Is Buttheaded Rooster Syndrome Contagious?

I have two roosters. They were hatched the same day (7 months ago) and are the same breed (silkies). My "beta" roo, Mac, is totally docile. I don't even think about where he is because he has never made a single aggressive move toward me. My alpha roo, though, has absolutely earned his name--Roosifer. If my husband or kids walk into the run, he goes straight for them, jumping at them with his feet and flogging them. He and I usually have an uneasy understanding about who is in charge, but every so often he gets a wild feather up his butt and comes after me for no reason at all. He's a great roo to the girls, but I may end up getting rid of him because of how he acts towards us.

My question is, if I DO get rid of him, what are the chances that Mac will start acting like a butthead in his place? Are the odds good that he will stay mellow like he is now, or will he step up in his alpha role and come after me, too? I like my little silkie roos and my neighbors don't mind them since they aren't very loud. I want to keep them, but I'm not going to live life worrying about my family or me being attacked when we go in the run.

Thoughts from those of you who have been there?

Aggression is often genetic, so the chances are 50/50, because there's a chance that the sweet one may only be so because he's not alpha. And, he may just simply be sweet. I have two Polish cockerels, one more dominant than the other, and the dominant one is often dancing at and sometimes threatening my ankles. The lesser one is always sweet and almost hen-like. When they got separated, the sweet one began to dance at my feet. He's not quite the the challenging, flogging mode yet but it is definite that he was mainly just sweet from being the beta rooster.

So I say split them for a while and see your chances.

lol! attack of the killer feather duster
Yesterday I had a 4' turkey going after me so I just had to laugh at this one
I agree with illia, it just depends on the bird. But nobody wants a meany in the flock so if the next one gets those crazy feathers up the butt . . . time to go shopping all the silkie roos I've had have been the sweetest things ever.

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Even though they were hatched the same day, they may or may not share genetic make-up. My birds are all hatchery birds (I'm not as ambitious as you are, but I DROOL over your blog and all of your beautiful chicken projects ). They do LOOK different (Mac really is black, Roosifer has a lot of reddish brown around his head and neck) so they may have different parents.

I may have to figure out a way to take Roosifer out of the equation temporarily and see what happens.

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Turkeys are EVIL. We have a park near us fashioned after an 1800's farm. They used to have turkeys free ranging with the chickens. They would chase us. One time, one flew up and tried to scratch my nephew's face. It basically landed on his shoulder. I was so relieved when they got rid of those aggressive monsters!

Mine are sooo nice and my huge tom loves me to death, but I normally wear blue jeans and yesterday I puton a pair of black cords to go to town in, well poor Amos thought there was another Black Tom wrapped around my legs. It was hysterical, I wound up with two HUGE turkey footprints on my backside . . . I had to keep bending dwon where he could see my face so he would know it was me.
Today he is back to loving me and has forgiven my affair with the black pants.

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Turkeys are EVIL. We have a park near us fashioned after an 1800's farm. They used to have turkeys free ranging with the chickens. They would chase us. One time, one flew up and tried to scratch my nephew's face. It basically landed on his shoulder. I was so relieved when they got rid of those aggressive monsters!

Don't label all turkeys this way!!! Mine were crazy little lap turkeys. We had one that slept with a silkie hen every night!

I am falling over laughing reading your blog!

I have an aggressive bantam hen She thinks she's bigger than she actually is and I call her Ankle-Biter.
I say split them up and see what happens.

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I have a 6mos old bantam frizzle hen who is the biggest witch ....she's become queen of the coop. The older girls get out of her way now too. She actually bites me! I've taken to picking her up and carrying her, but honestly, I think it just makes her madder!