Rooster is ... Rooster: species, description, breeds

Breeding chickens on a home farmstead is a very profitable occupation, allowing you to always have fresh eggs and high-quality meat on the kitchen table.

Description of the cock

In the formation of the chicken herd, a special role is assigned to the rooster. The latter against the background of modest little females always looks spectacular: colorful plumage, a long loose tail, pointed feathers in the dorsal and cervical region, spurs on the legs. In adult males there is a bright crest and hanging earrings located along the sides of the beak and performing the same function with the crest: the direction of the blood flow to the skin and the regulation of the temperature regime of the organism.

Flying cock rarely and for small distances, with danger prefers fast running. At the end of autumn - the beginning of the winter period males are moulting, lasting approximately 6 weeks. Crow begin at 4 months of age.

The bird sleeps on one leg, another pulls under it and hides the head under the wing from the side where the leg is pinched. Roosters and chicken are omnivorous, along with seeds and insects can stick together a small lizard, snake or a young mouse. An important factor for successful growth and development is drinking water. Its deficiency negatively affects the egg-laying of female children.

In the struggle for primacy

A rooster is a bird, the forebear of which is considered to be a jungle jar of the banks. The dweller of dense forests and bamboo thickets could fly well, rest and sleep on trees. Perhaps, it was from those times that the modern rooster had the habit of climbing as high as possible in order to survey the surrounding area and timely warn the chickens about the approach of danger.

A rooster is a prominent handsome man, who has several females in his submission. His primacy begins to prove, while still a chicken. This is expressed in the manifestation of aggression towards fellow tribesmen. The competition is the harder the larger the group. It is noted that the winners of the battle for the championship are most often the owners of leaf-shaped ridges. Males with a podkovolnym head decoration, characterized by more complaisance, it is necessary to humbly exist in the background.

Some species of cocks do not want to remain at the lower levels of the hierarchy and every time they are fighting for the dominant position, most often not in an open fight, but in a stealthy way, by attacks from the back. Sometimes such sudden assaults, tracking down the leader is exhausted, and he concedes the championship without a fight.

Fecundity of cocks

To the opposite sex, interest in males begins with a 3-month-old age. Males of light breeds are able to mate up to several dozen times a day, coping with the load of 25 hens. Representatives of heavy breeds manage to fertilize up to 20 females with a frequency of pairing not more than 10 times.

The indicator of the fertilization of eggs is affected not only by the number of cocks in the bird's yard, but also by their age. More difficult in dealing with the weaker sex is the young males, who because of timidity spend a lot of time on courtship. Settled in a poultry house, they muffle and try to stay apart somewhere in a secluded corner. Adult chickens intimidate young males, not allowed to feeders. Therefore, often a poultry farmer, in order to avoid such treatment with a strong sex, first populates the hens in the hen house, and then lets the hens go to them. Then the chickens cease to feel mistresses and show more delicate behavior.

Specificity of courtship for the opposite sex

In the process of courting females, the cock is a model cavalier using a whole set of uncomplicated techniques:

• Lure the "lady of the heart" to the stern. The rooster takes the beak feed (grain or worm), demonstrates it and loudly summons the chickens. If none of them has reacted to the call, he pecks the food himself; If a few chickens came running, they give prey to the one who managed the first.
• "Stumbling" on the wing. When approaching the hen, she walks around her, periodically tipping her wing with her feathers loose.
• Persecution of the female. In the process of running after the chicken, the rooster stretches out the neck, bends the head to the ground, ruffles the feathers. This method is often applied to unfamiliar females, representatives of foreign hen house.

To some chickens of his herd, the cock can show indifference, and those bear unfertilized eggs. Therefore, some owners, wishing to get a larger offspring, are forced to keep 2 cocks in one herd.

Classification of cocks

Depending on the economic purpose, cocks and chicken are classified into the following breeds:

1. Meat. The weight of chickens is 2.9-3.6 kg, males - 3.4-4.7 kg.

• Brahma. Decoration of any house. A bird with an exclusively decorative appearance: a dark or light tail with a mandatory contrast collar.
• Konkhinin. The bird is large and massive, with a broad muscular chest and a broad back. The tail of the rooster is decorated with short braids. Leaf scallop. Short curved beak. Red-orange eyes. Plumage is magnificent, it also hides legs.

2. Meat and egg. Weight of cocks - 3,5-4,1 kg, chickens - 2,5-3,2 kg.

• The Kuchinskaya Jubilee. Has a lush undercurrent, a small crest. Well tolerates heat and cold. The color of the plumage of the roosters is red. On the wings there is a black band with a green tint.
• Adlerskaya silvery. Compact physique, medium size, deep long body, straight and wide back. Full bosom, powerful strong skeleton. A small round head with a medium-large crest.

3. Eggs. The average weight of the chickens is 1.8-2.2 kg, the males - 2.7-3.4 kg. The crest of the roosters is mostly leaf-shaped, after the third-third tooth is inclined to the side. Eggplant eggs - 200-265 eggs per year.

• Loman Brown is a well-known breed characterized by increased egg production. Representatives of its unpretentious in the content. They have a large physique. Viability of chickens is 98%.
• Leggorn. Smaller. They have a wedge-shaped body, proportional to the physique, a round, slightly protruding chest. Elongated back, concave in the middle part. The body resembles an isosceles triangle in shape

4. Decorative:

• Dutch white. They are the owners of unusual appearance. Smaller. Characterized by a compact body. Feather tightly fitting. On the head is a magnificent beautiful crest of white feathers, resembling a ball-shaped cap. Also, feathers are at the base of the beak.
• Chinese silk. Decorative light rock, quite mobile, characterized by silk plumage.

5. The fighters. The first cocks were tamed in Europe, Asia, Africa to conduct battles. Domestication of poultry for consumption in food occurred in India.

• Orel. Presumably it was deduced by prince Orlov-Chesmensky. It was widely distributed in the XIX century in Russia. Outwardly unusual and beautiful. Characterized by high egg production and excellent taste of meat.
• Azil. Broad, short-legged, bony, with closely fitting plumage, squat. Strongly expressed fighting character.
• Indian fighting. A large, muscular breed with strong limbs, wide setting of legs, brilliant plumage. Character - pugnacious.

Folk beliefs

In the people with the rooster a lot of beliefs are connected. Thus, the Eastern Slavs considered singing to be the most important function of birds. It is the cock crowing that marks the beginning of a new day, the retreat of darkness and evil spirit. With his scandalous disposition, the cock is a sensitive enough creature capable of predicting a change in the weather. On the eve of a rainy day, even with a very clear sky, the bird becomes restless, singing randomly, frightened.

Rarely rare are roosters of black suits. These birds have long been attributed to witchcraft and attributed to them a direct connection with the other world. But to keep such a bird on the farm is considered a good sign: the black cock reliably protects property and its owner from thieves and other ill-wishers.

Slavs during the construction of a house have traditionally sacrificed such a bird. In cultures of many peoples, the black cock is considered a symbol of material well-being and prosperity.