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I am not inclined to use that as a criterion for a good rooster. My free-range roosters that keep eggs fertile, provide protection against hawks, and literally help rear offspring will generally be up in roost before anyone else in their respective social group. The good roosters have an out...

Mine do not a have a confidence issue. Rather, they have a learning curve to go through even when components are hardwired by instinct as practice makes for better performance later. The clumsiness of their "aggression" comes from the mental software not being set. In some ways the aggression...

The female in the arrangement may not agree with the breeder on the male selected. I see this frequently as a breeder. The female protests and will engage in behavior increasing odds a desirable male will come to her aid. Desirable male would be her harem master.

These behaviors do occur in wild bird populations, including chickens. Not all we see is an artifact of the culture setting. It does occur more frequently and is easier to see in a culture setting. Take time to watch swallows and wild ducks as clutches are being set.

I would say one engages in an act to benefit self at the expense of another. The female in this setting might to better to have another male sire her offspring. Mate to female looses out as well because first he thus produces fewer offspring and may even be duped into investing in offspring...

I have been putting some effort in describing ontogeny of male chicken behavior but trajectory of thread is such that I feel effort will be wasted to post.

The typical backyard setting has a lot in common with a mixed sex prison. Lack of options key to your interpretations.

Chickens do exhibit a heat although olfaction may not play a role.

With chickens you can because you similar costs and benefits.

I think we are starting down the road of not knowing natural chickens behaviors again.

I do similar with educating kids and will always be ready to cull a rooster used for such. Those I use are either hand-reared or hen-reared by a hand-reared hen where the hen is periodically called in with chicks so hen can relax chicks by not given alarm calls when I am present. Thus far...

What kind of rooster is that? You may have something working in your favor on his genetics side.

For those willing to tolerate aggressive adult roosters (I am generally not), what procedures can be used to prevent damage from attacks. With the exception of those acting like broody hens, mine deliver attacks more than than knee high. Approaches I think of first involve clothing and...

"Dinner is default for parties without lots of rooster experience". I do not say "only parties without lots of experience have dinner as the default" which you appear to be assuming. I use dinner option as well and did it just the other day. I take even further by removing that rooster's...

This below is something posted in a thread about two years ago. To give credibility to what I write. Much of my background involves gamefowl (fighting chickens) but I also keep at least fifty American Dominiques and as a kid my family commercially produced hatching eggs for a chicken hatchery...

Rooster always needs to be defined based on age. This is a major problem with backyard poultry keeping. I keep lots of roosters. Their is a genetic component with some breeds. In other breeds how the birds can be kept is more important. Where it a genetic base simply cull. If learned...