One of the most common inhabitants of a farmstead is chickens. The bird is quite easy to care for, has a high nutritional value, and reproduces well and often. Every experienced poultry farmer knows that without a male it is impossible to successfully keep a population of chickens, however, cases are recorded when the male considers not only other inhabitants of the farmstead, but also the person himself, a threat. He begins to show aggression, rushing at his owner and other people from the farm. Why the rooster is pecking needs to be figured out immediately, otherwise the problem may become insoluble, and the bird will have to be killed. Read on to learn more about the causes of bird aggression and ways to combat it.
It is simply impossible to do without a rooster in the chicken coop, because the rooster performs many important functions. He protects his flock, maintains order in it, and is also simply necessary for breeding. If you are faced with the problem of excessive aggression in a bird towards humans, then our article will help you get answers to many questions. After all, knowing the approach to the inhabitants of the farm, working on it will become more pleasant and easier.
Why does the rooster behave this way?
The logical first step would be to dive deeper into the causes of the problem and understand the nature of the aggression that has arisen. By their nature, roosters are required to protect the flock from possible predators and other dangers. But if the rooster starts pecking and attacking people, this problem must be dealt with immediately. The most common causes of such aggression:
- character traits of the bird;
- conquering territory or protecting chickens;
- external stimuli in the form of loud sounds, bright lights, small rooms;
- poor diet;
- competition with other males;
- a small number of females in the population.
As a rule, whether an individual will be aggressive can already be seen at the age of 2-3 months. If during this period the male began to behave aggressively towards his fellows and is not afraid of humans, then he needs to be re-educated.
What did you see in your dream?
Roosters and chickens are dreamed of for various reasons, and dreams in which you saw a bird from the outside are especially interesting. This means that the dreamer did not touch the rooster in the dream and did not have any contact with it.
Remember what the cockerel was like, what he did - and decipher the dream.
1. As the dream book says, a rooster in a dream, seen from the outside, is a sign that honor and a high position will soon await the dreamer.
You will be recognized for your merits and will experience prestige and respect. Be consistent and don’t lose face!
2. If in a dream you only heard a ringing rooster crow, this is a symbol of insight, awakening.
Some new, dormant forces will be revealed in you, perhaps you will discover a talent in yourself or understand something very important about yourself. Awakening can have different meanings, and what exactly it will be in your case, time will tell
3. The crow of a rooster, which was hoarse in a dream, means that you have to spend a lot of your own strength and energy to achieve a big goal.
But if you show strength, you will receive recognition and achieve your goal.
4. If you dream of fighting roosters or hens that cackle loudly and fight, this clearly indicates the fact that in the near future you will witness a quarrel between your competitors or opponents.
How this will affect you personally is unknown, but the interpreter advises not to interfere, and try not to add unnecessary fuel to the fire, so as not to get involved in a serious conflict. Better stay away.
5. Such a dream, in which a rooster was sitting on a tree, portends the dreamer a large profit from a successful business or cooperation with an important person.
Soon you will reap the benefits, so don't stop following your chosen path, work hard!
6. A lame rooster in dreams is a symbol of faithful and devoted friends.
Be sure that you have them - and the dream probably transparently hints to you that in reality for some reason you forgot about them, or are not sure of their devotion. But it’s in vain, you have rare friends, appreciate them!
7. Seeing a singing rooster in a dream is a good sign.
It portends good news and pleasant surprises.
8. If you dreamed of a golden rooster, know that after such a rare and fabulous dream, great, unconditional happiness will definitely await you.
All aspects of your life will soon improve, and difficulties and troubles will disappear without a trace!
9. But, as the dream book says, a black rooster is a harbinger of competition.
Moreover, be careful - a competitor or rival is an unkind and insidious person, you should show special restraint with him. He's probably willing to go to great lengths. Your courage, honesty and strength are excellent weapons against such enemies.
10. If you dream of chickens peacefully pecking grains in the yard, know that complete prosperity, tranquility, and well-being are expected in your home.
Metaphorically speaking, you will have a “full cup”, and you will not have to know what poverty is.
