Rooster being a rooster or aggression?

[Galaxy_rules]

Most of the hens back and shoulder feather damage is done by the rooster claws. Gently filing his claws smooth can help with this. Whilebroken feathers on a hens back tend to disturb their keepers from what I've seen, it's not something the hens seem overly worried about. If the damage is serious, as in almost bare back then a saddle might help with this. the problem is saddles are really unhygienic and those that I've seen don't protect the hens shoulders which is often the point of highest feather loss through mating.
Post some pictures if you can.

Ok, I haven’t got any pictures yet, he just started this today. If I am able to get some pictures later on I will.

 

[Galaxy_rules]

If you’re entering your hens in shows, don't have the rooster live with them since every feather counts.

I think I’ll keep him, he hasn’t done any real damage yet. No pulled feathers with the hens. Only a few with my other rooster

 

[Shadrach]

Ok, I haven’t got any pictures yet, he just started this today. If I am able to get some pictures later on I will.

No need to bother. The important point, that you show your hens which you ommited to mention in your original post, makes any further advice bar keep hens and rooster seperate pointless.

 

[fluffycrow]

What the others wrote above. What breed are they? Not that it makes any difference. Just curious

 

[Galaxy_rules]

What the others wrote above. What breed are they? Not that it makes any difference. Just curious

Australorps

 

[Galaxy_rules]

No need to bother. The important point, that you show your hens which you ommited to mention in your original post, makes any further advice bar keep hens and rooster seperate pointless.

Ok, sorry I didn’t mention it in the first post, didn’t think it would matter. I’m going too keep him because he hasn’t pulled any feathers

 

[Ridgerunner]

A rooster needs something to grab with his beak while mating to maintain his balance.

I'm going to disagree with you on this. While the head grab might help him keep his balance and help him get his orientation correct the real reason for the head grab is that this is the signal that tells the hen to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target. If it were not for the head grab there would be no fertile eggs. @Shadrach you are good at observation. Pay attention when they are mating and I think you'll see that I am right.

@Galaxy_rules I'll copy something that I wrote about mating between consenting adults to explain the "why" behind parts of the mating act. Not all matings go this way, especially between juveniles, but it is sort of the ideal. I'm not sure if yours are adults or not.

It is not unusual for a feather to fall out during mating, either on the back of the head or on the back where his claws are standing. That's generally not a problem as long as so many fall out that the bare skin is showing and can be cut by his beak or claws. If the entire feather falls out it should soon grow back. But if the feather is broken and a bit of the shaft is left behind that feather will not grow back until the hen molts.

Here is that right-up on mating.

Mating Between Consenting Adults

1. The rooster dances to show his intentions. He lowers a wing and sort of sidesteps around the hen.

2. The hen squats. This gets her body on the ground so the rooster's weight goes into the ground through her body instead of just her legs. Most roosters of the same breed as the hen are heavier than the hen so the squat is nature's way of protecting her legs and joints.

3. The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. This head grab helps line him up right and helps him keep his balance, but the main purpose is to tell her to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target. Without the head grab he would not be able to get to the target so there would be no fertile eggs.

4. The rooster touches her vent with his. That deposits the sperm. This may take a couple of seconds or may be over in a flash.

5. The rooster hops off, his part is done. The hen stands up, fluffs up her feathers, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm in a special container where it can stay viable from a week to maybe three weeks.

It doesn't always go this way between adults. Sometimes the rooster does not dance but just grabs and hops on. No harm no foul, but it shows he does not have the self-confidence he should. Sometimes the hen runs away instead of squatting. The rooster may let her go or he may give chase. If he chases the hen may squat, she just wanted to know he was serious. He may stop the chase pretty quickly and let her go. He may chase her down and force her. As long as she squats and is not injured it's all OK. Even when he forces her it is usually not very violent.

 

[Galaxy_rules]

I'm going to disagree with you on this. While the head grab might help him keep his balance and help him get his orientation correct the real reason for the head grab is that this is the signal that tells the hen to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target. If it were not for the head grab there would be no fertile eggs. @Shadrach you are good at observation. Pay attention when they are mating and I think you'll see that I am right.

@Galaxy_rules I'll copy something that I wrote about mating between consenting adults to explain the "why" behind parts of the mating act. Not all matings go this way, especially between juveniles, but it is sort of the ideal. I'm not sure if yours are adults or not.

It is not unusual for a feather to fall out during mating, either on the back of the head or on the back where his claws are standing. That's generally not a problem as long as so many fall out that the bare skin is showing and can be cut by his beak or claws. If the entire feather falls out it should soon grow back. But if the feather is broken and a bit of the shaft is left behind that feather will not grow back until the hen molts.

Here is that right-up on mating.

Mating Between Consenting Adults

1. The rooster dances to show his intentions. He lowers a wing and sort of sidesteps around the hen.

2. The hen squats. This gets her body on the ground so the rooster's weight goes into the ground through her body instead of just her legs. Most roosters of the same breed as the hen are heavier than the hen so the squat is nature's way of protecting her legs and joints.

3. The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. This head grab helps line him up right and helps him keep his balance, but the main purpose is to tell her to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target. Without the head grab he would not be able to get to the target so there would be no fertile eggs.

4. The rooster touches her vent with his. That deposits the sperm. This may take a couple of seconds or may be over in a flash.

5. The rooster hops off, his part is done. The hen stands up, fluffs up her feathers, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm in a special container where it can stay viable from a week to maybe three weeks.

