Making Sure Your Rooster Knows You Are Top Dog

[CalgaryFarmer]

My first rooster is coming of age. I have read a fair bit on ensuring your rooster does not become aggressive to you. These include:

1. Pushing your rooster off a hen when he tries to mate in your presence.
2. Chasing your rooster when he starts to crow in your presence.
3. Walking through your rooster rather than around.
4. Chasing the rooster when he drops a wing and is sideways(?) to you.
5. Not tolerating any type of aggression towards you.

Other responses to the above can include:

1. Holding the rooster's wings and carrying him around.
2. Holding the rooster against the ground for a period of time, and specifically until he relaxes at least.
3. Holding the rooster by his legs and holding him upside down. (should be used sparingly and only for a short period of time)

Any other thoughts?

As well, is there a risk that your rooster may start to see you as a threat when you do these things, especially pushing him off when he is trying to mate? In other words, can these responses turn a rooster aggressive where he might not have been inclined to be aggressive to you?

 

[varidgerunner]

I raise game chickens. I establish dominance by beating them soundly in a game.

Connect four for instance.

 

[donrae]

My method is to basically ignore them, I guess. Yep, I walk right through them, but not in a chasing way. I simply need to get from point A to point B and he's in my way. He needs to move. Now, maybe I really didn't need to get from point A to point B, but he doesn't need to know that.

I don't want to mate the hens, so I don't care if he does that when I'm around. And I do want him mating the hens regularly so I can hatch eggs, so deterring him from mating is counter intuitive to me.

I don't care if he crows, except if I'm very close and it physically hurts my ears. I'll yell or stomp at him for that, just like I would my dog for barking when I'm that close. My dog doesn't see me as an attacker, and none of my roosters have either.

When I do need to be in the pens, I do try to be respectful and give all the birds, but the roosters especially, time to get out of my way. In smaller pens they don't always know where I'm going and get between me and the nest box, for instance. Since my birds aren't pets, when I get close to them sometime they get upset, trying to get away. When they get upset, I just stop moving for a minute and let them figure it out. I don't push myself onto any animal that's stressing like that, it's a good way to get flogged/bit/kicked. make the right choice easy....let them move away quietly.

I find if I raise my roosters with this kind of "benign neglect", so to speak, I have no aggression issues. I'm a non-player in their minds. I mean, my dog and coop cat act pretty much the same way towards the cockerels, and the cockerels don't get aggressive toward them.

If I need to handle a rooster for anything, I pick him up off the roost at night. I just don't need to catch them or mess with them during the day. Pretty much the same for the hens.

 

[izziebean]

If your roosters are not showing aggression, I wouldn't just shove them. Raising so many boys last spring, I learned that if you point at them.. and I mean.. POINT AT THEM... stare long into their eyes.. when they are doing any behavior unfavorable.. they will likely stop what they are doing and just stare at you. By unfavorable I mean, I had a few roosters who would just go over and try to peck out the eye of the chicken next to them. No reason. No food around. No trying to be the top dog. They were just mean. One I even named 'mean bird'. If that doesn't work, you can ever so softly touch them with the tip of your finger. In reality, you don't even have to touch them and most of the time they will squawk and jump away like you have just smacked the crap out of them when in reality you might not have even touched them at all. It's the pointing. The touch would be like you are pecking them. It works really well for docile roosters. I've also been able to use that thing.. it's something that characters in movies will do when they are trying to signal that they are 'watching someone else'. They use two fingers and point at their eyes and then switch the hand around to use the same two fingers to point at the chicken. Usually the rooster's head will pop up like 'me?'. I can be as far away as fifteen feet and they'll react. Also, my mottled houdan hens love to escape the pen every day. Don King likes to keep a lookout so he follows them over the fence. When I come out in the afternoon, I will open the gate, snap my finger, and say 'get in there NOW'. Don does his little thing and gets the hens in and then follows after. I think I'm training them like a dog.

Also remember to talk nicely to them on a day to day basis. Even if you have to scold or point, to them.. that's like a peck from another bird. They understand that language and they really don't take it personal. You can then turn around and talk nice to them.. give them treats.. they'll eat out of your hand.. so it's okay to be stern and then be nice. Roosters can be really cool... especially when your hens escape the cage and a bengal cat is in the yard. Called Don over to show him the cat and he had all of the girls rounded up in less than sixty seconds. He flapped his wings at the cat and the cat sunk down and wiggled her butt. He starts to charge over to the cat. I interrupted and chased the cat out of my yard. He would die to protect them. So, I have respect for him even though he drives me nuts some days!!

