What to Look for in a Broody Rooster

[centrarchid]

I like wildlife so effort to avoid killing it. Mice we deal with are not the house mouse variety and they are abundant. Best management tools against those (red foxes, owls, red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks) are largely excluded by my predator management system.

 

[centrarchid]

The maturation of the current brood is impacting the dimensions of Slugger's (and Blanch's) territory. The territory is a territory in the classical sense because they exclude all other chickens from it. All the other chickens come from the West with a single mobile flock frequently challenging boundaries. While chicks were small Slugger was more consistently around house with his presence like a plug preventing the flock to West from entering. Now the chicks are larger and much more mobile enabling a qualitiatively different type of foraging. Until the last couple of days most of their eats where located by scratching and the chicks needed to loaf under the adults. Now they increasing employ hawking and chicks can browse more independently. Both hawking and browsing are more productive when moving about larger areas and a prime location for that is to the East. Slugger's family now spends the bulk of their time to the east enabling the rival flock into yard but Slugger runs them off simply by crowing when he returns.

Slugger has also taken to attacking his reflection in window.

 

[centrarchid]

Chicks are now transitioning into the juveniles stage. The down on the head and neck is rapidly being replaced by the juvenile feathers. Sex has been evident based combs but it now becoming discernible based on feather coloration. Chick flight feathers are being replaced by juvenile flight feathers. Their mother clucks only erratically and chicks routinely move 50 feet from both parents. Mother no longer get aggressive with predators but Slugger still does. My son chased entire group today and Slugger kept himself between boy and his young. My son is not quite fast enough to be a real threat so no real problems. Father still drives off juveniles that are not his own.

 

[centrarchid]

Clucking has now stopped. Hen will point out concentrations of choice food items but no longer offer small single pieces to offspring. Father still offers even single items to offspring. The hen is really putting on weight and starting to get the "sexy" look which is getting Slugger to switch back and forth between tending young and courting. Mother is not yet soliciting Slugger to cover her but that will happen in next day or so. Whole group is still roosting in nest but that will also change very soon. I will be setting up another nest on front porch shortly and odds are Slugger will point it out to Blanch almost as soon as a put is out.

 

[centrarchid]

My sister brought the brother of one of my dogs over from Montana. He is extremely well behaved but still jumped out house window to catch a chick. I did not see most of what happened but chick sought refuge under item in garage and screamed for help. Slugger was up on motorcycle cackling like cray which called me in. Balance of brood and mother were hiding in high weeds. SLugger was not able to provide that chick real protection but may have been a distraction enabling balance of harem to seek cover. Slugger kept himself out of harms way and has flying abilities that get away fairly easily.

Chick was not harmed and this may get them prepped for Mr. Fox to buy time for my dogs to do their job.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

My sister brought the brother of one of my dogs over from Montana. He is extremely well behaved but still jumped out house window to catch a chick. I did not see most of what happened but chick sought refuge under item in garage and screamed for help. Slugger was up on motorcycle cackling like cray which called me in. Balance of brood and mother were hiding in high weeds. SLugger was not able to provide that chick real protection but may have been a distraction enabling balance of harem to seek cover. Slugger kept himself out of harms way and has flying abilities that get away fairly easily.

Chick was not harmed and this may get them prepped for Mr. Fox to buy time for my dogs to do their job.

Jumped out of the house window - hope your screen didn't go with him if you had a screen on it!

 

[centrarchid]

No screen. Other dogs did same but screen pops out of margins in a manner that is easy to fix.

Slugger covered Blanch this morning. Brood now loafs a little separately from Blanch so now weaned.

 

[centrarchid]

Blanch picked nest site and deposited first egg before I got my preferred more photogenic site setup. Site is a round metal washtub in garage on floor filled with pelleted saw dust. I will try to raise washtub up so nest site will be waste height where dogs will not mess wtih her. I will also label eggs recording sequence and lay date. Currently I leave main garage door up about a foot so but that chews up time each morning. I am going to see if flock can be trained to fly in another pet door placed into opening that is nearly six feet up.

 

[Daisy8s]

Every once in awhile when I go to close the coop door I'll notice that my barred rock rooster has one wing over a hen beside him on the perch. I'm not sure if it's always the same hen or different hens. Any thoughts on why a rooster may do this for a full grown hen? When he does it the hen is snuggled right up against him, clearly enjoying her status.

Incidentally, he's fairly good with new chicks, too. He hangs around the coop when they hatch instead of following the rest of the flock to free range. Yesterday the runt of this latest clutch was stranded and he came into the coop to see what the distressed peeping was about. He put himself between me and chick as he would put himself between me and a hen. He didn't seek to approach the chick but he did have an instinct to protect it rather than harm it.

I've also noticed that the broody hen does not make her angry sounds at him if he approaches the nest like she does when other hens approach it.

 

[centrarchid]

Every once in awhile when I go to close the coop door I'll notice that my barred rock rooster has one wing over a hen beside him on the perch. I'm not sure if it's always the same hen or different hens. Any thoughts on why a rooster may do this for a full grown hen? When he does it the hen is snuggled right up against him, clearly enjoying her status.

Incidentally, he's fairly good with new chicks, too. He hangs around the coop when they hatch instead of following the rest of the flock to free range. Yesterday the runt of this latest clutch was stranded and he came into the coop to see what the distressed peeping was about. He put himself between me and chick as he would put himself between me and a hen. He didn't seek to approach the chick but he did have an instinct to protect it rather than harm it.

I've also noticed that the broody hen does not make her angry sounds at him if he approaches the nest like she does when other hens approach it.

What you describe with respect to chick and rooster interactions is consistant with parental behavior.


The hens under his wings may be because they force themselves there. I can stuff chicks under a gamecocks wings for a few nights and make him become broody even though he had nothing to do with chicks parentage or even been with a hen.