how to tame a rooster

[incubatingisfun]

can you tame an adult rooster cause mine is very mean and always wants to fight me when i go to get the eggs.new to chickens so i dont know if this is a stooped question to ask.

 

[Scrub]

I'm going to offer a whole different approach to taming a rooster than what's been posted. Chickens, like all animals "think." I use that to my advantage. Whether it was taming my rooster or my hens so I can do health checks on all of them. Get yourself a dog training "clicker" and some live meal worms. Earth worms work just as well. Start with your most tame hen. Click the clicker and drop the worm where she can get it. She will start to cluck and brag about getting the special treat. Keep this up until she comes running when she hears the click. Then move on and click and treat 2 hens (the first and the next one who comes close). Trust me. All the others will be watching (especially the rooster) and will start to associate the click with the treat. Save your rooster for last even if he comes running to you upon hearing the click/treat. When all the hens come dashing to you click and treat them well ("jack pot") then put them away in the coop and shut the door. This will prevent your rooster from feeling like he needs to protect his ladies (which is a perfectly normal part of his genetics). Click and toss him several worms. To begin, the treat toss may need to be at a distance. Repeat this 3 times then let the hens out and leave. The next week or so, do this every time you go to the pen/coop; click and treat the hens, put them away and work with the rooster. In no time at all, using operant conditioning, you'll have your rooster eating worms out of your hand when he hears the click. Slowly wean them off worms every time, but keep using the clicker with random "jack pots" of worms to who ever gets to you first. It will be the rooster in no time. Basically you are teaching him to learn to earn his reward for being a gentleman. Whatever you do, DON'T kick at him with your feet and legs. This stimulates his adrenaline rush and he will perceive you as a big rooster who is after his gals. Taming a rooster to be friendly is much more fun than using harsh techniques which only makes him frightened of you instead of part of your flock. Fear in roosters, like dogs, usually manifests itself as aggression. Roosters are showy, flashy fun additions to any flock who will alert you to a fox, a raccoon, a hawk or a stray dog, but he need not be your enemy. Outwit him instead of terrifying him and both he and your hens will be more fun to have around.

 

[carlf]

There is a huge thread on this exact topic, posted about a month ago. There are also numerous others. New members, do a search, this topic has been discussed over and over again in just the last 3 months alone.

Basically, you cannot act submissive to the rooster, you cant act afraid him. Period. Ever.

If he comes at you, grab him and hold him down or pick him up until he calm down.
Every time he starts to approach you, walk right at him and tap him with a broom handle, dont have to hurt him, just "peck" him.
Walk through him, not around him.
Don't feed him treats, this is a submissive act.If you are with the hens giving them treats, push him away, never let him have any until you leave.
Never let him sit on you, that is acting submissive in his mind.

If this does not work after about a week, if he still comes after your, or other human, including kids, lock him up or chicken soup.

 

[Papas Chickens]

I remember my grandma going into her coop with a axe handle to fight off the agressive roosters so she could get the eggs. She use to tell us kids dont go in there without me or your G-Pa because those roosters wilk hurt you. We use to watch her smack them upside there heads to get them back and we use to ask what if you kill one when you hit it, all she would say was "We will have dinner then wont we"

 

[duluthralphie]

I am not trying to harass anyone, I am sorry if it seems I am.

I agree one should try reasonable measures to get a decent rooster. I simply think culling one that is going to take a long time to change or you can never trust is the safest and best for all involved.
I would not want to encourage someone to try and tame a rooster and find that rooster hurt a child.

Sometimes I think it is better to be brutally honest, like telling a person "you are too drunk to drive", than saying if you go slow and easy you will make it home.

A rooster that will attack an adult is like a drunk driver, it may be fine but there is a pretty good chance it will not be fine.

Culling has to be a option (IMHO) with any unruly dangerous animal.

 

[jelmer]

agreed easiest thing to do is just chop his head off

 

[paparootzi]

Here is something I read a while back and it's kinda' along the same line of method as Paraclete2's advice:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior
My first rooster started to get a little "cocky" but I used this method and it worked well. I also quit feeding him "rooster booster" because I was told that was to buff up fighting cocks and it makes them meaner? I don't know if that's true but I'm up to 8 roosters now and they have their own pens and harem of girls but every time I go in, they don't bother me at all because ever since they were born I would chase them down (sometimes I would use a fishing net) and hold on to them and pet them for a while! I definitely think they need to know that the human is the alpha rooster! (But I think that can be accomplished without hurting him).

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

What worked the best for me, after trying to hold my nasty roo, etc...don't let him have treats.

A dominant rooster will show his ladies the treats, but won't let subordinate roos have any. So that's what I did - I fed the ladies their corn, and whenever he would come over to have some, I would "peck" him with a stick - never hard, but a long skinny stick simulates a quick peck quite nicely. That worked the best, because there was no "wiggle room". It was a definite message, and it kept him away from me.

I did end up rehoming mine, because I don't want a rooster that won't come near me, all my other boys are sweet.

 

[cafarmgirl]

I'm of the belief that a nasty rooster is always going to be nasty. You may be able to modify his behavior somewhat, especially a young one, but you will always have to watch your back and be careful of other people, especially kids, being around him. Watching my back is not something I want to have to worry about every time I'm in the barn so I only keep roo's that are well behaved. They don't have to act like a pet but neither will I have them attacking me.

 

[LanceTN]

Offer him food.

Roosters attack for one of two reasons. They either think you're going to hurt their girls, or they think you're another rooster who's trying to take their girls.

To get them to stop attacking you need to break this delusion.

The one thing a rooster will never do for another rooster is give them food, they'll do it for hens but not roosters, and obviously a predator would never do this.

So next time the rooster gets mad grab some feed from the feeder and offer it to him or have a treat in your pocket ready to offer him. It should snap him right out of his delusion.