Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Yesterday, I'm pretty sure I witnessed some purposeful crowing from our rooster.
All the chickens were out free ranging for the afternoon. After I herded most of them in, it was time to look for the strays. The rooster kept crowing, and a couple of hens showed up. He kept crowing, and another came in. And again with the last one. Then he stopped crowing.
I think he did his job well.
Aside from that, all he has to do now is to stop leading them to the road (CR 42) when they are out.

For sure! All our roosters do/did stand up by the coops and call the girls in at night or when the weather changes for the worse. Chunky calls from inside and then pops out to get any stragglers in.

They sure know how to count :)
Our man Mactawish would really prefer if they all just stayed inside, it confuses him when some are laying inside the coop and some are outside, hard to keep an eye on all of them.

Well, why doesn't he do that every time? He did not exhibit that behavior today.

If he thinks YOU are a rooster, KimChick, he may not crow when he knows you're watching. If he's not a dominant, he will be careful about when he crows, because he expects a flogging every time.

windwalkingwolf wrote: ↑

Tue May 08, 2018 11:13 pm

If he thinks YOU are a rooster, KimChick, he may not crow when he knows you're watching. If he's not a dominant, he will be careful about when he crows, because he expects a flogging every time.

I don't think he is dominant over the hens. But can you explain "flogging"?

If you keep two roosters together, almost always, one will assert himself as the only rooster allowed to breed, or crow. If the second rooster tries to do either of those things in view of the first, the first rooster will rush over and kick number 2 in the head. Literally. If number two doesn't immediately cease and desist as a result, number one will flog him--beat him up until he deems the lesson learned. How long the beating goes on, and whether or not blood is drawn, depends on how badly the second rooster wants to take number ones' place as head rooster. Often, if someone ends up with a "mean" rooster that they can't turn their back on, it's because the rooster is stupid or brain damaged, and thinks humans are competition.

windwalkingwolf wrote: ↑

Wed May 09, 2018 3:12 pm

Often, if someone ends up with a "mean" rooster that they can't turn their back on, it's because the rooster is stupid or brain damaged, and thinks humans are competition.

That was Earl...and i think Big Boy is the same...asshat of a bird...now Coach is a cute one...everytime i come into his coop, he rushes over and hammers my shoe with a few good pecks then stands back looking at me sideways as if to say "there!.. so watch it buddy!"..what a goof...he's the splash cochin, btw

Lucky used to grab my boot but more with love on his mind LOL. That could easily be mistaken for aggression.

Neither of my roosters have done what Tom K described. We have had only one at a time within an enclosure. When we had the two roosters, there was a fence between them. My avatar is our first rooster, Humphrey who would eat out of my hand; he looked after his hens. I don't have a good picture of our present rooster, Burt, because he has a bare front neck from being hen pecked.