The Rooster Thread!

[TheTwoRoos]

Generally my rooster shares big treats,and things he finds in the yard,but scratch gets the best of him.He will go as far as chasing certain hens out of his feeding area just for his spot of scratch,something he will not share.

 

[Robin37]

When our rooster Floki had become bully, we thought to humiliate him in front of hos flock. Read up on the technique ... hold him upside down for a good twenty minutes or so. Once he's calm, parade him in front of the flock. Did this ... see the photo (he's perfectly fine in the photo) ... didn't work. He was still a bully.

View attachment 1020057

At least you tried. I guess some roos can't be humiliated : )

 

[Mace Gill]

At least you tried. I guess some roos can't be humiliated : )

SORT of worked ... he didn't bully *me* at least!

 

[Caesar The Rooster]

I posted this on another thread about someone concerned with having more than one rooster. Maybe it will be of assistance to someone here.

ROOSTERS can live very well together, particularly if brought up together as yours were. But the term "Pecking Order" is not without merit. There will always be a big boss. When the big boss gets older and less virile, then a younger tough guy will de-throne him, and usually not without some intense scuffles. Once one of my boys lost an eye. These things sometimes happen. Others will try to mate and big boss will or will not chase them away. Chickens are extremely social creatures and in time you will see some pair off with their own little harem, and the females definitely establish a choice of males. The only big problem can come if you bring a previous big boy from some other place and make him fit into a situation where the pecking order is already established. If you are breeding and don't mind mutts (I love creating "mutts" because some can be quite exotic, for sure), keep a larger rooster and make sure the others are bantams. The bantams will fall in-line quickly and mister big Shot will enjoy their sycophantic servitude. Often smaller roosters will follow Mister Big Shot around like a Big Brother, more devoted than the hens. In my opinion the reason some people get scared of having more than one rooster is because they hear exaggerated horror stories and then freak out at the first scuffle between two boys. Think of them as tough guy kids on a playground and the hens as admiring but long-suffering schoolgirls and everything will fall right into place. We have had chickens for 10 years and started with a male barred rocked, two female br's, a male silver spangled hamburg and two female sph and have had boys and girls of all varieties ever since. The boys can be very handy. Besides providing fertility for more chicks, they can sometimes be fearsome protectors and my biggest boy literally managed to fight off a small hawk, and wore the huge scar on his comb proudly for the rest of his life, which was an extremely respectable 8 years.

I WOULD NOT LET THEM "LEARN THROUGH A FENCE". THIS ONLY INGRAINS HOSTILITY WHICH MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE TO UNTRAIN. Let them find their "pecking order". Sometimes a smaller extremely aggressive male will boss around a larger rooster. The best thing we have found is to introduce them as quickly as possible and only get between them if things look extremely bad. You'll know if fighting has been going on if they have bloody combs. The one thing you have to watch out for is that if a bird gets a cut in the comb which is very bloody, that will not be life-threatening in the conventional sense, but it will trigger an attack response in some birds who just flip out when they see a lot of blood. So if a rooster or hen gets a bit like a Sam PECKinpaw movie, separate him or her for a day or two and make sure to clean off any signs of blood. re-introduce them and while he or she might get chased, once again, the pecking order will be established.

If you don't know, they can be extremely devoted to each other, including girl BFF. Males can likewise be devoted. When our first and biggest Mister Big Shot, for whom this account is named, became very old and was muscled off the center of the playground, he took to standing by and protecting the also-very-old silver spangled hamburg hen for a good few years. They became inseparable. When she finally died, he was inconsolable - would not eat (maybe a little), lost his crow, his fight, the spark in his eye, everything, and died a few weeks later - we feel - from a broken heart.

It turns out that larger birds, like chickens and crows, have an extremely complex albeit miniaturized cerebral cortex which qualifies scientifically what many of us have seemed to witness: these birds are many times more complex as thinkers than the human race has previously given credit to them. They are not dumb beasts. they sure aren't Einsteins, but they are smarter and more savvy than most people understand; they can play games, trick you, quickly learn to avoid situation they do not like and do so in sometimes astoundingly clever ways . They are also keenly aware of your behavior, and if you extremely kind to them, they will surprise you with all manner of affection. How'd you like a bird that would fly to you when called and land and sit on your arm like a falcon? i had one. A male, which supposedly hate people. Find someone who is urban or otherwise did not grow up on a farm and let them raise chickens without the preconceived notions of what they are or should be and those of us from the 'burbs who have taken it up all agree - they can be pretty darn smart.

Your boys will work things out. Do not separate your brothers unless they are really going for blood. For all you know it will negatively effect the complex personalities most people don't believe that they have. They will work out their pecking order. They always do.

 

[Robin37]

Mace Gill, these are some pictures of the chickens that were supposed to be EEs and Wyandottes.

 

[Mace Gill]

Gorgeous! The yellow legs on the black birds aren't australorp legs, but if you're dealing with frankenchickens, hard to say!

 

[21hens-incharge]

That would be great! View attachment 1020131View attachment 1020132This is our Elsa "girl". Her tail was short and stubby for the longest time as a new chick, then her comb was more pink and slightly bigger, now her tail has caught up but I now notice wattles. She is also the watch dog of the younger group. Other 2 Australorps have lighter (but not by much) combs, no wattles.

At the 6.5 week mark you have a pullet! Jakes comb is much bigger.

 

[Mace Gill]

they can sometimes be fearsome protectors and my biggest boy literally managed to fight off a small hawk, and wore the huge scar on his comb proudly for the rest of his life, which was an extremely respectable 8 years.

Caesar gives sound advice! In my case, my two roosters were out for blood, and in my small yard with my small flock, one of them had to go. But, in speaking with old school farm folk, thems that keep multiple roosters, when they do have to cull some, they cull the GENTLE ones. The aggressive ones are better at warding off predators.

Caesar, I was never so proud of my rooster Coq Au Vin as when he chased off a small hawk in much the same way you describe.

 

[Robin37]

Not the white leghorn

 

[Robin37]

Gorgeous! The yellow legs on the black birds aren't australorp legs, but if you're dealing with frankenchickens, hard to say!

Lol. Only the black hen has blu or greenish legs