The Madone farm 1/4 mile away has a lot of chickens, and during winter 2024 Papa Madone passed away. Apparently one of the roosters, most likely Papa's, started spending a lot of time and roosting at the silos/cornfield across the street. In April of this year, the rooster ventured into our forest, probably sensing correctly that we're wannabe animal sanctuary caretakers. He - now named Rowan - can be aggressive, but I'm positive it's from our lack of a schedule; losing his dad; being lonely; etc.
He's completely free range, and finds a lot of good green and insect snacks in the yard. Our cat Ciri probably leaves things around he can eat, too. We give him water, a handful of grains twice a day, and try to give him other vegetable/fruit snacks every day. I'm also trying to figure out how to set up a cabbage swing; some log/branch roosting bars; remember to go thrift shopping for chicken appropriate toys; and otherwise make our yard more chicken-friendly. We have bushy weeds he likes to spend time in; I've set up a few spots on the ground near the house where Rowan knows he can be safe/nest; he can go in the shed next to the house; and go under our deck.
We're sorting out building him a house, so unfortunately he still has to sleep outside, or walk back to his old house/the silos. He's roosting on our awning roof. It's a crap situation, but at least he feels safer 😟? He stays close to the house area out of the trees, except for when he walks down the field to my in-law's to crow at them/their dogs/roosters from other farms, lol. He stays close to my husband and I when we're outside, for the most part. We spend as much time with him as we can just chillin, but like y'all alluded to in the aggressive rooster video I just watched, we ultimately have different entertainment needs cuz he's a chicken and we're humans.
We do wanna adopt more chickens eventually, but we don't want more roosters. I understand that one needs 4 to 8 hens to himself to keep the whole flock healthy, and we won't adopt more animals on purpose til we can create a better living situation for them. Having said all that, we know he still needs a chicken family, or at least some kinda family that lives outside full time. He and Ciri are begrudging siblings, and she's indoor/outdoor anyways.
I didn't expect that I'd love a rooster, but the universe obviously had different plans! Do you have any suggestions for addressing his loneliness, or any other suggestions? He's such a sweet lil guy, and I wanna provide a good environment for him. Cheers, and have a swell day 🍻 💝!
I'm so glad to hear things are going well and it sounds like you're making fantastic progress with them!
The wing dance can indeed be a bit hard to interpret, it's just used in so many different situations to say a variety of things. There are certain nuances that help identify which one you're dealing with and you'll pick up on these more as you spend more time watching him.
One pointer I can give that might help is that the dance can be broken into two main "types". There's the excited dance and the herding dance. The latter is what most people think of when the dance is mentioned - it's the one they'll sometimes do before a fight occurs. The thing is, the dance itself actually isn't combative. If anything, it's an attempt to get a potential competitor to back down so there doesn't have to be a fight. They might herd a rival away to try to get them to concede the space, or herd them out of their "bubble" when they feel they're starting to challenge. Only if that attempt to defuse fails do things escalate into a fight. They may also herd a hen away from an area they think she shouldn't be in, or herd a flock member they're friends with (even other roosters) to warn them to stay close and be safe. Before mating, roosters will use the same dance. This is done as a way of "herding" the hens into accepting his advances. So the herding dance is sort of a "Hey, do what I tell you" in all cases. The easiest way to recognize it is the forceful stomp they do with the outer foot. They'll typically lean hard towards their "target" and stamp their outer foot against the ground, sometimes even kicking up grass or dust in the process.
This forceful foot-stamping display is missing from the excited dance. Rather than leaning so far in and stamping their foot, they will instead dance with a more upright posture, stepping quickly and lightly almost as if the ground is hot. The wing still gets dropped, sometimes they'll even drop both, but this dance is far more eager than forceful and is done out of happiness. It might be used to greet a dear friend, in anticipation of special treats, or in response to any other situation that they're over the moon about. It's the chicken version of jumping up and down.
I like to compare shuffle dances to dogs wagging their tail. Both can be a sign of frustration/upset or a sign of joy depending on context and the other body language accompanying them. As you observe your boy, you'll start noticing that he has multiple variations on the dance that he uses and you'll soon be able to tell what each one means. Each tells a whole story, and I often find myself laughing at the things my boys say to each other with this one move.
If you'd like some "case studies" to analyze, this is a compilation video of my boys showing dances in different situations/with different meanings. It has captions to explain what they're saying, and your boy may use these a bit differently, but it should be a good resource for noting the slight variations in posture, eye contact, etc. that differentiate one dance from the next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G1fONt3D6c
Hi Kristi, I'm so glad you reached out and would love to offer some suggestions for sweet Rowan. First I want to say thank you and your husband for being so welcoming and allowing him to choose you. I think the first thing I'd actually recommend would be checking with the surviving Madone's to try to get some information on whether there had been any conflict in the flock before Rowan left. You see, if he left willingly that would suggest he could go socialize with his former flock but is simply not interested in doing so. However, if another rooster forced him out, he might be missing having a flock tremendously and just unable to make/restore those bonds. It would be ideal for him to ultimately have his own hens again either way, but knowing the circumstances of his departure might help us evaluate how he's feeling about that situation and therefore how quickly he needs his own girls. From your description (and correct me if any details are off here) he is sometimes feisty but seems to enjoy being close to you and your husband. You mentioned he stays near you, is he keeping close but out of reach or is he willing to be touched or handled? This will sort of determine which options are available for providing social enrichment and protection pending completion of his permanent house. For now, continuing your regular visits would be one of the most important things. As you said, chickens can bond and create meaningful friendships with not just chickens but with a variety of species, including humans and cats. So continue to facilitate the interaction he's getting with Ciri just so long as they are tolerating each other well. If you see indicators any fights might occur between them, shows of irritability or impatience, it might be necessary to reassess. The goal would ultimately be to finish his housing so that he can be designated a space of his own to bring a small flock into. The only other short-term option, which may or may not be feasible for you, would be to make him a house rooster until you're set up to provide him a flock. This would be the best way to ensure he has a rich social life and opportunity to bond deeply in the short-term, but since it's not an option for everyone (young children, other pets, ability to supervise, etc) I won't go into much detail. Just let me know if that might work and we can chat more about it if so.
The biggest advice I would give is to (as soon as possible) try to get him into a situation where he's at least regularly sleeping in a safe place, whether that's the silo, a kennel in a garage, just something that offers protection from predators. Right now, every night really is a gamble that a predator doesn't stumble across him. Many roosters can go a long time sleeping in tree branches or other unenclosed areas without issue, but even in those cases you still hear cases where once day they were found and taken by something. Because chickens have virtually no night vision, they're essentially defenseless to attacks that might occur at night. If they fall from the branch they're roosting on (less uncommon than you might think) they can't see to get back up and are then totally exposed to anything that wanders by. They can do alright if they're roosting high up in dense foliage, still not guaranteed safe but closer to natural (what their wild counterparts would be doing) but when they start sleeping on things like roofs or branches of short bushes/barren trees that introduces a whole new danger. This is a situation where he came to you, and you are only able to modify things so much so fast, but often there are secure places that can be set up just for overnight use (think like a quarantine pen). If you are physically able to reach him where he's currently sleeping, you should be able to simply pick him up from there just after sunset and place him in the secure sleeping area each night until the permanent area is set up. That same lack of night vision that renders them unable to defend against overnight attacks often prevents them from responding to relocation as well. This can be used to our advantage in cases like this.
I'll leave it there for now, please let me know if you have any questions or could use more detail on any of the topics above. Wishing you both and dear Rowan all the success in the world.