11. If you saw a rooster in a dream rushing at someone, wanting to peck some person, this is a serious dream. He tells the dreamer that someone will let him down.
If you are counting on someone, waiting for someone's help, given a task or assignment, this person for some reason will not cope, so the best thing is now not to expect results from him, and start doing something on your own so that don't be disappointed.
12. If a woman dreamed that a rooster was chasing a hen, following her or chasing her, this is a clear harbinger of a persistent suitor.
Perhaps this man will be too “puffed up” and boastful to get your attention.
13. For a pregnant woman, according to dream books, a rooster in her dreams promises the birth of a strong and brave little boy.
14. Well, if in your night dreams you saw a rooster next to a hen, then rest assured that in your personal affairs, love and couple relationships, everything will be very happy and prosperous.
Even if something doesn’t go well now, it will soon pass without a trace, and don’t doubt that you are about to meet your ideal match.
How dangerous can an attack be?
The danger from a rooster attack is not great for an adult and healthy person. Most likely the victim will get away with a couple of scratches and abrasions. But if a child grows in a family, the risk increases. An aggressive bird can severely scratch a baby's face, tear out hair, and even damage vision if it gets into the eyes. In this case, the child should not be allowed into the poultry yard unaccompanied.
The bird itself may also be in danger from skirmishes if, in a drag, the owner or another victim decides to defend itself from the attacker with a hard and heavy object. By attacking its owner with a heavy stick in its hand, a rooster risks serious damage, even death. In addition, such outbursts of aggression exhaust the bird and it can get sick.
You may also be interested in the article: “Weaning your rooster from crowing using a collar.”
Solutions to chicken cannibalism
To avoid problems in the chicken coop, you need to follow the rules of feeding and keeping birds. This will save them from pecking and improve the quantity and quality of eggs.
Feeding change
The diet of poultry should be varied. You can’t suddenly switch poultry from one feed to another, as this will worsen the health of the chickens: digestion suffers, they get sick, and the metabolism in the body changes.
The diet of poultry should be varied
All this affects the general condition. It is better to switch chickens to another feed gradually. If the birds begin to go bald and the eggs become fragile, the chickens are not getting enough calcium. Therefore, they need to pour sand or shell rock.
It is useful to give birds fish and bone meal, table salt, and vitamins. All this is sold at the veterinary pharmacy. It is necessary to strictly observe the dosage, otherwise new troubles will arise: the birds will have bowel dysfunction or toxicosis.
If cannibalism occurs in a chicken farm, you need to find the cause of the phenomenon and correct errors in the content:
- The chicken coop should be clean and air humidity should be maintained at an optimal level.
- In hot weather, you can bathe chickens, which will help them get rid of parasites. For the same purpose, it is useful to sprinkle ash on chickens.
- Grown-up chickens, which become cramped in the room, need to be distributed into other cages.
We suggest you familiarize yourself with Installing a kitchen hood in a wooden house
Aggressive birds observed in cannibalism must be slaughtered, because it is no longer possible to wean them from this.
How to avoid aggression
If you don’t know why the rooster is fighting and what to do in such a situation, first you should try to avoid a collision with the bird. Perhaps the rooster only temporarily considered the owner a threat when he saw how he was taking his ward. In any case, it is the farm owner who must decide how to combat bird aggression, and others must strictly follow his recommendations.
The most effective method that will significantly minimize the risk of aggression towards the farm owner is to buy very small chickens, about 10 days old. Kids, growing up in familiar and stable conditions, in front of a specific person, seeing him every day, will quickly get used to it and will not show aggression.
The comb turns black
Poultry's combs can be considered indicators of their healthy or unhealthy condition. A good rooster or hen has a natural head decoration of a bright red color. If the skin growth on the head darkens, it means the bird is unwell.
Blood stagnates in the ridge, followed by necrosis. At first the scallop turns blue, later it turns black. This happens for the following reasons: vitamin deficiency, frostbite, bird flu, pasteurellosis or Newcastle disease, as well as in the presence of wounds that have become infected. You should observe the bird, understand from the symptoms why and what the rooster gets sick with. Or call a specialist for an examination and immediately take medical therapy.