 

[varidgerunner]

It seems like a lot of people assume that game breeds are the root of aggression, since they are bred for aggression. Nothing farther from the truth. Most of the old timers that raised games agreed that a rooster that attacked people was usually a coward. This trait was usually culled for immediately. Most rooster attacks are out of fear, or mental deficiencies in the rooster. The game breeds make some of the friendliest, non-aggressive pets that you could imagine, and can be very "gentlemanly" around hens. Modern production breeds are usually selected for color and conformation more than anything, and roosters are chosen long before they would be old enough to turn bad, all their brothers have long been in the freezer, so they are stuck as the main breeder. In contrast, the old game breeders had many males to choose from and usually didn't pick one to breed until it was two or three. Many of the oriental game breeders would spend considerable time with their roosters, bathing, hand feeding and exercising. Any bird with man fighting tendencies would most likely out himself under this scenario. Some production chickens could be horrible man fighters passing their genes freely, and because of how they are kept, no one will ever know. If they are not handled, have a bunch of hens, get some food poured in the feeder and not much human contact, as in breeding pens at a hatchery, most of the bad ones would never show themselves. Especially if they are rotated out before they hit two years old.

If someone wanted to raise chickens that didn't regularly turn out human aggressive roosters, there is a lot to be learned from some of the historical aspects of chicken keeping. This includes a hen selection. No point going through exhaustive vetting practices on your roosters if you are going to put them in a pen full of hens that half of them might be siring human aggressive roosters.

 

[MyMonsters91]

Hm.. wow. Can't say I have ever done any of that and my rooster is amazing. lol. He's not cuddly, but he keeps all of his girls safe, is really watchful and will run to block a hen from going some-where that's not safe. Crows all the time, rounds the girls up when they start straying while free-roaming, will send the girls to the coop if they take too long roosting at night. He doesn't really like my kids, but that's because my kids tease him and set him off. They deserve his distrust. For the most part, he leaves me alone. We have a little peace treaty between us. I don't reach over and try to pet him, I don't pick him up, I don't puff at him and he doesn't puff at me. He lets me handle the girls, I feel safe with him walking behind me across the yard, I crouch down to talk to all of them and he'll hang out on the outside of the chicken-ring that surrounds me and just watches. If he does puff up and get defensive then I will take the offense. For me that means removing my flip flop and raising it at him. I'll slap him with it if he jumps at it, and I'll advance him until he stops being defensive and walks away. That doesn't happen often, though, and usually the times he does do it is thanks to my kids having got him worked up in advance.

When he was younger (before he hit maturity) he was one of my favorite chickens to pet and pick up, but afterwards we both just decided a mutual understanding was the best for us both.

 

[centrarchid]

My first rooster is coming of age.  I have read a fair bit on ensuring your rooster does not become aggressive to you.  These include:

1.   Pushing your rooster off a hen when he tries to mate in your presence.
2.   Chasing your rooster when he starts to crow in your presence.
3.   Walking through your rooster rather than around.
4.   Chasing the rooster when he drops a wing and is sideways(?) to you.
5.   Not tolerating any type of aggression towards you.

Other responses to the above can include:

1.  Holding the rooster's wings and carrying him around.
2.  Holding the rooster against the ground for a period of time, and specifically until he relaxes at least.
3.  Holding the rooster by his legs and holding him upside down. (should be used sparingly and only for a short period of time)

Any other thoughts?

As well, is there a risk that your rooster may start to see you as a threat when you do these things, especially pushing him off when he is trying to mate?  In other words, can these responses turn a rooster aggressive where he might not have been inclined to be aggressive to you?

I explicitly refute options 1,2, and 4 as that does promote aggressive encounters later. Option 3 and 5 I make so rooster does not consider me a threat or someone that responds to his bullying.

 

[aart]

I handled most my chicks a lot, the male not as much after about 6-8 weeks, but still did on occasion just so he knew he wouldn't die if I touched him.
Also handled the pullets regularly but with short duration until well after the cockerel came of age.....
......he would be concerned if a bird got upset but never went at me.
I felt he needed to know I could do this and it wan't a threat and no harm would come, so did the pullets.
Worked good for me, but I've only dealt with a couple of cockbirds and one was a mellow adult when I got him.

