Eagley is a 7 month old rooster who I raised from a chick. He shares a flock of around 20 hens (+ a few ducks) with Tarzan, a bantam Roo. Despite Eagley being three times the size of him already, Tarzan is dominant rooster and Eagley is submissive. He’s also still a total mama’s boy and comes running for pets and cuddles whenever he sees me.
Eagley is my first boy and I’m learning a lot from him. There are a few interesting behaviours he does that I’m not sure how to interpret. I’m not very worried about him - just super curious and would love to hear your thoughts!
1. Drooping wing. Whenever he sees me and gets excited he drops one wing to the ground, so his feathers are all fanned out. Often he’ll trip over it in his own excitement and get all flustered! This only ever happens when I arrive, and nobody else. It’s the back wing, furthest away from me.
You can see it a little bit in this video:
2. Blocking. As I enter the pen he runs up to me and sort of blocks my path by turning sideways. It’s very deliberate and it sort of reminds me of an aggressive Roo, except he’s definitely not showing any aggression when he does it. His vocalisations are chatty and happy, and he moves easily when I take a step - but then loops back around and repeats it a few times as I walk across the paddock, as if he wants to sit on my feet!
3. No pooping (or crowing). Eagley will never, ever, ever poop on me. He’ll often sit in my lap for up to an hour snoozing, but in that whole time he will never poop. If he needs to go he will jump down to do it. Similarly, he will never ever crow on me, or generally if I’m there. Once I leave, he starts crowing his head off. Does this mean he thinks I’m the top rooster or something?
4. Not eating. Eagley will not eat until all the hens have finished. That means when it comes to treats etc, that means he just never gets any unless I take him aside and feed him separately.
I can’t tell if he’s just being a good ‘provider’, or if he’s too intimidated to eat with them there. The hens vacuum everthing up so quickly and it seems to take him about 6 attempts to finish a single piece of sweetcorn, which doesn’t help. Compared to many of the hens he still feels too light and bony but it’s hard to bulk him up when he won’t eat until everyone else is finished! Any advice? Does he look skinny to you?