Spurless Roo?

[Mac]

Okay, I'm Mac who inherited 11 chickens with the farm I just bought. In the four days I've had chickens I've cleaned out the coop, made new nesting boxes, added veggies and fruit (non-citrus), oyster shell etc. and everyone seems pretty happy. Although I'm not living there yet, I'm there everyday and spend a lot of time with my chickens. One RIR hen took a piece of watermelon from my hand this morning.

Now the question. I have two RIR roos. Only one (the alleged Alpha) has spurs. Are roos ever born without them, or have "Larry the Loser's" (previous owner's name for Beta) spurs been removed? They are about 3 years old. Also, despite what the previous owner's say about Larry being shy, he is the one who approaches me. The other guy stays away. Short of being pecked, I can't tell if he is being agressive or just curious about the food I'm holding out. He does look at me, but he doesn't fluff out his feathers or try to appear larger. I DID decide that sitting on the edge of the coop and feeding them at eye level isn't a good thing if the roos are there. Someone gave me a great link to understanding roo behavior, but I'm at a loss about Larry, and why he has no spurs. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Mac

 

[davecash]

whats the site bout roo behavior?

 

[Mac]

Here is the site sent to me.

http://shilala.homestead.com/roosters.html

 

[Alleyoops25]

I have had some roos that didnt get any spurs either, it might be something genetic.

 

[Mac]

Oh, possibly genetic. Well, thats good to hear. I'd hate to think I had a roo that had his spurs whacked off by the previous owners for reasons I shudder to think about.
Thanks.

 

[Alleyoops25]

I actually just posted in another thread that I just removed the spurs off our roosters. Our hens were literally getting torn apart by them. I did what peoplehere told me to do. I took pliers and twisted them off. The still have this soft under layer of their spurs and eventually they will harden and grow out agian. And it was nothing more than removing the hard outer layer of the spur. Not to pain ful for them they really didnt even act like it hurt coming off we just laid them down and put some bread in front of them. While they were going to town on the bresd I removed the spur. It keeps, my hens from getting aweful cuts, and allows the roos to be kept with the hens, not in my freezer.