Do nice roosters always go bad?

I have raised 7 roosters this year of different ages. My youngest is still probably under 5 months old and the oldest is about 7 months. All but one of our roosters have been flighty and pretty much stay away from us if they can. They will cautiously eat from our hand now and again.

Of course the kids really liked the one that did not. He liked to be held, walked right up for food and would just sit on their shoulders.

Last week he took a shot at me while we were feeding a corn treat to them. This morning he left a 1 inch blood blister on my hand when I moved a piece of feed packaging away from the food.

I'm starting to wonder if the majority of "nice" cockerels are bound to go aggressive because they don't understand the pecking order and that the human is alpha. Anyone else experience this?

Note: When he did take shots at me I did not kick him. I picked him up and stroked him under the chin for a while each time.

There are a ton of opinions on this topic.
IMHO roosters that aren't afraid of you will often try to take over and rule the whole flock, which includes you and your family.

I don't handle any of my birds and especially not roosters. The only breed roosters that have attacked me are the calmer more tame breeds. I raise Penedesencas and they want nothing to do with humans. After somewhere around 300 of those roosters, I've never been attacked. They're just not that into you.

"Nice" cockerels are not afraid to challenge you, and sitting on the shoulder is a display of his dominance over that person. A good cockerel is one that keeps his distance and is respectful towards people.
The cockerels that people see as 'friendly and nice' are usually, in reality, over confident and dominant in nature. As they mature, and the hormones start to kick in, their personality suddenly changes from cute and cuddly, to aggressive and combative.
That doesn't mean that very 'friendly' rooster is going to go mean. There are plenty of friendly boys that seem to keep their brains and have the good sense not to attack people. The problem is when they start seeing absolutely everything and everyone as a threat.

junebuggena said:

"Nice" cockerels are not afraid to challenge you, and sitting on the shoulder is a display of his dominance over that person. A good cockerel is one that keeps his distance and is respectful towards people.
The cockerels that people see as 'friendly and nice' are usually, in reality, over confident and dominant in nature. As they mature, and the hormones start to kick in, their personality suddenly changes from cute and cuddly, to aggressive and combative.
That doesn't mean that very 'friendly' rooster is going to go mean. There are plenty of friendly boys that seem to keep their brains and have the good sense not to attack people. The problem is when they start seeing absolutely everything and everyone as a threat.

Click to expand...

Perfect response. Cute and cuddly.

Starts with:



And when your not expecting it:




And then it ends in:





Just kidding. I will try to find a farm for him to live on. He is too small to eat. Unless I can find a good small rooster recipe.

Move him on ASAP with full disclosure, or eat him. Before a child gets hurt! I have a small farm, and he'd be dinner here too. Mary

I'd like to add that 'nice' is not the same as 'bold', and I too like cockrels who respect my space at all times. And no chicken gets near my face or eyes! Mary

To me nice roosters keep their distance, and stay out of my way, friendly roosters are trouble, don't be afraid to chase them away, I learned my lesson long ago, petting and carrying and feeding out of hand makes most roosters aggressive and dominating. You become one of them, not a good place to be unless you plan on fighting your rooster.

Hm.. you guys worry me. My Roo is gentle and nice, it's the reason I chose to keep him over my the other 4 more dominant and rough Roos when their gender became obvious. He's 18 weeks now and still gentle, even while he's ruling the girls. It's obvious he's the head of the flock. He's only now just trying to mate with the girls but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it. Not 'nice' in sense that he'll come up and want petting and try cuddling with me, but he'll follow me around if I'm moving around the run, and if I'm handling any of the girls he keeps close by. None of my chickens or ducks have ever tried to bite me. The worse I've got was a few small scratches a time or two on accident. He will run if I try to pick him up to put him back in the run space if he's out free-ranging. lmao. FX my guy stays respectful and gentle.

MyMonsters91 said:

Hm.. you guys worry me. My Roo is gentle and nice, it's the reason I chose to keep him over my the other 4 more dominant and rough Roos when their gender became obvious. He's 18 weeks now and still gentle, even while he's ruling the girls. It's obvious he's the head of the flock. He's only now just trying to mate with the girls but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it. Not 'nice' in sense that he'll come up and want petting and try cuddling with me, but he'll follow me around if I'm moving around the run, and if I'm handling any of the girls he keeps close by. None of my chickens or ducks have ever tried to bite me. The worse I've got was a few small scratches a time or two on accident. He will run if I try to pick him up to put him back in the run space if he's out free-ranging. lmao. FX my guy stays respectful and gentle.

Click to expand...

That's exactly the kind of rooster we are taking about as 'keepers.' It's the ones that what to jump up into your lap every time you are near, that you need to watch out for.

I had a barred rock rooster that I never really handled and it still came out a man fighter. He would run after me every chance he got he would even run at me from about a 1/4 acre away. I thought maybe it was just because of him showing the hens whos boss but when I sold off my hens that year I decided to keep the rooster to see if not having the hens anymore would change his aggression but nope. Still attacked every chance he could. Dealt with this for about 6 months... Until he got a .22 cal pellet to the back of the head I didn't even enjoy him, my dog did stupid rooster. I have 3 easter egger roosters right now that are about 15 weeks. They're nice and keep their distance as of now but we'll see what happens with them. Will not hesitate to put out an aggressive rooster anymore. Not dealing with it sorry