Weird Rooster behaviour

[Shadrach]

Hey, there's plenty of folk that read these comments and ALL of us are learning no matter at what stage of rooster ownership.
No need to be the mean girl in the coop!
It was a good comment till your last paragraph!!!!

Yup, sorry about that. I'm a complete hot head. I get so angry when I read some of the stuff written about roosters. I need a minder/editor and the comment wasn't really directed at you.
We all need to learn and I need to learn to keep my passion for the plight of the rooster under better control. I won't edit the post. I've written what I've written.
However, you are right and I should know better.

 

[Shadrach]

Lets see if I can make amends for my earlier outburst.
This is Treacle. He's a cockerel and he's 7 months old. He lives with a small group of chickens called Tribe 1.He's the one in the foreground.

Treacles father is the senior rooster in Tribe 1. His mother and his sisters also live in this tribe. There are 7 chickens in the tribe in total. There are two senior hens 9 and 7 years old and the rest are under 2 years old. There are 4 such tribes here atm.
When Treacle was a very young chick, he and his mother got attacked by a Goshawk. His mother was badly injured fighting the Goshawk, protecting her chick. They both lived.
They both lived in my house for over two weeks while the mother hens wounds healed.
Despite getting regular visits from the rest of their tribe (the chickens come and go as they please in my house) the chick imprinted me as part of the tribe; as far as the chick was concerned I was some sort of very strange chicken I imagine. Many animals do imprint whatever they have most contact with when they are young.
Because I needed to tend to the wounds of the hen I inevitably handled the chick much more than normal.
The story is here if you care to read it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-it-better-to-let-them-die.1268732/page-4#post-20418031

So, that is the first important point. If you have a lot of contact with a chick the chick imprints you as 'one of us'.
The chick, Treacle grew to be a cockerel and because his family spent a lot of time in my house the impression that I belonged to the tribe was further reinforced.
A bit over a month ago this cockerel (Treacle) hormones kicked in and he became interested in mating. At first, he tried to mate with the other hens but the senior hens would just bash him and his father would chase him away from the others. The only mating opportunity he had was me. At first, being very young he would rush at my feet and try to grab something to hold on to in order to mate.
Many people misunderstand this and get frightened by a cockerel rushing at them and apparently pecking them and attribute this to aggressive or dominating behavior. It's interesting that the same vocabulary and reaction isn't applicable to humans when they mate.
The cockerel has zero aggressive intent, he's just trying to mate and being young he a) isn't very subtle about it and b) not very adept at it.
As humans we don't beat our partners with sticks, or kill them for wanting to mate.
As far as Treacle is concerned I'm part of the tribe and therefore fair game.
For a couple of weeks Treacle was a regular adornment to my boot. I would go to take a step and there would be treacle trying to hang on and further his genes. As time passed and he watched other chickens mating and courting he realised that he should refine his courting and ask permission. Now, he will rush up to me and stop a few inches from my feet. If I stand still (the equivalent of a hen crouching in his eyes) then he will mate with my boot. What he liked best was to be picked up and held for a few moments which I did (I've had other roosters imprint me in the past and I know what to expect)
The next point. Not once has Treacle shown any signs of aggression towards me, nor have any of the others that have imprinted me in the past. If I just keep walking when he flies at me like a lover who has been separated from their partner for days, he backs off and waits for another opportunity.
The next point. If however you kick, beat, try to frighten or intimidate a cockerel that does this you start the aggressive behavior and eventually the cockerel will grow in confidence and will try to dominate you. As far as he is concerned if you are in his tribe/group he has the right to mate with you and there is no amount of reasoning or aggressive behavior towards him that will change his belief. You may scare and intimidate him enough for him to stop the action but you won't change his belief that he has the right.
So, here are a couple of pictures of Treacle making love to my boot.

I don't mind. it doesn't last long. He's happy. I'm happy he's happy. Nobody gets hurt. It doesn't cost money and even better, he isn't pestering the hens while he learns how to get them to crouch for him.

