Aggressive Rooster

[Nevaschickens]

Hi all! My rooster is now hitting that time were he's growing up. Which means he's become slightly aggressive. I love him and don't really wan to rid of him. It's come to the point where I go to them out and feed them that I can't even do that. This morning he was after me and chased me back into the house! I've never ran so fast in my life. I know that probably wasn't the best thing to do but I didn't wanna get pecked again. Also, I have two Roos in my flock. The other sweet as can be. I have 3 hens. Could that be contributing to the problem? Every once in awhile they get in scruffy but the bottom roo always backs down before anything serious happens. They seem to be doing pretty well otherwise. I'm just worried about my own well being. I want to keep him but I don't know how to deal with him. :/

 

[sourland]

Well, 2 roosters for 3 hens is one rooster too many, and running away only encourages him to attack more. You can do a search on 'aggressive roosters' - there are many threads addressing this common situation. Understand that even after behavior modification such roosters can not be fully trusted. Also understand that any cockerels sired by this rooster may very well become human aggressive. I would eat him, but you might want to find a new home for him.

 

[DanEP]

Well first off 2 roosters and 3 hens is not going to work long term.your hens are going to be over bred and the roosters may get into serious fights later on. As far as the aggressive rooster goes You pretty much have 3 options,
1 Stand up to him and let him know your the boss 100% of the time.this may or may not work.
2 get rid of him and keep the mellow guy.
3 Wear track shoes so you can outrun him.

I don't want to make lite of your problem but mean roo's are hard too retrain. If he was just reacting to you messing with the girls that you can work with, he's just doing his job. But if he chased you all the way to the house that different. Some roo's are just mean cusses and should be culled If you decide to try and work with him there is information on this forum to help you. In any case do not use him for breeding as aggression can be genetic and his sons may be just like him.

 

[saltandpepper2]

Well, first off, 2 roos for 3 hens is too many, those hens will not appreciate the extra attention, and will most likely start losing feathers on their backs.

Second of all, and this is coming from someone who's had at least 4 aggressive roosters that come to mind, The best thing would be to kill him. I have had a type of success retraining aggressive roosters, but I've always been better off disposing of them in the long run. Because even if you stand up to him, throw him, kick, or turn around and chase him yourself ( Ive done all of these) You'll never be able to fully trust him. He'll become wary of you, but if you turn your back, he'll go right back to charging you, I can't tell you how many times I've turned around to one of my roos sneaking up on me, only to run away when I notice them. Also, just because they learn to leave you alone, doesn't mean they'll respect anyone else. Everyone other than a very few would get chased and harassed by these roosters if I didn't step in.

Finally, If you're still thinking that he's worth keeping, from my experience, roosters that are human aggressive often become bossy and aggressive with the other chickens, roosters and hens.

Just my two cents.

 

[AmericanMom]

Personally I don't keep aggressive animals...period... I don't want to always have to watch my back nor do I want my Grandchildren harmed by an aggressive rooster that can and will inflict serious injury..

That said, if you do choose to re-home him please make the new owner aware of the issue, it would tear me up knowing I gave a rooster I couldn't trust to a family with children.

 

[Mrs. K]

A rotten rooster can really take the fun out of chickens.

It would be better to get rid of both roosters and have just hens. Roosters need a bigger flock than just 3.

Mrs K

 

[hicksfamily]

oops that was my baby cousin sorry!

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I recently installed 3 eight month old roosters in my layer flock for breeding purposes, a Black Copper Marans, a Blue Copper Marans, and a blue one with Americuna beard & ear muffs. I raised them from the incubator so I was always in close contact with them but never petted or babied them, they are just regular old chickens, kinda aloof & indifferent towards me. Blackie took the role as head rooster with the blue one as second in command and the bearded one was just there. They never fight with each other and are always together where ever they go, looting, raping & pillaging the countryside.

Several weeks ago the Black one gave me a funny look when I was in the pen and started pecking the ground, like they do when they're tidbitting for the hens only he wasn't making the "booka booka booka" sound like when tidbitting.

I said to myself yep he's gonna be a problem.

Next day I took a riding crop in the pen with me, one with the little hand flapper thing on it. Blackie pecked the ground, fuzzed up and charged me and started hammering my ankle & shins with his spurs. I wear cowboy boots so it didn't really hurt that much, it was more annoying than anything. I slapped him in the face with the crop, it made a nice WHAP sound. He flipped over backwards, jumped up with a dumb surprised on his face and charged me again and I slapped him down again. He did this 4-5 times before he decided he had enough and went and hid in the henhouse. His attitude adjustment lasted 3 days then he got the nerve to flog me again so he got another dose of the riding crop.

Before the chicken huggers start calling me mean, inhumane & abusive, let me remind you that is how roosters deal with each other, only they use claws, wings & spurs to hammer each other's head to a bloody mess instead of using a piece of nice soft leather like I used.

This went on for about 3 weeks before he grudgingly accepted me as the barnyard pimp and now he goes to the other side of the pen when I enter. If he starts crowing at me I walk towards him and stare at him. If I were to make a sudden move with my foot it would trigger a reflex attack, but challenging me or fighting with me isn't on his list of options. Instead of egging him on by kicking at him and giving him an opportunity for a foot boxing match I just stare at him until he loses his nerve and chickens out, takes about 10 seconds.

This rooster is lucky because ordinarily I don't tolerate animals that make a nuisance of themselves, but the weather has been just too cold & nasty to cull & process him. If he's still cocky when it warms up, he has a date with Mr. Hatchet. Roosters are a dime a dozen where I live so little effort is spent trying to rehab an undesirable one.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think a big point here, is that you recognized that the rooster was going to be trouble long before he attacked you, or even puffed up. The first time I had an aggressive rooster, I did not notice the posturing right away. I think that happens to a lot of novice chicken owners. One does not anticipate them being aggressive and miss the cues, and causes big problems.

Be very careful if other people visit your coop, even though he respects you (kind of, sort of) he might be very apt to attack a child or small person.

 

[saltandpepper2]

I think a big point here, is that you recognized that the rooster was going to be trouble long before he attacked you, or even puffed up. The first time I had an aggressive rooster, I did not notice the posturing right away. I think that happens to a lot of novice chicken owners. One does not anticipate them being aggressive and miss the cues, and causes big problems.

Be very careful if other people visit your coop, even though he respects you (kind of, sort of) he might be very apt to attack a child or small person.

That was my issue the first time, the others I saw is coming, but I also have a five year old, and that puts a different twist to the issue.