Gentle methods against cock aggression
If, in spite of everything, aggressive behavior is still noticed in poultry, which is repeated systematically towards humans or relatives, you should not let the situation go. Try gentle parenting methods first, perhaps they can solve the problem without unnecessary stress for you and the bird.
Try to make friends
The very first method that a farmer should try is to make friends with the head of the chicken family. Perhaps he simply has too little contact with the owner, so he does not know that the farmer is not an enemy.
To make friends, place the rooster in a separate cage or enclosure, but do not forget that it should be spacious and comfortable. Every day, trying not to make sudden movements, you need to approach and talk with the bird in a calm tone for some time. Avoid physical punishment while the bird is in isolation, otherwise aggression may flare up with even greater force.
Types of pecking in chicks and adults
Types of pecking correspond to a certain period of bird growth:
At an early age, chickens peck at the fingers of their neighbors. So they fight for a place at the feeder and scare away weaker brothers. When hens and young roosters begin to measure their strength and establish a hierarchy in the chicken coop, pecking can be observed in the area of the comb, earrings, and head. When young chickens begin to lay eggs, they sometimes develop a cloaca. This happens when the egg is too large or has two yolks.
This attracts the attention of other chickens, and they begin to peck at the protruding cloaca. The same thing happens when the food is too hard and the birds have constipation or diarrhea.
First aid
First of all, the chicken must be separated from the flock. She must be placed in a single cage or released into the wild until the wounds heal and become covered with feathers.
Treatment of wounds
Wounds must be treated with an antiseptic. Peroxide, brilliant green or vodka are suitable for this.
Be sure to read:
How to treat Marek's disease in chickens: vaccine against the virus, diagnosis and treatment
Bird care
Further care consists of regular wound treatment and monitoring of the general condition. If the chicken stops taking food and becomes lethargic, this indicates an infection.
Drastic measures against bird aggression
Drastic measures to combat bird aggression should not be applied without precise confidence that no other method will work. If the male continues to show aggression towards people, then the farmer has no choice but to resort to radical educational measures.
Beak trimming
Most often, this is the method that quickly resolves the issue with the rooster’s desire to peck its owner in a soft spot. Circumcision is performed using hot blades or a laser. The blades are quite traumatic for both the bird and the owner, and without proper skill, the procedure is highly likely to end in injury.
Laser beak trimming is performed exclusively in the clinic using special equipment. This method is less traumatic, but requires financial investment, which not every farmer can afford.
Other debeaking methods
There are other methods of de-beaking that are used by farmers to prevent bird attacks. One of the most popular is infrared light treatment. The procedure is safe and painless for the bird, but it must be performed at a young age, and it also takes a relatively long time. It consists of exposing the key to infrared radiation, after which the tissues die off on their own.
Another more humane and longer-lasting method is to put the bird on a special solid diet. In this case, the rooster is given special roughage food, which, when eaten, gradually wears down the beak. If you turn to this method, then you must always ensure that there is fresh water in the drinking bowl. The bird must drink a lot for the digestive system to function properly.
Sending to cockfighting and slaughter
If all possible methods have already been tried, and the bully continues his antics, then there is nothing left but to send him to the soup or sell him to cockfights. Very often, owners cannot take the life of a male because of affection, so often the bird remains alive, starting a fighting career, and the owner also receives a profit from the sale.
Research by Japanese scientists
Takashi Yoshimura and Tsuyoshi Shimura, animal physiologists working at Nagoya University in Japan, have found that the reason roosters crow at dawn is not sunlight. Under the leadership of Professor Yoshimura, they conducted a series of experiments to find out the reason for the morning "vocal" of roosters.
To begin with, scientists removed all external stimuli. Then three groups of birds, four individuals each, were placed in soundproof rooms equipped with special lighting. The roosters were given a daily rhythm consisting of 12 hours of complete darkness and 12 hours of bright light.
Once the birds adapted to the rhythm, they began crowing two hours before the lights turned on. The roosters were observed for 4 weeks. This pattern persisted for about two weeks. During the second half of the term, the birds crowed irregularly. Scientists have suggested that in order to clarify their internal rhythm, they periodically need to see the sun.