In the past, the cockerels have matured, realize that while i may be part of the tribe I'm not a hen and not very good at the sex bit. They also realise I don't lay eggs and it's all a bit pointless. Bit by bit, they've stopped rushing across the fields to greet me; I don't get the morning herding shuffle, or the affectionate peck on the boot; a bit of a shame really but they grow up.
However, those weeks of patience and understanding pay great dividends once they grow up. None of the roosters, or cockerels here are scared of me. It's been many years since I've had a rooster show me any real aggression. I accept that the hens in each group belong to the rooster and not me and when i deal with the chickens here I always keep this in mind; they are not my hens. They belong to the senior rooster of the group.
I have absolutely no desire to show a creature that has a body weight of less than one twentieth of mine and doesn't stand much taller than my knee joint that I am the boss.
I can't do the job a rooster does.
Treacle is spending less and less time attached to my boot now. I can pick him up at any point during the day. He knows when I say 'don't' that he shouldn't. The hens are slowley getting used to the new man in the tribe. He watches his father and me and is learning what his role is in the order of things.
In a couple of weeks he wont bother with me. I'll get dumped.

 

[Biddybot]

deedledumpling1: Since your naughty rooster is so highly invested in looking after his girls, have you tried taking advantage of this by 'helping' him feed his hens? Best done when you place yourself somewhat down to their level and sit on a bench or two-step footstool or whatever...something that gets you close enough to hand food to individual birds. Offer something that your chickens really, really like (mine love crappy old white bread...it's like crack to them, who knows why), but give it to your rooster at first to distribute. If he's the dedicated flock leader you think he is, he should immediately start with the tidbitting routine and let a hen snatch the food from his mouth. Keep repeating and toss bits on the ground as well...what you're doing here is appealing to your rooster's nurturing/protective instincts, which'll hopefully and quite likely override his aggressiveness towards you in the short term. Eventually, your rooster will also likely think his girls have had had enough and start looking to eat some of the treats himself. This is when you start distracting the hens by tossing large amounts of food on the ground, and while they're scrabbling around for it, you hand a treat to your rooster during those vital few seconds when he's being left in peace enough to swallow anything at all. The first time he'll eat a treat you hand him directly while he's at the same time watching his girls eat food that you're likewise providing could well be the start of a whole change of attitude on his part as to how he views you.

This 'helpful provider' routine is one which I find works very well towards establishing a good--well, working relationship, I guess--between you and a flock rooster. You're demonstrating that you're useful at helping feed his hens and harmless to them, yet you're also acknowledging him as the leader who's deserving of a little extra individual attention, hence the hand-feeding. Roosters like this. After a while, they learn to make it very clear when they've had enough of tidbitting and 'helping' you feed their hens and instead would like their own share of the treats now please, and I swear they quite appreciate the subterfuge involved in trying to slip them food sometimes with the hens still there and will sidle themselves into advantageous positions. But again, you need to be sitting down near their level to dole out the goodies effectively. Hard to do, I know, with a rooster who's already given you a hard time, but honestly, I think you might be pleasantly surprised by your bad boy's behaviour. Just be sure to take your own version of a metal garbage can lid in with you at first, just in case!

The sort of thing I just described is something I would have tried to win over that aggressive Australorp rooster I wrote about in the earlier post had I owned him myself. I would have done the feeding bit every day, plus insisted on daily handling under the guise of examining him, etc, and gotten him to the point of standing reliably on my knee, preferably while sitting with him right in his run while surrounded by his harem. I really think that rooster was redeemable. The fact that he backed down and ran after a single correction told me a lot. He just didn't know any better or have any manners yet, and that's really on us humans, to teach them otherwise.

 

[Wendy Case]

Yup, sorry about that. I'm a complete hot head. I get so angry when I read some of the stuff written about roosters. I need a minder/editor and the comment wasn't really directed at you.
We all need to learn and I need to learn to keep my passion for the plight of the rooster under better control. I won't edit the post. I've written what I've written.
However, you are right and I should know better.

Thank you Shadrach. I know it wasn't aimed at me as I already know about that 'dance' to move the girls along, and the hens grooming the cockeral/rooster, I was thinking of those that didn't but do now, who would be quite hurt. After all, the terminology you talk about is widely used and understood by many, the actions to that same terminology can and is interpreted differently by many too.
I'm the opposite. I think of people who would be offended by a comment. And I will call a person out. I guess that's my decades of training.
I appreciate your apology. Thank you.

