Last weekend I was away at my sister's house for a visit. My husband who has very little to do with the chickens kindly agreed to help us let them out and tuck 'em in at night. All food and water prepped and ready to go I left them in his capable hands which only needed to pull open the cord for the pop door and then let it drop at night. Saturday morning dutifully he got up and sprung on some shorts over his own chicken legs and popped on my Green Crocs. "They're fruity as a picnic, but boy, they sure are handy," he's touted my crocs time and time before. I had my theory in mind about the Crocs angering Roger but forgot to mention it to husband to "Beware of Rooster". Sure enough, not only did Roger see this male stranger among his hens but the fool was wearing the Dastardly Crocs. Roger came after him and bit him in the ankle. Two beak holes are still present! Roger ran into the back of my husband's hand next and then decided not to mess with my husband Sunday morning. My husband shared his story with a few friends and they said to hold him upside down the next time he did such a thing.
Usually Roger is his most perky in the morning shall we say. He is in charge of 9 girls, and a sneaky submissive Bantam Roo. To say the least he is on a full 12-14 hours of sleep, with one thing on his mind in the morning. He is very busy trying to regain assemblence of his clamboring chaotic flock when they exit the coop. He is at his most volatile self when this chaos is going on and he just wants one thing. He does what he can by asking first with some dancing
The girls like this and I think appreciate it because they know what's coming next.
I was just a bit curious about our sweet boy's quick switch in behavior and googled. It seems he is going through a hormonal imbalance and changes as well, much like the girl counterparts in his flock with their eggs. Roger is getting an influx of male hormone that makes him more aggressive at 5-6 months old. He will even out in couple months. The best way to deal with him is to carry him around on your hip and do a few chicken chores with him. He'll get sick of you not challenging him and being carried around like a fancy feathered oat-bag, and find you not worth the effort of a challenge. The back of Husband's hand would not be the way to deal with him as this will reinforce his "Bring it ON!" behavior, which makes for roosters "mean as a snake". Thankfully my dear husband took this encounter with a grain of salt and when he rehashed the story for us he had a look of amusement as he told it. He knows Roger is vital to the girls being able to free-range.
Another thing I found helpful is a little scratch grains in my pocket dropped in front of him right away before he even thinks about dancing and attacking me. He likes to show the girls as he is a big fancy show off. As for the advice from my husband's friends, holding Roger upside down is a no-no. He becomes more docile when hung upside down because he can't Breathe! With no diaphragm muscle to hold his organs back the load compresses his lungs and it could potentially kill him. Okay, so for my future needs chooky-sitting I will discuss these finer points with my own chicken legged, beaked ankle, Croc wearing Rooster Wrangler of a Husband.
No-No Roger.
No comments:
Post a Comment