what to do with a Roo with raging harmones....

[gritsar]

Quote:
Oh, you'll probably still have people telling you to get him out of there.
Chicken sex is not a pretty sight. I will admit to keeping my baby Lil' Bit from getting mated when she was younger because she was my baby for goodness sakes! and I didn't want them mean ol' roos to hurt her. Now she's all grown up like the other girls and just like the other girls she squats and gives the roo a look like "okay, get it over with". Then she stands up and shakes herself off and goes about her business.
A rooster has three purposes in life. #1. He will protect the flock, sometimes even to the point of giving his life. #2. He finds food for the girls while foraging. My alpha roo even beak feeds his favorite hens. #3. He tries to ensure his legacy by fertilizing as many eggs as he can.
As far as your rooster confronting you goes, nip it in the bud now. A swift kick to his rear end will go a long ways towards showing him who's boss.

 

[Mom2Cool]

Quote:
this is too funny & I almost spit tea all over the computer screen reading... LOL And you may just be on to something here.

 

[Mom2Cool]

Quote:
Oh, you'll probably still have people telling you to get him out of there.
Chicken sex is not a pretty sight. I will admit to keeping my baby Lil' Bit from getting mated when she was younger because she was my baby for goodness sakes! and I didn't want them mean ol' roos to hurt her. Now she's all grown up like the other girls and just like the other girls she squats and gives the roo a look like "okay, get it over with". Then she stands up and shakes herself off and goes about her business.
A rooster has three purposes in life. #1. He will protect the flock, sometimes even to the point of giving his life. #2. He finds food for the girls while foraging. My alpha roo even beak feeds his favorite hens. #3. He tries to ensure his legacy by fertilizing as many eggs as he can.
As far as your rooster confronting you goes, nip it in the bud now. A swift kick to his rear end will go a long ways towards showing him who's boss.

Gritster it's funny you mention this because a swift kick is exactly what I'd mentiioned to hubby earlier when telling him this today, but as I was thinking about today & then I read your web page it dawned on me that I'd heard something some where about not ever letting a roo mount a hen in front of you & I thought it was a dominance thing but I can't remember where or what I'd read exactly. Clearly your page reminded me of this but I still can't remember the details of the why etc. The funny thing is that I'd noticed today I'd sent hubby out to deal with the terminator as I was in a rush to get to the store & I wanted to see his reaction to him. Of course it was a bit warmer today & so the BO's were all under the chicken coop & stuck their heads out to see who was coming & of course hubby had sarmed corn bread for them as an afternoon treat while he checked water etc. I watched the Roo immediately go into the enclosure area as soon as hubby got out there & now he did have food & so naturally he & I both thought that is the inspiration to follow hubby in but hubby did say that the roo mounted the Austrolorp & so now I'm thinking is this his way of saying he's in charge out there? This is starting to make a bit of sense because yesterday when he'd done the stand off thing with me he had just mounted this little pullet that I'd told him to get off of! & Frankly the girls were behind him.......

I'll make certain to pass this info on to hubby. I seem to recall when I'd run across this tidbit of not allowing them to mate in front of you mentioning it to hubby saying "who would ever guess this? We better remember to look this one back up." & I sort of put it out of mind because well I hadn't gotten to that bridge yet & there's so much during the pullet stage etc.

Anyway thank you for this reminder..... And if this is a sign of him turning ugly if not taken in hand don't be afraid to let me know that too....

 

[gritsar]

Mom2Cool,
Read my page again. Here's the link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=4810

You might notice that after you've held a hen and put her back down the roo will run over and mount her. The alpha roo will do the same thing after he's caught the subordinate roo mating a hen. He chases the sub. off and then he turns right around and mates the same hen. He's wanting to show that HE is in charge!
I don't try to interfere with their mating anymore, but my alpha and I have the understanding now that I am the flock leader and he doesn't try to mate them much in my presence.
Whenever Zeus acts like he wants to challenge me for the top spot again, he gets a swift kick in the butt and all is well.

 

[Mom2Cool]

Gritstar it was too funny last week I went out there to the chicken coop the morning after posting here & I brought this plastic stick with me I use to chuck balls for the dog (called "chuck it") & I'd opened their little door for them to come out & 2 pullets came first & then the Roo. As he was about to step out the door I put the stick across the door to block him & said "Oh no you don't. You have to wait for the girls to go first today" & as I'd started to speak he freaked out flying over the stick & he had this stunned look. I didn't want to back down & just let him have run of the enclosed area right off so that I'd be asserting some kind of control &/or I didn't want him to think I'd just backed down right away & so I pointed the stick toward him & started walking toward him as I told him he had to leave until the girls all get to eat.... I never really touched him with a hand or stick but was just inches from him as he kept walking away from the end pointed at him. once he was out of the enclosed area I closed the screened door & let the girls all eat as I started cleaning up the coop a bit & the roo was 1st at the fence watching the pullets eat (I'd brought them corn break) & then he went under the coop & hid behind a pile of snow! I'd explained most all of this to hubby the night before & then reminded him when he'd come home from work & the next day all he did was shake a finger at the Roo saying "you better behave!" & he said the poor guy's eyes buldged as he'd backed up from hubby.

he hasn't been a problem since.... Well except that now he's found his voice good and strong & is more than happy to use it but that's an entirely different issue. I don't think that should be an issue where we are & I was hoping to keep him around for a while. Anyway thanks for the tips & such I appreciated it.