then started walking away and my roo kept following me, as he did throughout the rest of the day. Is he just being friendly and wanting food or is he going to try and assert his dominance at some point?

He is thinking about taking you on. He may start attacking you. Make sure he knows you are at the top of the pecking order and he is below you. I would keep him away from you, maybe scare him off. But don’t agitate him

 

[TheTwoRoos]

If he is just following and not ring dancing nor have his wings dropped to his side or displaying any aggression,I would think he is simply just being friendly.Was he friendly before this,are your chickens pets?

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I have never had a rooster attack me,You have to earn their trust.All my boys are pets and I can pick and chase any hens I want without any reaction out of them period.I always make sure they are moving out my way and pick them up every so often,my boys have actually been friendlier then a lot of my girls.