 

[Wendy Case]

Lets see if I can make amends for my earlier outburst.
This is Treacle. He's a cockerel and he's 7 months old. He lives with a small group of chickens called Tribe 1.He's the one in the foreground.
View attachment 1695831

Treacles father is the senior rooster in Tribe 1. His mother and his sisters also live in this tribe. There are 7 chickens in the tribe in total. There are two senior hens 9 and 7 years old and the rest are under 2 years old. There are 4 such tribes here atm.
When Treacle was a very young chick, he and his mother got attacked by a Goshawk. His mother was badly injured fighting the Goshawk, protecting her chick. They both lived.
They both lived in my house for over two weeks while the mother hens wounds healed.
Despite getting regular visits from the rest of their tribe (the chickens come and go as they please in my house) the chick imprinted me as part of the tribe; as far as the chick was concerned I was some sort of very strange chicken I imagine. Many animals do imprint whatever they have most contact with when they are young.
Because I needed to tend to the wounds of the hen I inevitably handled the chick much more than normal.
The story is here if you care to read it.
View attachment 1695828

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-it-better-to-let-them-die.1268732/page-4#post-20418031

So, that is the first important point. If you have a lot of contact with a chick the chick imprints you as 'one of us'.
The chick, Treacle grew to be a cockerel and because his family spent a lot of time in my house the impression that I belonged to the tribe was further reinforced.
A bit over a month ago this cockerel (Treacle) hormones kicked in and he became interested in mating. At first, he tried to mate with the other hens but the senior hens would just bash him and his father would chase him away from the others. The only mating opportunity he had was me. At first, being very young he would rush at my feet and try to grab something to hold on to in order to mate.
Many people misunderstand this and get frightened by a cockerel rushing at them and apparently pecking them and attribute this to aggressive or dominating behavior. It's interesting that the same vocabulary and reaction isn't applicable to humans when they mate.
The cockerel has zero aggressive intent, he's just trying to mate and being young he a) isn't very subtle about it and b) not very adept at it.
As humans we don't beat our partners with sticks, or kill them for wanting to mate.
As far as Treacle is concerned I'm part of the tribe and therefore fair game.
For a couple of weeks Treacle was a regular adornment to my boot. I would go to take a step and there would be treacle trying to hang on and further his genes. As time passed and he watched other chickens mating and courting he realised that he should refine his courting and ask permission. Now, he will rush up to me and stop a few inches from my feet. If I stand still (the equivalent of a hen crouching in his eyes) then he will mate with my boot. What he liked best was to be picked up and held for a few moments which I did (I've had other roosters imprint me in the past and I know what to expect)
The next point. Not once has Treacle shown any signs of aggression towards me, nor have any of the others that have imprinted me in the past. If I just keep walking when he flies at me like a lover who has been separated from their partner for days, he backs off and waits for another opportunity.
The next point. If however you kick, beat, try to frighten or intimidate a cockerel that does this you start the aggressive behavior and eventually the cockerel will grow in confidence and will try to dominate you. As far as he is concerned if you are in his tribe/group he has the right to mate with you and there is no amount of reasoning or aggressive behavior towards him that will change his belief. You may scare and intimidate him enough for him to stop the action but you won't change his belief that he has the right.
So, here are a couple of pictures of Treacle making love to my boot.
View attachment 1695829
View attachment 1695830

I don't mind. it doesn't last long. He's happy. I'm happy he's happy. Nobody gets hurt. It doesn't cost money and even better, he isn't pestering the hens while he learns how to get them to crouch for him.

In the past, the cockerels have matured, realize that while i may be part of the tribe I'm not a hen and not very good at the sex bit. They also realise I don't lay eggs and it's all a bit pointless. Bit by bit, they've stopped rushing across the fields to greet me; I don't get the morning herding shuffle, or the affectionate peck on the boot; a bit of a shame really but they grow up.
However, those weeks of patience and understanding pay great dividends once they grow up. None of the roosters, or cockerels here are scared of me. It's been many years since I've had a rooster show me any real aggression. I accept that the hens in each group belong to the rooster and not me and when i deal with the chickens here I always keep this in mind; they are not my hens. They belong to the senior rooster of the group.
I have absolutely no desire to show a creature that has a body weight of less than one twentieth of mine and doesn't stand much taller than my knee joint that I am the boss.
I can't do the job a rooster does.
Treacle is spending less and less time attached to my boot now. I can pick him up at any point during the day. He knows when I say 'don't' that he shouldn't. The hens are slowley getting used to the new man in the tribe. He watches his father and me and is learning what his role is in the order of things.
In a couple of weeks he wont bother with me. I'll get dumped.

That's a great story and a great learning curve! I love Treacles' name, he's a stunner.
I certainly wish my cockeral would have behaved that way instead of taking a chunk out of my leg with no warning! Once he's caught and held he's a sweetheart. But still considers me a rebel in the run!
Thanks for sharing... I'm off to read the link.

 

[deedledumpling1]

Shadrach, I thank you very much for explaining how you have helped your Roosters be accepting, but also how we should act in order to be accepted by them. It is after all a two way street! Biddybot, I also thank you for the description of offering treats to the hens, and to the rooster, and the best method for us to fit in with their behavior and not the other way around. I truly appreciate all of you for your input in this matter.

