Water Obsession?

[Wolf-Kim]

I'm not the least bit worried about it, just thought I would share and see if anyone else has seen or dealt with this.

I have an older Blue Giant cockerel, that I got for some breeding projects. He spent most of his time in an individual cage until his quarantine was over and until he reached a size large enough that his intergration wouldn't be an issue. So now he is inside the main flock and I've been noticing very strange behavior from him.

He is absolutely obsessed with water, either on the ground or in their bowls. I use cut-up 5 gallon buckets for my main flock waterers. He is constantly looking at and biting at the water's surface. Sometimes, I find him standing in one water bucket with water up to his keel "attacking" the water in the next bucket. It has gotten to the point I have to make the flock drink from the buckets through the fence, just to keep him out of the water.

He'll step in and out and in and out, snap at it some more and then repeat the whole process. In just a couple of days, I will have a couple of inches of dirt in the water buckets from being tracked in by his feet. The water soons becomes mud, but it does not deter him. I've watched to see if he is striking at anything in particular, but no, nothing is being targeted other than the water. I have even witnessed the weirdo chasing the younger chicks away from the waterer, while he is obsessing over it.

Any ideas anyone? He is quite the strange one. I'm wondering if this has happened to any of the other 12,000 BYCers.

-Kim

 

[icthus]

Maybe he sees his reflection in the water and thinks it is another rooster?

 

[chickenannie]

I assume it's the reflection of the "other" rooster. Did you name him Narcissus?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I was thinking that may be it, but then he also exhibits the same behavior toward the flow of water coming directly out of the water hose, or even wet soil. He is a strange thing. He does it whether the water it clean or so muddy you cannot see anything in it.

I'll have to carry a mirror out to the coop and see if he goes for the mirror. LOL

He is low on the pecking order, not quite at breeding age. He "should" be breeding, but I guess because Giants are such slow growers he's not quite there yet.

I'll have to get a video of him or something one of these days.

-Kim

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
No, but I'll have to now, huh?

-Kim

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
At what age did you get this rooster ?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

He was several weeks old. I don't have an exact age. He was fully feathered and still hanging out in the brooder. His combs and wattles are now red.

Why, may I ask?

-Kim

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
I was thinking if he had a previous owner , maybe they had hosed him down , or was thrown in a bucket of water , OR ANYTHING that might explain this obsession . BUT since that is not the case , I am lost . MAYBE try and HANG that water container higher where he can NOT get inside of it . That might help the problem with the dirt inside the water . OR simply give him his own 5 gallon bucket of water and let him DO as he wishes . LOL

 

[Beanbag]

I have 5 chicks ranging from 4 weeks down to 1 week, and all but 1 of them go insane when I re-fill their water, they even chase after my hand when I have the water bowl in my hand. 3 of them are Jersey Black Giants and the other is my frizzle cochin banty. I am beginning to wonder if its a learned behavior because my frizzle didn't start doing it until he saw the others do it a few times.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
I was thinking if he had a previous owner , maybe they had hosed him down , or was thrown in a bucket of water , OR ANYTHING that might explain this obsession . BUT since that is not the case , I am lost . MAYBE try and HANG that water container higher where he can NOT get inside of it . That might help the problem with the dirt inside the water . OR simply give him his own 5 gallon bucket of water and let him DO as he wishes . LOL

Oh okay. I just was trying to figure out your train of thought. LOL

I know his previous owner, a friend of mine. He babies ALL his chickens and he has several hundred of them. He is so funny.

I have the buckets sitting on the other side of the fence. The fence is large enough that all the chickens can reach their head through and drink, but they can't get into the water. It works, he still attacks the water through the fence, but cannot track dirt into it. LOL

-Kim