What to do with fully grown aggressive rooster

I've got a very beautiful EE rooster that is very aggressive toward me and is very rough with my hens. In fact, I think he seriously wounded a hen whose neck I sutured up after a Pull-it Shut chicken door accident. The scar on the back of her neck wasn't just re-opened, there was skin missing. I had to put her down. He was also mercilessly flogging the other hen I separated because of a wounded vent then re-introduced. He has a couple of favorite hens whose saddles and comb areas are bare of feathers from his rough rides.

I've got him separated in his own temporary 4'x4' cage, but the wife is pressuring me to either kill him, build him his own coop and run, or give him away. He's a mean SOB, and I only keep him around because he is so beautiful. I thought about sending him off to a freeze-dry taxidermist, but that's a few hundred dollars, and my wife won't let me keep it on my dresser. ;-)

What would happen if I reintroduced him to the flock? Is he now at the bottom of the pecking order, or would he be back to his rough ways in no time flat? I'm not terribly concerned with the bare patches on one or two hens' saddles, but I won't tolerate him flogging my favorite hen.

Ideas?

If he were mine he would be heading for the big coop in the sky. No need to keep an aggressive one when so many good ones are out there looking for a new home.

Best to do it ASAP in my opinion before he seriously injures someone.

He does not lose pecking order, he is much bigger than the hens. In chicken society, bigger is higher on the ladder. Once you put him back, he will continue as if he had not been gone. I am with the wife, he needs to be culled.

You may not be aware of the tension in your flock, but when you get rid of him, your hens are going to relax. More than likely your egg production will increase.

I am not sure if this rooster was raised with flock mates. In my own experience, and with others I have asked, often times a rooster raised with just flock mates, does not learn proper chicken society behavior. The rooster gets bigger than the pullets sooner, and there is nothing bigger to pound some respect into them. I also think that this set up, makes the hens victims.

If this year, you raise up some chicks in a multi-generational flock, you are apt to get a rooster, and the older hens won't tolerate that behavior. This rooster will learn to dance and please the hens before they let him have his way. These roosters tend to become flock masters.

This is not a guarantee, roosters are a crap shoot, some are wonderful, some are awful. Once they become awful, there really is no long term changing back. Cull him! Nothing is that good looking!

Mrs K

The rooster was one of four EE that were introduced to four older pullets and a three year old BSL hen. This rooster was so scared of these eight hens that he wouldn't come out of the roost during the day, and I had to bring him food and water until he matured. I felt sorry for him until I picked him up one day, and he pecked me on my face so hard it drew blood.

So, I guess if either of you two owned a leopard, you'd kill it and have it made into a rug?

****, you blew my theory!

My mother has a saying, "If the dog bites you, **** the dog, but, if the dog bites you the second time, **** yourself for being that dumb!"

I would not have a leopard. And I don't keep aggressive animals close to home. I have owned some mean cows, that could put you back in the pick up. But our cattle are as close to wildlife as you can get them and still call them domesticated. I don't visit them every day. My chickens need to be nicer.

Mrs K

I'm resurrecting this thread to offer an update. I had "Buck" separated from the flock for a really long time. I kept him in a 4'x4' cage, but started feeling sorry for him and wondered if he had matured and "chilled out" a little bit.

I decided to re-introduce him to the flock. To my surprise and relief, he has become a good rooster to the hens. He doesn't relentlessly mount them, nor does he flog any of them. There is one EE hen that he just doesn't like, but he'll only peck at her after I've put out scratch feed. It really is a tranquil flock overall.

My biggest problems now are two hens that love pecking at one hen's vent, but pinless peepers have quashed that bad behavior.

As for his aggressiveness toward me, I think from the waist down, he sees a threat and flogs at me through the fence, especially if I'm walking around run. But, when I bend down and make eye contact with him, his demeanor completely changes. He looks me in the eyes for a few seconds, then looks away and begins pecking at the scratch on the ground.

I've even ventured into the run a few times with him about three feet away from me. As long as I go slowly and maintain periodic eye contact with him, he is calm. If I need to do a lot of work inside the coop/inside run, I'll go get my stuffed red fox and show it to him. He has instinctive fear of that fox. I was lucky to have been unloading junk at the dump when this man was about to chunk it. I thought it would look cool in the man cave, but now it's a good tool for controlling a big, mean rooster.

As as aside, I couldn't resist putting that stuffed fox in the garage by my wife's car. She went out into the garage to go to work that morning, then I saw her slowly walk backwards back into the house with a fearful/confused look on her face. I laughed my butt off!

Here he is. He's going to be a papa soon, I think.

Glad for the happy ending! Thanks for sharing.

Dont turn your back on him,,,,

Thank you for updating! I wish more members would come back with their outcomes as to help others. How long was "a really long time"? (The separation)