Henry doesn't crow a lot. I've found having more than one rooster makes them crow more.
When there were nine males in Catalonia it was pretty noisy. One of the reasons roosters crow is to see if and where any other roosters are. If there is no reply there's no local competition. When they do get a reply what might seem like a crowing contest breaks out. Late afternoon I could pinpoint the tribe's locations by listening to this crowing exchange. I don't know if these crowing contests are some kind of challenge between the males. or something more complex. I lean towards more complex from experience.
I don't know what it is about BYC but this word dominance turns up a lot. People are advised to dominate their roosters, if the rooster shows any sign of hostility or even friendliness mistaken for hostility dominance comes into it somewhere.
Needless to say it's not in my dictionary of chicken language.
Henry crows when I'm close by sometimes. I cheer him on. I like the sound.
Cillin used to crow in my house in the morning while he was there. I'm not sure what the morning crowing is about. There must be a reason for it.
Only humans make sounds just for the sake of exercising their mouths.
I don't know.
My view of roosters is very different to the majority here I think. They talk more than the hens ime and the range of meanings they convey is not at all well understood. Yes they can be bossy but when one takes into account the pecks that get handed out by the hens, a herding shuffle here and a hackle flash there seems pretty moderate to me. Take all those sneaking digs that the hens hand out at roosting time.
Henry's interest in me is very limited. He'll check me out for treats he can give his hens. He'll sometimes come and stand by me when something has worried him. This could be for example when he's heading back to roost and there's a hen missing. He hasn't had enough experience of collecting his hens. Major for example would do more than one trip hen collecting at dusk if necessary as would Harold and all my uncles roosters.
So no, I don't think crowing near you is a sign of anything to do with ones presence. I've never had a crowing rooster launch an attack, or even look like I was meant to be the recipient of any information.