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The researchers then placed the birds in complete darkness and silence for 24 hours, but they continued to crow until two hours before the artificial “dawn”—the time when the lights were turned on during the first stage of the experiment. After this, the scientists returned the artificial day to the subjects and began to present strong external stimuli - loud sounds, recordings of crowing, flashes of light. If they were turned on before the birds began daylight, they screamed much more often. And at other times of the day they practically did not react to them.
What to do if you are injured after a bird attack
So, we have already figured out why the rooster pecks, it’s time to find out what to do when the wounds have already been inflicted. First of all, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the wound with running water and laundry soap. The alkali it contains will help neutralize bacteria. If there is heavy bleeding, it is worth bandaging the wound. but not too tight and take a comfortable position in which the damaged area will be above the level of the heart.
Do not forget to treat the edges of the wound in the usual way, using iodine, brilliant green, and hydrogen peroxide. You can treat the wound with a product (cream, ointment, powder) with an antibacterial effect. If you experience severe pain, you should take an analgesic.
Preventing pecking
Considering the reasons that hens become aggressive towards the rooster, you need to do everything possible to ensure that a peaceful atmosphere reigns in the chicken coop
To do this, you should take care of proper care of the chickens, focusing on the following factors:
Nutrition and diet
The first step is to balance the poultry diet; it must be nutritious and contain the necessary nutrients.
You can increase the protein level by adding the following products to your chickens' food:
- milk powder;
- soy products and meat and bone meal;
- introduction of special vitamin and mineral complexes into the diet;
- It is recommended to throw them limestone with small pebbles, which will facilitate digestion.
In order for laying hens to enjoy their productivity, it is necessary to correctly formulate their diet.
A rooster should eat bran, legumes, and cake, and it is very beneficial for laying hens to eat greens and grains. We must not forget about the amount of water consumed by birds: per individual there should be an average of 300 g of water.
We recommend learning how to make drinking bowls for chickens from plastic bottles with your own hands.
Sources
- https://1kyra.ru/interesnoe/petuh-kljuetsja-i-napadaet/
- https://agronomu.com/bok/6907-pochemu-kury-klyuyut-petuha.html
- https://seloiferma.ru/ptitsevodstvo/kuritsa-klyuet-petuha/
- https://1kyra.ru/interesnoe/petuh-kljuet-kuricu/
- https://agronomu.com/bok/7251-chto-delat-esli-petuh-klyuetsya-neskolko-sposobov-otuchit-agressivnuyu-pticu.html
The need for a hen for livestock
Whether it is necessary to place a hen in a chicken coop depends on the wishes of the poultry farmer, as well as on the characteristics of the breed. Breeding chickens in a natural way means there is no need for incubation and round-the-clock supervision of young livestock. So, let's look at what to do if a chicken clucks.
To select a suitable hen, it is necessary to observe the livestock for two days. Complaisant individuals with a calm disposition are considered the most suitable for hatching. The rest of the chickens are subject to the elimination of such an instinct at the first manifestations.
The need for a hen for livestock
The bird selected for incubation and further breeding is placed on a nest with unhatched new stock.
If a bird that is not intended for hatching clucks frequently, drastic measures must be taken. You can wean a chicken from hatching its offspring by following a number of recommendations from experienced poultry farmers.
Prevention
What to do if chickens constantly fight and peck at each other? If this is a small household, you can constantly monitor the behavior of the chickens and prevent fights. But this is impossible to do on large poultry farms, since such events will require a lot of costs and labor. Therefore, preventive measures are taken. They are aimed at ensuring that the birds are kept, cared for and fed correctly. This is the only way to avoid pecking.
The diet must be balanced and contain a standardized composition of nutrients. A quick change of combined feeds will not be beneficial. This needs to be done gradually. To increase the protein content, soy products and powdered milk should be added to the feed. Good results are obtained from supplements made from fish or meat and bone meal, complexes of vitamins and minerals: bromine, manganese, sulfur, copper, arginine and others.
