Rooster Has Adopted Older Chicks

[Chickapee]

We have a rooster that is sweet and enjoys people. He even jumps onto our shoulder when we go into their enclosure. This spring, we bought three chicks to add to the flock. Our broody hen raised them for a few weeks, but it appears that he has now taken over. I observed him staying very close to them pretty consistently during the day, but we just peeked into the coop tonight and saw that the hen has returned to the perch and he's in the nesting box, cuddling the chicks. It's as if he's gone broody.

Another strange note: Days after we got these chicks, they were stolen from another hen. So this looks to me like they're on their third mom.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's a good rooster. The good ones look after chicks and try to feed them. I haven't had one try to brood them yet. What a good boy.

 

[centrarchid]

That is very cool. Somewhere I read the Romans used broody roosters for commercial chick rearing as they had to free-range rear. Red Jungle Fowl roosters do not appear to get broody but Gray Jungle Fowl may. Latter in ancestry of domestic chickens also. Our game roosters got broody frequently and I suspect strongly is had significant impacts on chick survival.

Below is account I made a couple years back on a broody rooster kept free-range around house.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-to-look-for-in-a-broody-rooster.882368/

Will be repeating this summer to make video of something really cool roosters do when broody.

 

[chickens really]

My Brahma Rooster loves all the Chicks my Broody Hens have raised...Once the Hen weans them Lester also gives them cuddles...If free ranging and something flies over head he Calls the alarm and all the Chicks run for the coop with Lester right on their heals..He then stands guard at the coop door and will cluck to let them know is safe to come back out....lol...
You have a great Rooster.....

Congrats

 

[lazy gardener]

What a good boy! My roo loves his babies! He tid bits them, and lets them pick food bits off his wattles and beak. He finds the best nests for his girls, and when I had a broody hen, he would often sit with her.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I'm envious...

 

[Chickapee]

That's great that it's a "thing" some roosters do! I feel better that there's not something wrong I know roosters can be hit or miss, but he seems to take after his dad. We rescued him from another place that didn't want him anymore but he was so nice that they didn't want him to meet a bad fate. Just a couple of mutts, but they're keepers.