What Does His Behavior Mean?

[stormylady]

Well my first Q is do chickens have Prostrates??? Second Roos will be Roos and sometimes they get hurt. Sad but true but natural and it has to be done the (fighting between the chickens thats how the est. the pecking order.) And I'm with the others about not letting your neighbor play with him, When he is older he could seriously hurt someone or he could seriously get hurt by someone trying to protect themselves from a raging Rooster. also whats bad about that, is that say he does get aggressive with people, you will have a really hard time placing him in a new home, because nobody wants a mean Rooster. I wouldn't even allow the pecking of your fingers really.

Short story, I did the same thing to my Hen Uno, she had trouble from hatching, and I babied her and protected her like she was my kid, The other chickens were super hateful to her so I kept her in a seperate coop when she was in with the chickens, but one day she got out and would not come to me she wanted to stay in with the flock, and she just sat there and tucked her head away so they couldn't peck her. I felt horrible but she would not let me put her in her own cage so I decided to let her go and take her chances the first day was the worst! They pecked on her so much, but no bloodshed (thankfully) Pulled alot of feathers out though. So I let her stay, second day was better but still bad and it got better each day and finially they just totally ignored her, Now 3 yrs later Nobody picks on her and she has her own little set of best buddies and as happy as a little lark! So it can be a really good thing sometimes.

I know it can be hard I know it was for me.

 

[stormylady]

Sorry I didn't see the posts where you were stopping the play fighting, Good deal!

 

[ClareScifi]

Gosh, I appreciate everyone's posts. I'm in another chicken group and asked the question about the finger pecking and got no responses and no one warned me of these potential rooster problems, so I'm glad I decided to post here, also! It sounds like I did it just in time, too.

Good news: I put my Baby in the run today with a sweet hen about his size. They weren't much interested in each, but she didn't ever try to peck him, so that was wonderful. He did try to peck at her a few times, but she got away. They pretty much peacefully co-existed.

But thin it turned cold and started to snow, so I put my Boy back in the solarium and let Saffrenee go into the coop with her Stepmama and sibs.

My boy was a bit bad and egged his StepMama on, by pecking at her through the glass window. She pecked back, but she actually kept a lot calmer than I had thought she would.

I think my Baby and Saffrenee could be a go. To encourage them, I fed them both fresh baby cabbage leaves as a treat for getting along so well together. I had thought my Boy might be jealous of my feeding his sister by hand, but he tolerated that okay. He sure didn't share any of his greens with her, though.

He is just a bit bigger than Saffrenee, so the sizing is perfect.

I am now going to try him with Merry Etta, the Bantie. She is flightier. If a Silver-Laced Sebright was my Boy's daddy, instead of the white leghorn as I had initially assumed, he and the Bantie chick may have a lot in common and get along really well.

My Boy seemed to have a lot of fun in the run with Saffrenee. It was something new for them both. I feel like I am running a dating service and hosting a "Coming Out" party for my chooks. LOL

So far, so good!

 

[stormylady]

Yeah!!! yeah for your little roo, and yeah to you too MOM!! Good job! I'm soooo happy that he got to go out and be with his own kind, I bet he had a blast!

I know how hard it must be for ya, but it will all work out!

 

[Johnn]

Im glad you got everything sorted, my roo wont shar eis food or treats either, hes mean

 

[ClareScifi]

I just now introduced him to Buttery Blanche, the hen who has some
Orpington. That did not go well. Pect chased her all around the run, and she
kept flying up into the window, trying to get away from him. He didn't peck
her, though, thankfully, nor vice-versa. But she doesn't care for him, I can
tell.

The roo chicks behind the glass window about went crazy watching Pect chase
Buttery Blanche around the coop, but they didn't seem to care as much when he
was with Saffrenee, for some reason?


But, so far, so good. Pect sure seemed to have fun on his "dates."

 

[Linn Bee]

Hi, ClareScifi from "our" gardening groups. Good to see you posting here.

As others have said, chickens are flocking animals and won't be at their happiest without some feathered friends.

I used to worry so about the pullet at the bottom of my flock's pecking order. It seemed so vicious and senseless to be harassing each other that way. My girl solved her problem by staying outside until all the others were asleep. Then she found that a nesting box made a safe sleeping spot. I had to clean it out every day. Now that all the girls are laying, she seems to be much happier and less likely to have problems since she's going inside with the others at night.

Give your guy some pullets his age and later get them acclimated into the bigger group.

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening zone 5a - 4b in south-est, central-est Wisconsin

 

[BlazeJester]

Chickens don't have prostates. They have gonads, which are like testicles except WAY up in the abdomen, which is why it is so difficult to caponize a rooster. I do not think roosters get cancer like hens that are bred to be egg-laying machines for a few years, but cancer in roosters may be a result of breeding for that in hens.

I seriously doubt if enough necropsies are performed and properly analyzed to determine whether cancer is frequent in roosters, and I have never heard about it. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but it would seem to be infrequent (or at least diagnosably so).

 

[ClareScifi]

My little guy isn't acclimated to the cold yet, and it's supposed to get down to 20 F here tonight and tomorrow night. His sibs have been raised outdoors with no heat and are thus bigger and more feathered, for the most part, but he's been in my solarium with my plants which need heat at night, so he's more of a "hot house chicken."

So how dangerous will it be to try to introduce him to the outdoors at this cold and wintry time of the year, especially if none of the chicks wish to snuggle with him at night and the StepMama still shuns him and hates him? Any suggestions?

 

[ClareScifi]

Something interesting about my little Roo is that when he was very little I worried about him not having a playmate in the solarium with him. So I found one of his siblings, I thought a hen, and brought it in and put it in the box he was living in the solarium in. But I made a bad mistake! I hadn't seen the peck mark on the side of the chicks' face, identifying it as his Roo brother who had badly pecked him that day!

My poor little Baby was cowering in a corner, trembling, looking so very sad, sure he was going to be killed by that bad rooster brother of his! I mean, he was shaking all over, hunkered down. I thought he had already been attacked by the brother again, but I don't think he had. It was the saddest thing. He had a PTSD type reaction. I really thought I was going to lose him. When I saw my mistake, I gasped and quickly removed the rooster. It took my little boy quite a while to recover. I think he nearly had had a heart attack. It is a good thing I went back to check on him.

After he had regained his composure, I brought in a little hen chick to keep him company. But that was a disaster, too. She proceeded to peep extremely loudly and shrilly, missing her mother and outdoor siblings, I guess. My Boy looked as stress by his sister's loud voice as I was feeling, so I took her back out to the coop. My Baby and I were both relieved to see her go. Minutes after she departed he looked very happy and was back to his old self. He has never really acted too lonely or sad. I have taken him out to be in the general vicinity of the other chicks and his StepMama. Sometimes I put him in the run with them in a cage, but his StepMama would charge it and try to peck him. More recently I've taken him outside of the run near them all. They can see each other through the holes in the mesh siding.