That being said, when I go in and sit on the cinderblock which I did from the beginning, he will stare me down but goes about his own business. And before the winter, I frequently would feed the hens if they came to me. And I wasn't attacked! now that the weather is getting warmer, and it is easier to sit on the cinderblock for a while, and the time is changing tonight *YEAH*, I will attempt to go back to how I started with them, leave the big weapons out of the coop, and sit at their level and commune with them and the remains of my loaf of French Bread!!!

I truly appreciate all of your thoughtful input in this matter. I've just spent the last hour soaking a 5 day old Lavender Ameraucana's butt in warm water and hair drying her off for some pasty butt! I do hope she will be OK. thanks again!

 

[MROO]

Lets see if I can make amends for my earlier outburst.
This is Treacle. He's a cockerel and he's 7 months old. He lives with a small group of chickens called Tribe 1.He's the one in the foreground.
View attachment 1695831

Treacles father is the senior rooster in Tribe 1. His mother and his sisters also live in this tribe. There are 7 chickens in the tribe in total. There are two senior hens 9 and 7 years old and the rest are under 2 years old. There are 4 such tribes here atm.
When Treacle was a very young chick, he and his mother got attacked by a Goshawk. His mother was badly injured fighting the Goshawk, protecting her chick. They both lived.
They both lived in my house for over two weeks while the mother hens wounds healed.
Despite getting regular visits from the rest of their tribe (the chickens come and go as they please in my house) the chick imprinted me as part of the tribe; as far as the chick was concerned I was some sort of very strange chicken I imagine. Many animals do imprint whatever they have most contact with when they are young.
Because I needed to tend to the wounds of the hen I inevitably handled the chick much more than normal.
The story is here if you care to read it.
View attachment 1695828

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-it-better-to-let-them-die.1268732/page-4#post-20418031

So, that is the first important point. If you have a lot of contact with a chick the chick imprints you as 'one of us'.
The chick, Treacle grew to be a cockerel and because his family spent a lot of time in my house the impression that I belonged to the tribe was further reinforced.
A bit over a month ago this cockerel (Treacle) hormones kicked in and he became interested in mating. At first, he tried to mate with the other hens but the senior hens would just bash him and his father would chase him away from the others. The only mating opportunity he had was me. At first, being very young he would rush at my feet and try to grab something to hold on to in order to mate.
Many people misunderstand this and get frightened by a cockerel rushing at them and apparently pecking them and attribute this to aggressive or dominating behavior. It's interesting that the same vocabulary and reaction isn't applicable to humans when they mate.
The cockerel has zero aggressive intent, he's just trying to mate and being young he a) isn't very subtle about it and b) not very adept at it.
As humans we don't beat our partners with sticks, or kill them for wanting to mate.
As far as Treacle is concerned I'm part of the tribe and therefore fair game.
For a couple of weeks Treacle was a regular adornment to my boot. I would go to take a step and there would be treacle trying to hang on and further his genes. As time passed and he watched other chickens mating and courting he realised that he should refine his courting and ask permission. Now, he will rush up to me and stop a few inches from my feet. If I stand still (the equivalent of a hen crouching in his eyes) then he will mate with my boot. What he liked best was to be picked up and held for a few moments which I did (I've had other roosters imprint me in the past and I know what to expect)
The next point. Not once has Treacle shown any signs of aggression towards me, nor have any of the others that have imprinted me in the past. If I just keep walking when he flies at me like a lover who has been separated from their partner for days, he backs off and waits for another opportunity.
The next point. If however you kick, beat, try to frighten or intimidate a cockerel that does this you start the aggressive behavior and eventually the cockerel will grow in confidence and will try to dominate you. As far as he is concerned if you are in his tribe/group he has the right to mate with you and there is no amount of reasoning or aggressive behavior towards him that will change his belief. You may scare and intimidate him enough for him to stop the action but you won't change his belief that he has the right.
So, here are a couple of pictures of Treacle making love to my boot.
View attachment 1695829
View attachment 1695830

I don't mind. it doesn't last long. He's happy. I'm happy he's happy. Nobody gets hurt. It doesn't cost money and even better, he isn't pestering the hens while he learns how to get them to crouch for him.

