Rooster behavior question??? Is this normal?

[Lucysmom002]

I have a large Buff Brahma (Dinobird) and a large Black Cochin (Sam) living together in a nice fenced in area. The past couple days the Brahma has been preening and grooming the Cochin. They stand face to face and Dino is gently preening the neck feathers and playing with Sam's wattles and Sam is enjoying every minute of it!

Are my roosters gay?

 

[yinzerchick]

Does it matter if they are?

I'm no expert on rooster behavior...far from it, but, it's possibly some sort of submissive behavior. My jennys (donkeys) try to mount each other when in heat, but I don't think it has anything to do with their sexual preferences.

The dominant one is the one that starts the grooming among them. Just a thought. In the mean time, be happy their not in combat with eachother. That would be much worse IMHO.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I'm glad they get along so well. I agree that it is a sort of dominance thing, and they have a very friendly way of maintaining the hierarchy. My bachelor roosters don't groom one another, but they do the dance around each other when they come out of their run to free range. They are all around the same size, and they take turns dancing around each other periodically and it is clearly a dominance thing. Their hasn't been any mounting among them. They were raised together and can't seem to figure out who rules the roost, but they don't fight each other unless something very disruptive happens to set them off.

 

[Schrebergaertner]

An old farmer decided it was time to get a new rooster for his hens. The current rooster was doing his job okay, but he was getting on in years. And the farmer figured it wouldn't hurt anything. So he gets a young cock and and lets it loose in the barn yard. The old rooster sees the young one strutting around and he gets a little worried. So, they are trying to replace me, thinks the old rooster. I've got to do something about this.

He walks up to the new bird and says,"So, your the new guy in town. I bet you think you're really hot stuff don't you? I'm not exactly ready for the chopping block yet. I bet I'm still the better bird and to prove it, I challenge you to a race around the hen house over there. We'll run around it ten times and whoever finishes first gets to have all the hens to himself."

Well, the young rooster was a proud sort, and he definitely thought he was more than a match for the old guy. "You're on," said the young rooster. "And since I know I'm so great, I'll even give you a head start of half a lap. I'll still win easily," said the young cocky rooster.

So, the two roosters go over to the hen house to start the race and all the hens gather around to watch. The race begins and all the hens start cheering the roosters on. After the first lap, the old rooster is still maintaining his lead. After the second lap, the old guys lead has slipped a little but he's still hanging in there.

Unfortunately the old roosters lead continued to slip each time around, and by the fifth lap he just barely led the young rooster. By then the farmer had heard all the commotion. He ran into the house, got his shot gun, and ran out to the barn yard figuring a fox or something was after his chickens. When he got there, he saw the two roosters running around the hen house, with the old rooster still slightly in the lead. He immediately took his shot gun, aimed, fired, and blew the young rooster away.

He walked away slowly, saying to himself.................. "darn, that's the third gay rooster I've bought this month."

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Ha!

 

[seminolewind]

Since Cochins look different than other chickens, maybe the one rooster hasn't figured out yet what the heck it is!

 

[Lucysmom002]

Hmm older=wiser. haha good joke!

They grew up together and they are very nice roosters. Sam just stood there and let Dino-bird do his thing. It was really cute. I'm going to try to get it on video.

I have 2 big RIR roosters too. They all grew up together but I had to separate them. The RIR's are a little more aggressive. One of them attacked Sam so now they are in the barn and have free run of the place. Honky the biggest one does that dance at me. I rolled him one time and now he stays out of the way when I come out there.

I also have Raven, he's a Black Langshan. He's a really nice bird. Stays out of the way. Very gently if I pick him up.

No silly, I don't care if they are gay! I was just kidding about that part anyway.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not familiar with rooster behaviors yet. I'm glad I asked.