The story continues….
While there has been a significant reduction in dominant mating behaviors towards humans from Del the Rooster, he will still occasionally test the boundaries, but it is quickly squelched by again, picking him up and carrying him with me for a bit while I continue cleaning the coop.
However, the one thing that had been (notice the past tense?) more consistent since he hit 6 months of age (also known as the start of rooster puberty) is the pecking. Sometimes it was the Curious Peck that they all do. This is usually at something that may be on my person, like snow on my boots, specs of stuff on my clothes, and overall it's pretty cute. Sometimes it is the Beak Cleaning Peck when they do more of a wiping motion with their beaks on clothes or foot gear, on anything really. Also pretty darn cute. Then there is the Bite Peck. It’s not cute. It’s hard. It can hurt. It can draw blood. And it’s not like any of the above Pecks. It’s plain ole aggressive. And it was Del, several times a week. And the Hug it Out and Walk solution did not address it.
What was the solution? To peck back.
When his pecks turn to Bites, with gloved hand, which is typically gloved now that it is winter, I will take Ms. Pointer Finger and firmly poke it into his upper chest area whilst walking towards him. And he responds so fastly! He is startled at first, and then he starts walking back, back, back as I move towards him, Ms. Pointer Finger leading the way. After about 5 seconds of this, it’s over, he walks away.
And then I go on with my chores in the coop, chatting it up with everyone, while Del watches me cautiously from a far. Once I am done, I make peace before I go and also reinforce that I am a human, not a threat to him or his ladies, by giving him some feed from my hand which may take a bit because he is often a little wary after we do the Back, Back, Back dance, but eventually he comes around, much more gently.
As of today, Del and I only dance like this about 3 times a month. Honestly, I am surprised how quickly it worked. And I hope I did not just jinx it...
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