Share your stories of your amazing roosters!

[Happy Henny]

Hi,
I have a lot of cute stories of my chickens but the one that stands out the most is the story of my Black Ameraucana rooster, named Dotty. So, It was evening time so we went outside to close the chickens in. We had already closed in all of the coops except for the "Big Old Coop" as we call it. We walked over to the door and checked if every chicken was in there. We looked, but everyone except Dotty was in there! We looked everywhere for him for hours. Still no sign of him. After a long time, we gave up and just decided to think that he had been killed. Sadly, we walked back inside the house and went to bed. The next morning we woke up to let the chickens out and suddenly we saw Dotty! We picked him up and checked him for injuries. He had a hole in his back (whenever he crowed the hole would sputter blood) and all of his feathers were pulled out of his tail and hackles so he had hardly any feathers left on him. We put Blue-coat and Neosporin on all of his wounds. We also put him in a rabbit hutch by himself so he could heal and not get pecked by the other chickens. The hutch had a piece of wood that to close it you had to turn it. We also put him on layer crumble rather than layer pellets so it was easier for him to swallow. 1 week past and he was getting better. But one day I went out to let out the chickens again and the hutch was open! I quickly looked inside of the hutch to see if he was still in there but he was gone! I looked around for him or feathers and I found a big pile of feathers next to the fence so the animal that got him must've dragged him and tried to get him underneath the fence. This time I really thought that he was gone but when I was closing the chickens in that night I found him again! Overall he was ok but now he had like no feathers! I put him in the hutch but this time I leaned a bunch of poles onto the door. That night we went to the store and got some locks for the doors so whatever was getting in there couldn't get in there. We were going to put the locks on the next day. The next morning the hutch was open again and all of the poles had been knocked over! Again the rooster was gone! I completely was sure that he couldn't have survived this again but sure enough that evening, when I was closing them in he was roosting in a tree! This time his wing had a nasty scratch on it. We put blue-coat and Neosporin on the scratch too. After I was done I grabbed him and put him back into his hutch. That evening we put the locks on the hutch and now he is fully healed and he even lives with his wife (Our English Orpington hen) and all 10 of his children!


Does anyone else have amazing roosters? I always call him our "Bionic" chicken.

 

[ValerieJ]

Wow! That rooster has a will to live!!! What a great story! I'm so happy he made it!

I have not been lucky with roosters in the past, but I have 2 cockerels at the moment that I am committed to. I minimally want to keep them for the first year of their lives to see if I can get a nice rooster out of them. If both turn out great, then I'll figure out how to keep both of them.

This all started with a broody hen who just kept getting broody, no matter how many times I broke her of it. So, I ordered some hatching eggs for her, and wouldn't you know it, she was never broody again. I had to buy an incubator and do it for her.

Only one egg developed, so I picked up 3 Lavender Orpington chicks as brooder mates. I named the chick Pippi Longshot because I never expected her/him to hatch. But "he" did indeed hatch and grow with the 3. It was obvious almost from the beginning that one of the LOs was a cockerel, so I named him Mad Hatter. I named another one Absalom/Abby because I couldn't be sure what he/she was, and she turned out to be an Abby. The 3rd LO is Alice, of course. The 4 were inseparable, with the 3 larger LOs taking Pippi under their wings. What a joy it was to watch them.

Now, 4 1/2 months later, the boys have been feeling their oats. I've tried putting Pippi in with the hens, but he's too young, clumsy and almost aggressive with them, so that came to an end. I tried Alice and Abby in with the hens and they liked it during the day, but wanted to be with Pippi and Mad at night. So I did that shuffle a couple times. Then Mad got extremely protective of them while at the same time being aggressive with them to keep them "in line" and away from me. Yesterday it became obvious that the pullets needed to be taken from him until he gets a little older, and they get older too. So, Pippi and Mad Hatter are sharing a pen. Lucy, my sweet older BO, has the pullets with her in a separate coop & run, and all the other hens are in a 3rd run.

Yesterday was a long and difficult day for everyone concerned! Pippi and Mad were both convinced we were going to kill their Abby and Alice. This morning Mad's crow sounded downright mournful. When I let Alice and Abby out of the coop and they wandered down the fence line near Mad he started cooing softly to them.

I'm happy you started this thread! I hope lots of people come in with cockerel/rooster stories. I'm reading every article and thread I can to figure out how to make this work for these guys. They are having a tough time right now, but they are adorable!

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I don't have a rooster, but I want to follow this thread and read all the wonderful rooster stories!