It doesn't always go this way between adults. Sometimes the rooster does not dance but just grabs and hops on. No harm no foul, but it shows he does not have the self-confidence he should. Sometimes the hen runs away instead of squatting. The rooster may let her go or he may give chase. If he chases the hen may squat, she just wanted to know he was serious. He may stop the chase pretty quickly and let her go. He may chase her down and force her. As long as she squats and is not injured it's all OK. Even when he forces her it is usually not very violent.

Thanks for the info

 

[Shadrach]

I'm going to disagree with you on this. While the head grab might help him keep his balance and help him get his orientation correct the real reason for the head grab is that this is the signal that tells the hen to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target. If it were not for the head grab there would be no fertile eggs. @Shadrach you are good at observation. Pay attention when they are mating and I think you'll see that I am right.

@Galaxy_rules I'll copy something that I wrote about mating between consenting adults to explain the "why" behind parts of the mating act. Not all matings go this way, especially between juveniles, but it is sort of the ideal. I'm not sure if yours are adults or not.

It is not unusual for a feather to fall out during mating, either on the back of the head or on the back where his claws are standing. That's generally not a problem as long as so many fall out that the bare skin is showing and can be cut by his beak or claws. If the entire feather falls out it should soon grow back. But if the feather is broken and a bit of the shaft is left behind that feather will not grow back until the hen molts.

Here is that right-up on mating.

Mating Between Consenting Adults

1. The rooster dances to show his intentions. He lowers a wing and sort of sidesteps around the hen.

2. The hen squats. This gets her body on the ground so the rooster's weight goes into the ground through her body instead of just her legs. Most roosters of the same breed as the hen are heavier than the hen so the squat is nature's way of protecting her legs and joints.

3. The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. This head grab helps line him up right and helps him keep his balance, but the main purpose is to tell her to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target. Without the head grab he would not be able to get to the target so there would be no fertile eggs.

4. The rooster touches her vent with his. That deposits the sperm. This may take a couple of seconds or may be over in a flash.

5. The rooster hops off, his part is done. The hen stands up, fluffs up her feathers, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm in a special container where it can stay viable from a week to maybe three weeks.

It doesn't always go this way between adults. Sometimes the rooster does not dance but just grabs and hops on. No harm no foul, but it shows he does not have the self-confidence he should. Sometimes the hen runs away instead of squatting. The rooster may let her go or he may give chase. If he chases the hen may squat, she just wanted to know he was serious. He may stop the chase pretty quickly and let her go. He may chase her down and force her. As long as she squats and is not injured it's all OK. Even when he forces her it is usually not very violent.

Let me repost a slightly humerous post I made elsewhere. It's late and I can hear my bed calling.

"Lets start with the simple; roosters don't dance. Honestly, I've tried playing them all sorts of music, not even a twitch let alone a full on tango. They've got absolutley no sense of rythme.

Next, roosters don't care how big you are. If they did we wouldn't be expecting them to defend their hens and we wouldn't be reading all these posts from people who believe they are being attacked, who are in general much much bigger than a rooster, would we.

But, roosters do care about food; lots, and they can be very particular about how food is presented to them and more importantly their hens.
Basically if you are feeding their hens then as far as the rooster is concerend you are competition. If you are large and feeding their hens then your just large competition.

Given the average rooster doesn't break into the quickstep when you sing to him, or play a danceable piece of music to him, then it stands to reason that while you may think he's dancing he is in fact doing something else.
The art is to work out what he is doing.

One excellent starting point is to look to see if he does the same thing to any other creature, like your cat or maybe around the fishpond if you keep fish. After all, one generally isn't fussy about who one dances for once the rythme takes one.

You may notice your rooster does the same movements to his hens. Nope, not dancing; hens don't have a sense of rythme either.
What do the hens do when the rooster makes these movements? They don't break out in rounds of rapturous applause from what I've seen. They don't sit suddenly transfixed by the dazzling footwork either.

One might be tempted to think he's a horrid rooster trying to kick his poor hens about. However, if you watch carefully you'll notice that the kicking foot is on the opposite side to the hen and you, in the case of him not dancing for you. I can't believe that all roosters don't know their right foot from their left, despite not having any sense of rythme, or which side of their body the hen is on.

If one watches the hens reaction to this not dancing move, you'll probably see that they move a little bit away from the rooster. The rooster may do it again and the hen will move a little more. Okay, the hen could just be warming up for a full on tango with her man but the only tango style reaction from a hen I've seen is when they turned round and given the rooster a right hander, or a foot swipe or two.

The move the rooster makes (nope, not dancing) is herding movement and roosters herd their hens. This is one of the ways a rooster manages to get their hens who usually have their beaks in some patch of grass or other with food on their minds to move. You may observe that if that doesn't work the rooster will flash his hackles. That's not dancing either. That's him telling the hen that he doesn't care how tasty that worm in the grass looks or how comfortable she is in the dust bath she needs to move, NOW.

The move is called the herding shuffle. A rooster only does this to his hens and occasionally to his junior offspring male or female. It's a you belong to me type of move. Not aggressive just like when your man, or women, slips their arm around your waist when out walking and gently steers you in some other direction, probably away from the shop window you've been standing at tempted to spend money you don't have.

Reasonably enough, should you turn around and try to beat the crap out of your man, or women, or whatever you identify as, the person who has just slipped their arm around you is likely to get a bit pissy. Roosters feel the same way.

For a more comprehesive view of rooster behaviour this article may prove interesting.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

Nope, it's not an article about dancing."

You're okay from 4) onwards.