Some keepers have seen this and think the rooster is about to harm the chicks. To me and many others who observe their chickens and have males this is true imprinting until someone can come up with a more plausible explanation. It would seem that in this behaviour information is passed from the chick to the rooster and may work the other direction. Once this "imprinting" is done the relationship between the rooster and the chicks and the mother changes; it's almost impossible to describe how.
What information is passed in these exchanges? It would be really interesting to know. If it is just dad showing whose boss I think he's wasting his time. It's a bit like telling a six month old baby "I'm boss". It will probably giggle and fart a bit, but won't have a clue what you're on about.
So, this is one of those not often observed behaviours that we know very little about.
In the picture of Henry and Dig I posted the behaviour could be mistaken for a similar kind of imprinting but frankly looking at the them and having thought about it I think it more likely Henry was trying to get Dig to groom him.
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