Are white leghorn roosters and road island red roosters any more aggressive than other breeds?

[Oregonbeek]

I was kind of under the assumption (probably false assumption) that it probably mattered more how a rooster was raised than what breed they were as far as their aggressive behavior goes. I want a few roosters in case I decide to breed my flock, and I had figured that a few road island reds and white leghorns would make good breeding stock. But then in a podcast I heard someone singled out those two exact breeds as being particularly aggressive.

Is that really the case that certain breeds are particularly aggressive? And if so, what classic egg laying breeds would you suggest for "calm" roosters? I'd prefer those two breeds but if they are going to be attacking me every time I open their coop door then I'll switch to another breed.

Thanks!

 

[brahmabreeder]

Rhode island Reds to have a rep. for being a bit on the mean side. I had one who "accidently" got shipped with some other birds ordered from a hatchery. He started getting mean at around two months old. We handled that one pretty quickly. Then again I also got some last year from MT. Healthy and not one of them ever attacked me. Non of these birds made it to maturity either. I think it depends on what lines you use and somewhat on how they are raised. As far as leghorns go I had a few and they didn't attack me. I gave them to my neighbor right as they started to mature and they did try attacking her a few times but she said she put them in their place. Whenever I had to feed them they never attacked me. Most times they just ran away. I had read though that leghorns can also be aggressive. Again mainly a thing related to what lines you use. If you just cull all of your mean roosters then less and less mean roosters will be produces. If you do end up with a mean then looks like you have dinner.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I think it depends more on where you get your stock. Birds of these breeds from a breeder that includes temperament as one of their criteria for choosing breeding stock are unlikely to be any more aggressive than any other breed. If you are ordering from a hatchery, whose main focus is the sheer volume of chicks they produce rather than on the quality of the chicks produced, then it gets a little more dicey. Simply put, a hatchery that is producing the volume of chicks necessary to fill orders just can't pay attention to the temperament of the chickens they produce so you are more likely to produce aggressive birds. If temperament is important to you, then just cull for temperament. All breeds roosters have the potential to be aggressive.

 

[Oregonbeek]

Thanks for the responses!

I'm getting them from McMurray. Maybe I'll just get a couple extra and then just plan on graduating the most aggressive ones into stew.