Aggressive Rooster. HELP

[ascott99]

My 4 hens and rooster are coming up on 6 months old. My rooster is becoming very aggressive towards me. (Challenging me) when I come in he stomps his feet at me and chases me. He has bit/pecked me twice now both times drawing blood. Despite this I still love him and would really hate to get rid of him but I can't go in the coop without worrying and watching my back. Any tips for me? Is this normal at this age or is it something I should maybe take into consideration. Anything would help!

 

[bobbi-j]

His hormones are getting the better of him right now. I wish I could say that he's going to settle down, but that has not been my experience. I will not keep a rooster if I have to watch my back when he's around. It's not enjoyable for me, and I keep chickens for the enjoyment of it. If you're bent on keeping him, look up user Centrarchid here on the forum. He has a method that he uses to break aggressiveness in roosters. I won't try to go into it here, because I haven't really studied it, and don't want to tell you something that's incorrect. If you have small children that could be in contact with your chickens, I would get rid of the rooster now. It can happen so fast that a rooster will come flying, spurs forward, and attack a child. And those attacks can come in at face level for a child, potentially causing serious injury.

 

[speckledhen]

No, it shouldn't be normal. There is some boundary testing at young "teen" ages, but not all cockerels even do that. I have a 6 year old Delaware rooster who is the sweetest guy on the planet, but at about 14 weeks old, he nipped me when I reached toward the feeder once or twice. He came from a line bred for temperament (an inherited trait, generally) so a little "aversion therapy", i.e., snatch him up, clamp his beak shut tightly with a stern, "NO!" worked very well. I trust him implicitly. He even defended my friend from Kentucky when his son jumped on her shoulder when she was squatted down feeding the hens treats. The youngster was being friendly, also a friendly guy, but Isaac wasn't happy and charged his son, knocking Deacon off my friend. Then Isaac went back for treats himself, LOL.

If he's flogging you and at prime breeding age, he's probably not very bright. An intelligent rooster, in my experience, does not bite (or flog) the hand that feeds and waters him. Breed the non-human aggressive males, keep only non-human aggressive males and you will be happy with the results. Isaac's sons and grandsons are just as easygoing as he is 99.9% of the time. And he was not handled a lot as a chick, either; it's just in his nature to be this way. You can't change a rooster's nature. You can make him afraid of you temporarily, but that only makes him more sneaky and he'll bide his time and get you when you least expect it.

I agree with all that bobbi-j said.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have a 10 month old Dominique rooster who has taken to attacking just in the last month every time I go into the chicken pen to feed and water and collect eggs. He got me just above my boot twice a few days ago on one leg, and once on the other leg; all 3 below the knee and right through my Wranglers! I have quite a bump and bruise! He's flown high, above my waist (I'm 5'4) - he is just a butthead! I don't know what to do! I have 9 hens - should I sell him? Re-home him with someone with only 1-2 or so hens? Should I put him in my other pen (after we get the roof on it!) with just 1 or 2 hens? I dread going out there now and I've had chickens for years and never had a rooster this aggressive!

Personally, I wouldn't put up with it. Especially if you have small children that live with you or come to visit. I guess before you make a permanent decision, you could ask yourself a few questions, like: Do I enjoy chicken keeping right now? If not, why? Is it the rooster? Would I be happier if he were gone? Why am I keeping a rooster in the first place? For protection of my hens? Fertile eggs? Because he's pretty?

If you can't come up with any good reason to keep him, then don't. I'll frank, though - I would not re-home an aggressive rooster. Of course, if you don't mind him going to a home where he'll end up in the stew pot, go ahead. I would rather process my own aggressive rooster than give him away after I put my time and money into raising and feeding him. If you do decide you want to keep him, check out the thread referred to in the above post.

 

[bobbi-j]

Check out the Meat Bird section of the forum. Lots of good threads on processing. When you cook him, be prepared for a whole different taste and texture than what you get from the grocery store birds. Low and slow is the secret. I wouldn't say they taste gamey. Just that they taste stronger than a store-bought one. It's hard to describe. They can also be.... I don't know if I'd say more stringy. It's hard to describe. What I will tell you is, after eating my own chickens, I won't go back to a store-bought one. I've gone without chicken until mine have been ready to process.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks! Yes, I've already pretty much made the decision he's gone, it's just how/where. I've never processed any of the chickens I've had. I used to have about 60, but they were all free range, and I never had any problems with roosters or hens with aggression. This started out of the blue and I could care less what caused it - I'm the only one who sees them, and I haven't altered my routine, so whatever his problem is, he's probably best in the stew pot. How do I go about it, what's the best way, especially with his hyper/aggressiveness and not wanting a gamey flavor? I would love to raise my birds for dual purpose, which most of the chickens I have now are. I'm getting so many eggs, I've got standing orders at the local farmer's market in town each week! ~~ Jo

I have only processed one aggressive cockerel here. He was about 25 weeks old. We used only the breast meat, really, made a wonderful crockpot chicken stew. It was fabulous! His name was Jake. I went back the next day for more, asked DH where it was. He said to look in the freezer in the ziplock bag marked "Jake Stew".

Seriously, though, I was breeding these and since temperament is heritable, I didn't want to pass on his genes to another generation.

 

[speckledhen]

Jake Stew! Love it! This will be Roo Stew! And I LOVE my crockpot! You're absolutely right about not breeding the temperament on down the line! Thank you! I can get another day old chick and raise him up!

Best of luck to you. An easygoing rooster is a pleasure to have around. I haven't had to deal with an aggressive male (other than the silly little Belgian D'anver chicken nugget size males) for years and I cannot afford to have a rooster knock me off my feet with my fragile bones on this root-and-rock-ridden mountain property. Life's way too short and you just don't have to live that way.

 

[Shakenhead]

SouthernFarmChick did you make stew out of your rooster? I just took a bad rooster from my friend. He's a beautiful Americuna who has terrified all her hens so bad that they completely stopped laying. My goal is to have baby chicks by spring. I've been reading some threads on here about the same subject and I think I will try grabbing him as soon as he challenges me and shoving his head into the ground holding him down as if I was another rooster. From what I understand this is the only thing a rooster will respect. I just got him today so all this is just talk so far.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Shakenhead, the only thing that's going to get you is a rooster that's second on the pecking order, and looking to move up. That's how you get roosters that attack visitors, roosters that attack people from behind, etc. You don't want to be part of the pecking order.

Cull the bird, don't breed him. Find a new rooster from someone that doesn't have aggression issues.


You didn't say how many hens you have - but if you have say, 5, the rooster contributes 50% of the genetic material of the flock, and each hen contributes 10%. He's the most important bird you have - it's of utmost important that he have good genes.

 

[Shakenhead]

Crazy talk I appreciate the advice and I will follow it if need be. I found out more info about this rooster. He's about 9 mo old and was raised with his sisters and he was aggressive toward his sisters running after, mounting and aggravating the last flock of 13 hens constantly. Her hens then stopped laying eggs for last few months and so blaming the rooster for her egg problem. Now I have 12 hens and this will be the first rooster my hens have had. Today I didn't observe him trying to mount any hens but did strut n show off, my hens just ignored him. He crowed all day so I'm sure my neighbors are real happy about it.