@Happy Henny - did you ever find out what kept getting your chicken?

 

[Abriana]

Hello!
I have a very brave rooster named Napoleon, he's three year old Columbian Rock. Once when we were out of town and had left our chickens with some neighbors, a hawk decided to try for a snack. As the hawk came down Napoleon herded the hens under the trailer, and then ran out and attacked the hawk, pulling out a tail feather. Our neighbors witnessed the entire thing and even still have the tail feather. Another time I arrived home to find tons of feathers scattered around the yard--Napoleon's sickle feathers and the feathers of my Cuckoo Maran hen. I was terrified, of course, but when I counted the hens were all there, but the Cuckoo Maran was missing feathers and had a wound in her side (pretty small, but like a talon wound). I didn't see anything, but I'm assuming Napoleon got into a scuffle with the hawk and won. He is excellent at warning the ladies of passing danger and even attempts to attack our dogs (through the fence, although Beau has jumped in through the gate before and the rooster chased him around and around, Beau loved it, he antagonizes the rooster to chase him until I tell him to quit it). He is only seven and a half pounds! He is small but mighty (or so he thinks).

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I'd love to see a picture of your rooster and dog.

 

[Abriana]

I'd love to see a picture of your rooster and dog.

Beau and Charlie, Beau is the big one, the little one is Beau's son, Charlie.

And here is Napoleon, I don't have any really good full body shots right now but I can get some later

 

[Happy Henny]

I don't have a rooster, but I want to follow this thread and read all the wonderful rooster stories!

@Happy Henny - did you ever find out what kept getting your chicken?

Not exactly, but we think it was either an Australian Shepard dog that has been attacking chickens around our neighborhood or a raccoon.

 

[Happy Henny]

Wow! That rooster has a will to live!!! What a great story! I'm so happy he made it!

I have not been lucky with roosters in the past, but I have 2 cockerels at the moment that I am committed to. I minimally want to keep them for the first year of their lives to see if I can get a nice rooster out of them. If both turn out great, then I'll figure out how to keep both of them.

This all started with a broody hen who just kept getting broody, no matter how many times I broke her of it. So, I ordered some hatching eggs for her, and wouldn't you know it, she was never broody again. I had to buy an incubator and do it for her.

Only one egg developed, so I picked up 3 Lavender Orpington chicks as brooder mates. I named the chick Pippi Longshot because I never expected her/him to hatch. But "he" did indeed hatch and grow with the 3. It was obvious almost from the beginning that one of the LOs was a cockerel, so I named him Mad Hatter. I named another one Absalom/Abby because I couldn't be sure what he/she was, and she turned out to be an Abby. The 3rd LO is Alice, of course. The 4 were inseparable, with the 3 larger LOs taking Pippi under their wings. What a joy it was to watch them.

Now, 4 1/2 months later, the boys have been feeling their oats. I've tried putting Pippi in with the hens, but he's too young, clumsy and almost aggressive with them, so that came to an end. I tried Alice and Abby in with the hens and they liked it during the day, but wanted to be with Pippi and Mad at night. So I did that shuffle a couple times. Then Mad got extremely protective of them while at the same time being aggressive with them to keep them "in line" and away from me. Yesterday it became obvious that the pullets needed to be taken from him until he gets a little older, and they get older too. So, Pippi and Mad Hatter are sharing a pen. Lucy, my sweet older BO, has the pullets with her in a separate coop & run, and all the other hens are in a 3rd run.

Yesterday was a long and difficult day for everyone concerned! Pippi and Mad were both convinced we were going to kill their Abby and Alice. This morning Mad's crow sounded downright mournful. When I let Alice and Abby out of the coop and they wandered down the fence line near Mad he started cooing softly to them.

I'm happy you started this thread! I hope lots of people come in with cockerel/rooster stories. I'm reading article and thread I can to figure out how to make this work for these guys. They are having a tough time right now, but they are adorable!

Thank You! I love the names you picked out for your chickens! Good luck with getting it all to work out.

 

[TwoCrows]

I just love roosters and want to follow along on this thread too!!

 

[ValerieJ]

This is Pippi.

This Mad

This is Abby and Alice

Everyone is peaceful in the hen and pullet pens. Wish I could say the same for Mad and Pip. Mad’s Going to go hoarse from crowing and Pip is going to wear himself out pacing the fence line. Poor babies.

Not to hurt their feelings, I took a picture of the hens, all except Bee is in the one. I think she is inside laying.