@Peanutsmomma was here today for a short visit as they started back to their home in Alabama from their high mountain vacation in NC. She got to meet the Hector and Apollo and fell in love with my munchkin rooster, Xander. Plus, she saw first-hand how mild-mannered Apollo is as he was chased by both Xander and Hector several times each. Poor Apollo can't even mate his own girls if Xander is around.
Awhile ago, I was cleaning out Hector's pen when I heard a hen screaming. Hector had grabbed Rita and was trying his best to do what comes naturally. Rita was having none of it. She got away and ran out the roll-up door with Hector on her tail. He got her again but didn't have a good grip and she got loose and I picked her up and stepped in front of Hector, put my finger in his face and said, "NO, Hector! MY girl! NO!". It was really another temperament test. He could have just flogged me right then and there, but he just looked up at me and backed off. He did dance up to me, looking at her, but didn't bite or flog. Rita is older and scary-thin from her molt and recent crop issue we fixed so she is rather frail, not a suitable candidate for a tryst with a clumsy young male.
That is really the first time I've seen Hector make a real attempt at mating.
ETA: New story for you. Started out to be a Brahma story, repeating it for you here on this thread, but it ended up being a Hector story.
This afternoon, I was trying to get the various groups back in their respective pens in the barn. I had a jar of scratch and was in front of the Brahmas' pen when Bruno, the largest cockerel (20 weeks old), and three of the girls came running into the barn toward me. I was about to remove the lid and toss some in the tray under their feeder for them when Bruno lunged at me and bit me hard on the side of my leg. Unfortunately, I had just changed from jeans into shorts because it got fairly warm this afternoon and he scraped some skin off and will probably have given me a pretty good bruise there. Needless to say, that group got no scratch and I am now wondering if I can even keep Bruno. I will NOT do any aversion therapy other than grab him and pop him on the back of the head if I can catch him when he bites, but if this is leading up to flogging, I won't tolerate it, period. I have zero patience for that, especially from a male who is becoming as large as he is now. So, he will not get the consideration that Hector did because he's the age where he is less likely to be changed.
This is the part that concerns Hector. Hector apparently heard the ruckus (when Bruno did it, I grabbed for him and got his tail and he was hollering to beat the band for me to let go so he could get away) and came tearing into the barn. roaring his head off, ready to do battle with the offender as any good rooster should have done. I wonder what would have happened if he'd seen Bruno attack me. Hector is really shaping up to be an excellent flock leader.
