Hello Everyone,
I saw something interesting today. Our rooster saw a worm, went over and speared it with it’s beak, then picked it up and brought it to our hen for her to eat. Wow, I swear this is the first time I’ve seen an animal bring a gift to another (not including mom, pup situations).
So, what was he doing? Being kind? Trying to impress her? Trying to get into her feathers?
If you search Google for “rooster caring for hen” you’ll see loads of pages talking about how roosters guard and care for hens. This includes bringing them food or showing them where food sources are.
What’s a henway? According to the rooster, not enough.
(OK, I probably need to go to sleep now.)
Chickens practice the oldest profession, too, apparently. When the term “oldest profession” is used, we mean, like, hundreds of millions of years old!
Male birds feeding female birds is a thing.
Yeah, my roosters have always fed the hens. They’ll find something tasty and call them over. It’s pretty cute.
FWIW, just yesterday I read that they make these kind of back vests for hens to wear because daily fertilization can lead to bleeding scars which leads to “cannibalism” (although it didn’t say who eats whom).
So behind the cute and cuddly tenderness lies some pretty rough loving.
ETA: I don’t know why, but I’m always surprised and somewhat gladdenedby the number of people in GQ who know about chickens.
“Courtship feeding” is common in birds (and other animals). Males will often offer females a tasty morsel as part of courtship. And males may bring females food when they are sitting on the nest as well.
You know, I’ve got to admit, even though I see wild/song birds do that all the time, I wouldn’t have guessed a rooster would do it. I guess I just figured it was an art lost in the process of domestication.
It’s less common in polygynous species like chickens, in which a male has a harem of several females.
We’ve only got one hen and one rooster. No feather orgies for him.
Ah, a pair. How domestic(ated).
It’s his equivalent of leaving some cash on the bedroom table, in payment for last night.
I had chickens most of my life and never witnessed this. My pigeons did it regularly. I did occasionally see the roosters gently pecking the hens but usually it was just rape.
Of course! A worm! Genius. And here I was all the time giving roses and sweet-talk. Anyway, can’t stand around chatting with you guys, I’m off to get me some worms and then scoop the coop!