It is important that these substances are always present in chicken feed. It should be borne in mind that both a lack of protein and its excess provoke chickens to peck
In order to avoid overcrowding, it is important to calculate the area of the chicken coop. It is considered optimal if there is half a square meter per two birds.
To prevent chickens from starting fights due to boredom, they need to be let out for a walk in the same room where they are kept. To do this, the birds are provided with a floor covered with straw. To give them something to do, pieces of vegetables should be scattered around the house. When birds have the necessary space and are busy eating food, they have no need to peck each other. This will not happen if the lighting is not too bright. You can paint the lamps blue or red, the light from which will be dim. When introducing young birds, the more aggressive chicken should be immediately isolated. When the adaptation period passes, she is returned to the flock. To prevent pecking, you need to equip the house with a sufficient number of feeders. If there are not enough of them for all the individuals, they will start a fight, pecking at their relatives. To avoid parasites infesting birds, it is necessary to install containers containing sand and ash in the walking yard. Chickens bathe in them to get rid of insects. It is important that rodents do not come into contact with birds. The use of ultrasonic repellers will solve the problem: they will drive out established pests and prevent new ones from entering the chicken coop. Diseases that cause mass mortality of poultry or epidemics can be prevented if routine vaccination is followed.
Is it possible to determine the fertilization of an egg before incubation?
This can be done, and it doesn’t require much effort. You will only need to sacrifice two, or better yet, three dozen eggs. They must be broken into a clean bowl so that the yolk is oriented with the embryo facing up. In a broken egg, the differences between a fertilized and an unfertilized egg are obvious. They, of course, will not go into the incubator or under the hen, but the fertilization of the eggs of the entire batch will be known.
Can a rooster lay an egg?
As a rule, poultry owners are more concerned with the question of whether chickens lay eggs without a rooster. However, modern science has not only established the very fact of egg production by a rooster, it has experimentally achieved the possibility of transforming roosters into chickens and, conversely, chickens into roosters.
The development of sexual characteristics in birds is influenced by certain hormones produced by the endocrine glands. If these glands are damaged or removed, the bird loses all signs of its sex.
Fact! Soviet scientist M. Zavadovsky conducted experiments on sex change in both chickens and roosters. In both cases, the experiments turned out to be quite successful.
When the hens had their ovaries removed, they quickly lost all external signs of their gender and began to look more like roosters. Their crest grew larger, their tail feathers and neck lengthened, and they even grew small spurs. When they were then implanted with testes removed from the males, the chickens crowed like roosters. The same was done with the roosters, but in reverse order. They were transplanted with the ovaries removed from females and they turned into chickens that could lay eggs like females.
Thus, science has proven that it is possible to surgically change the sex of a bird. Moreover, the scheme of such a change is quite simple. But cases of sex degeneration in nature often occur without the intervention of a surgeon. The last known case of such a rebirth occurred quite recently, already in the third millennium.
Tragic events that recently occurred in northern Italy, in the province of Tuscany, led to the fact that a rooster turned into a hen. A fox sneaked into one of the farms in this province at night and, as usual, strangled all the chickens. Miraculously, only one rooster survived. As a result of the stress he experienced, such changes occurred in his body that after some time he began not only to lay eggs, but also tried to hatch them.
Biological science has long been aware of similar facts among plants and some invertebrates. Among birds, the Tuscan rooster was the first.
So, having figured out whether a chicken can lay eggs without a rooster, it is not difficult to organize the necessary conditions for poultry.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=i_pjhwUXSGQ
Universal Soldier
The most valued fighters are all-rounders who do not adhere to one fighting style.
I had a Turkish Hint Horoz rooster named Taras,” says Mukhanov. - Not big, but very cunning. He adapted to the tactics of any fighter. He himself hit very sharply and accurately, already at the beginning of the fight he injured his opponents’ eyes and won the fight ahead of schedule.
The loser is the participant who, not wanting to continue, lies down in the ring. It happens that a fighter, having missed many blows to the head, “floats”: “falls asleep,” lowering his head and touching the ring with his beak. This one is also considered a defeat. The battle lasts from 40 minutes to one and a half hours.
