Will a rooster be upset long after a preditor has gone?

[popcornpuppy]

Our family was outside in the backyard (in western MA) around 8:00pm before sunset. One daughter was walking the dog on the leash, one was comming toward the house from the chicken coop and I was on the deck. All of a sudden the chickens started going crazy like they were being attacked. Then, the rooster was not crowing but making a bawk-bawk-bigawk sound, over and over again. I ran over while the kids got my husband but there was no sign of a preditor. The chickens were locked up at the time in the adjoining run, outside of the coop. I sent the chickens into the coop and the rooster carried on making the same call for several minutes after the fact. Was he just freaked out, or did he sense that the preditor was still around? Any opinions? I am not 100% sure what would have been out there with 3 people and a large dog in the vicinity, so I am not sure what the rooster was reacting to.

 

[stuckinthecity]

could have been a stray dog passing through, a cat, something that was there and gone fast.
Any bird that couldve made him nervous as well. My chickens were afraid of vultures, crows,

 

[phishinchicken]

if my chickens spot anything that looks like a large bird going over head(vultures, planes, bad jokes) they act similar.

 

[IggiMom]

And yes--they can be upset long after it is gone.

I had a dog attack on my chickens, killed several. When I went in the coop afterwards, my little tiny Cochin bantie rooster was sitting as if he was in shock, shaking and fearful. As I was feeding the chickens, all of a sudden he came to life and attacked me--I stared down in disbelief as blood was pouring down my hand. He had attacked with both beak and spurs and had torn a complete piece of skin off. I took a LONG time to heal.

But that rooster never did get over it. He kept attacking me every time I came in the coop. I am somewhat handicapped and cannot deal with that. My husband had to shoot him. I felt very bad but he had to be put down.

Catherine