Very Strange Rooster Behaviour

[gritsar]

I don't tolerate wing dancing. It's not cute. You are not a hen to court. You are the top rooster, be ye female or male.
I agree with goldenluver. Pick him up, carry him around. Humiliate him in front of the hens. You'll be glad you did later on.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[speckledhen]

He's bringing you down to the level of his woman, which is unacceptable here at my place. We treat it like aggression, which,quite often, it will become.

 

[CallyB57]

I have never laughed so hard in my whole life at some of these explanations for my darling little 'wing dragger'.

For the 'courting' explanations, I don't think he would stop it if I slept out in the garden with him - he probably would just roost on my head when I laid down. And sometimes, well.....his feet are really stinky, and I'm particular about my hair.
SpeckledHen - you might be right, but I hope not. When I go inside the house and he walks off down the hill toward the hen house and run where the other chickens are enclosed, he looks so....FORLORN. Truly it makes me sad, but he does have the BO to pal around with when she is not running from him. Both of these chickens are about 17 weeks old, but Hannibal has matured so much quicker than any of my other chickens. I will continue to hold him a little every day and will also start to carry a squirt bottle of water to shoo him away when I'm busy doing other things. Out of all my chickens, he is the only one that can be compared to a creature I saw on 'Jurassic Park'. Wish me luck, fellow BYC'ers.

 

[CallyB57]

Quote:
He has Opal Orpington to pal around with (and her feathers are beautiful), but he prefers Prissy, a small EE (not, I don't think, a bantam) that is in an enclosed pen with my Brahmas. I can't let him have access to Prissy, as she is what I would call a 'delicate' little lass. She is the first on the roost, the last off the roost, a picky eater, a frequent napper and totally docile. Hannibal has attacked her before, so I leave Opal Orpington to fend him off as she is much stronger and faster than Prissy.

 

[deidreschultz]

It is a dominance thing. We had a rooster that used to do that, and then the sucker started attacking us. Better let him know whose boss or you'll be having trouble soon. Good Luck

 

[AmyRey]

Interesting...

 

[CallyB57]

Quote:
Well...what is the MOST effective thing to be done without hurting Hannibal. Will the water bottle squirt do it? He does let me pick him up daily and does not try to avoid me when I reach down to get him, so, thinking that picking him up was a good idea..maybe it has backfired on me. Can you suggest other things I can do?

 

[StupidBird]

this site just gets better and better

I lucked out and don't have roosters this time. but the look on my teen son's face when I explained (in front of his gf) why his chicken kept squatting down when he pets it...priceless. and I thought I couldn't embarrass him anymore...

 

[deidreschultz]

I would just handle him alot. When he drops that wing pick him up and hold him for a few minutes. Just let him know whose boss. When he pecks you I'd give him a little kick. I don't mean for you to kick the crap out of him. Just hard enough to let him know. Then if it continues then kick the crap out of him. We found out the aggression just gets worse. Ours got so bad you couldn't walk into the back yard without him attacking us. He was mean. I can't remember what kind he was. good luck

 

[ams3651]

he is courting you, IE= challenging you. He wants you to be submissive like his hens. You have to give him a nudge or shoo him away when he does this to you, dont allow it. Picking him up and carrying him around is ok and is a show of dominace on your part. If you continue to let him do this he may turn on you. He may end up being the sweetest thing but it could go either way. WHen my rooster comes after me I pick him up and walk around the girls holding him, I swear you can see the shame in his face. Then walk away from the girls so he cant see them, this really bothers him and enforces Im the boss.