Rooster???

ganjagirl

Hatching
Aug 23, 2016
6
0
9
400
We bought some pullets this spring, one of which turned out to be a rooster. All was well until about a week ago, he is very mean all of the sudden. He is attacking the girls, and even tries to get tough with me. Any tips on keeping roosters? I don't know if I should separate him from the hens, just let him be, or find him a new home... any advice is greatly appreciated
 
Welcome to BYC! What has he been doing exactly? Picking on the hens some and attempting to mount them can be expected of adolescent roos. However, it is up to you to judge what is too rough. My rule of thumb is if it draws blood, it's being too rough. You do NOT want an aggressive rooster in your flock. All they do is pass their aggressiveness on to their children and pose a risk to you. If he's charged at you or tried to flog you (even though he probably doesn't have much in the way of spurs at his age) I strongly recommend you rid yourself of him. I love roosters and I think they generally get a bad reputation, but I do not tolerate over-aggressiveness with them. A roo that has the gall to go after a person will likely do it again. These belong in the dumpling pot. If you do end up getting rid of him and you want another one, go for a breed with a more docile temperament, especially if you're not experienced with roos. I've had good luck with Orpingtons, Jersey Giants, Brahmas, Cochins, Wyandottes, and Silkies. I'm going to stress to not let one bad bird sour your outlook on all roosters, because they do make wonderful additions to the flock if you have a gentleman of a roo.
 
I love roosters. They are my favorite to keep because they can be a challenge to tame. I find with my boys that they tend to go through a slightly aggressive phase in adolescence, and level out as they get older. I breed and raise Serama bantams, so i have to make sure they are tame and docile for them to sell well. The larger roo's like Easter eggers, or full sized Cochins tend to bee rather easy to keep tame. I would let the rooster do what he might until his hormones level out. However i cant agree enough with @LRH97 if he makes your girls bleed, he needs to be seperated.
 
He hasn't drawn blood. He will grab ahold of the hens faces if they try to eat to close to him, if I have stray hen and pick her up to put her in the coop he will attack her as soon as i put her down, and sometimes for no apparent reason he will just start pecking (hard) at a hen. As far as I go, it's like he is trying to scare me away. I just show him I am boss and he runs away. This is my first time raising birds so I am glad to hear that he might just be moody because of his age.
 
Yea, the whole chasing a girl around when you set her down is completely normal and nothing to be alarmed about. The grabbing of the face may be slightly concerning. Just keep and eye on him and make sure he's not drawing blood. Usually when they are young and just starting to mate, they are a little over aggressive, but that SHOULD level out over time. If it doesn't I would consider getting rid of him.
 
For now I am going to see how things go. I have read up a bit on taming a naughty rooster, so I will try a few things. I really hate to get rid of him if I don't have to. I see potential in him, I think he will be a good protector. Should he be kept in the coop with the hens? I have some people telling me you don't let the rooster in the hen house, and that is the cause of his aggressiveness.
 
I don't think that is true at all. I have never met anyone who does not keep the roosters in with the hens. All of mine stay with my hens, and none are aggressive.
 
The best thing that ever worked for us for making roosters more gentle was picking them up and cuddling them. For every rooster we've had -- except one -- they seem to almost be humiliated and humbled by being cooed to and petted. Lol Usually, after a good cuddle, the roo will steer clear of us for a week or two.

The last rooster we had was crazy. I thought it would be gentle, as it was a silkie/cochin mix. The boy would try to bite chunks out of our arms and legs, and attack with claws and spurs. A few times I petted him for over an hour, even holding him down on his back on the ground in front of the girls, but nothing helped. He would crow while I held him in my arms with my hand over his face!

Every other roo we've had over the last 5 years has either been nice to us or nice to the hens, but never both. So, we've decided we're done with roos. If we want chicks, we just buy fertilized eggs to put under our broody hens. The girls' feathers stay much prettier without a roo scratching them off. :)
 
He hasn't drawn blood. He will grab ahold of the hens faces if they try to eat to close to him, if I have stray hen and pick her up to put her in the coop he will attack her as soon as i put her down, and sometimes for no apparent reason he will just start pecking (hard) at a hen. As far as I go, it's like he is trying to scare me away. I just show him I am boss and he runs away. This is my first time raising birds so I am glad to hear that he might just be moody because of his age.


Rooster world. Read up. Learn all you can. It can help your whole flock and family.

The reason he is attacking the hen when you put her down, he is telling her, "I am your mate!!" I have 10 roosters currently. Out of those 10, I've been attacked by one. It took me awhile to figure out WHY. My Speckled Sussex rooster was 2 (couple years ago). We, in Ohio had just had a time change. Fall back an hour. The chickens were used to going up at dusk. I was trying to put them up an hour too early and my rooster didn't like that. It wasn't the program. I put him in a dog crate for 2 weeks (time out) to "reset" his attitude. If they are occasionally aggressive, it's normal, and generally a reason behind it.

I did have one cockerel that was very aggressive. He seemed to mature faster that the others his age and kept mating and attacking the hens. After a couple weeks of trying to work with him to calm down, I ended up sending him to freezer camp.

Good luck with your roo:D
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom