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