Rooster Clucks like a HEN....?

[ChickenLittlez]

Hi guys so I have a New Hampshire Red Rooster, that up until this point has been very "Roosterly". He crowed, he mounted the hens, he fought off other potential rivals etc. But now he has started clucking like a hen and has not crowed in over 2 weeks.

Some additional facts:
He is all by himself. No other roosters, no other hens.
He is molting.
but other than that nothing else is different.
And yes he is a male, I have had him going on our soon to be 3rd winter now.


Sooooo.... has anyone else experienced this????
I have heard of females crowing when there are no roosters around, some even going as far as mounting other hens, but never a rooster clucking like a hen.

So any feed back you guys have would be great! I am very curious to hear what you guys might have to say!

~Chicken Littlez

 

[ChickenGrit]

Maybe he is "down" because of molting?

My rooster does the egg song and will stand in the nesting box. It's as if he is showing the girls where to sit.

 

[ramirezframing]

What happened to his ladies? If he has been alone for 2 weeks, he sounds depressed. Chickens are group animals and can get depressed when not with any other chickens.

 

[ChickenLittlez]

Yeah I did consider that he might be like this because he is molting. I know it causes the chicken's stress levels to be higher, but I would have thought molting would have a tendency to make them more aggressive.

Haha mine does the egg song too! He will make up a nest for the hens and Sing extremely loud until he calls some over to lay eggs.
But he has always done this so I don't think that has been a part of his behavior change. :/

 

[ChickenLittlez]

I had to find homes for my girls with another farmer. We were moving and I could not take them where I was going. The farmer refused our rooster saying if we left him there he would kill him (the farmer was also a hardcore hunter....at the time it was our only option). But he was perfectly fine with egg laying hens. And the hens would be much happier being with a larger flock anyway (they were only 4 strong). Also being with a larger flock the pecking order would be better distributed. So I reluctantly left my girls there with his chickens

I then managed to take our wonderful Rooster with us, and he temporarily stays at my inlaws, they have a bit of land, but I would like to find a better situation for him. He really needs a home where he will not be killed and he can have his own ladies. So I have been on the search for a KIND person who will not kill my handsome, gentle rooster.


He has been without chicken companions since around July 10th and the Hen clucking has only recently showed up in the last week. He has not crowed in a little over two weeks. He gets ALOT of attention from me and the surrounding neighborhood kids (I know it is not chicken companionship, but I do realize he might be lonely so I try my best to keep him occupied and busy) The kids like to catch bugs for him to eat Its really quite amusing watching them run around the yard catching crickets just to give to our Rooster He seems to enjoy it lol