In the past, the cockerels have matured, realize that while i may be part of the tribe I'm not a hen and not very good at the sex bit. They also realise I don't lay eggs and it's all a bit pointless. Bit by bit, they've stopped rushing across the fields to greet me; I don't get the morning herding shuffle, or the affectionate peck on the boot; a bit of a shame really but they grow up.
However, those weeks of patience and understanding pay great dividends once they grow up. None of the roosters, or cockerels here are scared of me. It's been many years since I've had a rooster show me any real aggression. I accept that the hens in each group belong to the rooster and not me and when i deal with the chickens here I always keep this in mind; they are not my hens. They belong to the senior rooster of the group.
I have absolutely no desire to show a creature that has a body weight of less than one twentieth of mine and doesn't stand much taller than my knee joint that I am the boss.
I can't do the job a rooster does.
Treacle is spending less and less time attached to my boot now. I can pick him up at any point during the day. He knows when I say 'don't' that he shouldn't. The hens are slowley getting used to the new man in the tribe. He watches his father and me and is learning what his role is in the order of things.
In a couple of weeks he wont bother with me. I'll get dumped.

This has been one of the most informative, yet entertaining things I've read in a looooong time! Thanks for the info ... and the smiles!

 

[MROO]

deedledumpling1: Since your naughty rooster is so highly invested in looking after his girls, have you tried taking advantage of this by 'helping' him feed his hens? Best done when you place yourself somewhat down to their level and sit on a bench or two-step footstool or whatever...something that gets you close enough to hand food to individual birds. Offer something that your chickens really, really like (mine love crappy old white bread...it's like crack to them, who knows why), but give it to your rooster at first to distribute. If he's the dedicated flock leader you think he is, he should immediately start with the tidbitting routine and let a hen snatch the food from his mouth. Keep repeating and toss bits on the ground as well...what you're doing here is appealing to your rooster's nurturing/protective instincts, which'll hopefully and quite likely override his aggressiveness towards you in the short term. Eventually, your rooster will also likely think his girls have had had enough and start looking to eat some of the treats himself. This is when you start distracting the hens by tossing large amounts of food on the ground, and while they're scrabbling around for it, you hand a treat to your rooster during those vital few seconds when he's being left in peace enough to swallow anything at all. The first time he'll eat a treat you hand him directly while he's at the same time watching his girls eat food that you're likewise providing could well be the start of a whole change of attitude on his part as to how he views you.

This 'helpful provider' routine is one which I find works very well towards establishing a good--well, working relationship, I guess--between you and a flock rooster. You're demonstrating that you're useful at helping feed his hens and harmless to them, yet you're also acknowledging him as the leader who's deserving of a little extra individual attention, hence the hand-feeding. Roosters like this. After a while, they learn to make it very clear when they've had enough of tidbitting and 'helping' you feed their hens and instead would like their own share of the treats now please, and I swear they quite appreciate the subterfuge involved in trying to slip them food sometimes with the hens still there and will sidle themselves into advantageous positions. But again, you need to be sitting down near their level to dole out the goodies effectively. Hard to do, I know, with a rooster who's already given you a hard time, but honestly, I think you might be pleasantly surprised by your bad boy's behaviour. Just be sure to take your own version of a metal garbage can lid in with you at first, just in case!

The sort of thing I just described is something I would have tried to win over that aggressive Australorp rooster I wrote about in the earlier post had I owned him myself. I would have done the feeding bit every day, plus insisted on daily handling under the guise of examining him, etc, and gotten him to the point of standing reliably on my knee, preferably while sitting with him right in his run while surrounded by his harem. I really think that rooster was redeemable. The fact that he backed down and ran after a single correction told me a lot. He just didn't know any better or have any manners yet, and that's really on us humans, to teach them otherwise.

I don't have any aggressive roos at the moment (knock on wood and cross my fingers!) but I am SO going to do this! I love to watch "The Boys" tidbit their ladies. I especially like all the quiet "conversation" that goes on between them and the girls when they do. Besides, it'll give me a chance to reap the benefits of our new meal-worm farm (an overly large catsup bottle full of oatmeal and apple slices.) Now, if the weather would only brighten up long enough to make sitting out in the coop bearable, I can give it a "go." I am SO tired of winter!

 

[Ms Clucky]

My little Bantam rooster that I brought in the house when he was just 1 hour old does that. Sounds to me like he wants you. You have a good relationship with him?

 

[deedledumpling1]

Well it has deteriorated terribly since he started flying at me. So I have been on the defensive/offensive carrying my cardboard in front of me. Maybe I'm a coward, but it freaks me out. Though I will say in relation to what Shadrach said earlier, he has never attacked me when I would sit on the cinderblock down low as I did in the beginning.