I think the attitude of the human keeper is of utmost importance....you must remain calm but confident.
If you're nervous and anxious bird can feel that and it makes them nervous and anxious..... and more likely to react aggressively out of fear.

I rarely handle the birds, except off the roost, unless it's absolutely necessary...tho some seem to like to be touched, a couple actually want to be picked up.

 

[Folly's place]

I've raised many cockrels over the years, and, like donrae, don't try to make them cuddly pets. They move out of my way and never threaten me. I have had some total jerks, and the tasted great! One bantam boy started going for me at eight weeks of age! Some cockrels just don't have what it takes to be a safe useful rooster, no matter what you do or don't do with him, and that shows a lack of brains and common sense on his part, not worth having him around. When he's attacking the huge individual (you) who brings food daily, he's not looking out for hawks and other real threats to the hens. He certainly shouldn't reproduce himself! Selecting for temperament is part of good breeding. Mary

 

[Nupe]

Do you think sometimes it's as much to do with the temperament of the rooster as anything we do around them?

I believe this is true. It is especially a crap shoot with hatchery birds since they breed for numbers and not so much for traits. Personally, I don't agree with the premise of this thread at all. (Sorry OP

)

I think the best role for a human in the game of chicken life is NPC. Rather than have to fight and dominate for position in my flock's pecking order, I prefer not being a part of it. I also think that it's better to leave the rooster training to the professionals, other chickens. From my experience, when you raise hens and roosters together in a brand new flock, you're asking for problems. The roosters mature and grow faster than the hens resulting in bullying and possible human aggression. You put that same rooster in a mature flock, with or without other roosters, and the mature birds will thump some manners into him.

When I started my flock, (for the 2nd time) I started with 16 hens and 2 roosters. They were born in early summer so they started laying very late fall. As they matured, the dominate SLW rooster would aggressively mate the hens and attack the #2 Wellie roo for trying. I hoped the flock would endure through the season and things would get better but by the time the flock was into their first spring, I had several bare backs, a couple of bloody shoulder injuries and all my EEs no longer had beards. As the weather warmed up last spring, the aggression in the flock towards the hens and the Wellie roo were escalating. The Wellie, however, was displaying traits I wanted to see. Unlike the SLW roo, he would actually dance, tidbit and fluff the nesting boxes for the girls.

One day, I happened to be in the local feed store where a couple was looking for a rooster for their mature Jersey giant hens. A light bulb went off in the head and I immediately offered them my SLW. Those big ladies would teach him manners, lol, and my sweet wellie would be free to care for his harem. Well, that didn't exactly work to plan. The Wellie decided since this is now his harem, I didn't belong there anymore. The first time he attacked me, I whooped his butt with a litter rake and named him Mr. Soup as a reminder to him of where this was headed should he want to continue. The 3rd time he attacked me just happened to be the day before I was going to process some meaties so needless to say, his story ended there.

The girls spent most of the spring and summer without a roo. At this point I added 4 Australorps and lost one wellie, putting the flock at 19 hens. The SLW girls (surprise, surprise) became the bullies, constantly attacking and pulling feathers out of the new girls.

Another day at the feed store and the owner mentioned a 2 year old rooster he needed to get rid of. He said the guy he got it from claimed it was an EE but he looks more like a Delaware mix. He had him in his own flock and the EE girls took to him. Even when he was isolated to be sold, his EEs would get to the closest fence they could to him and layed their eggs there. I didn't jump on it right away. He stayed in an isolated pen at the feed store for a few weeks before I finally took him. The owner didn't even charge me since I wasn't buying him to eat. He even trimmed his spurs for me. When I brought him to the coop, I set him down in the carrier just to see how the girls would react. As soon as he started to make noise, one of my EEs approached the crate and immediately squatted for him. When I let him out, the girls all started rushing him and squatting. Since then, he's taken to the new girls as his favorites and seems to like thumping the SLW hens. Karma? LOL

As far as how he feels towards me, he doesn't seem to care. Just the way I like it. He doesn't crow or stretch and flap his wings when I'm around. He doesn't avoid putting his back to me. When I bring them food, he focuses on feeding the girls and ignores my existence. Pretty much all he does is verbally protest when I have to handle or redirect a hen but doesn't mind if I pet them. I call it a happy ending.

Right now, nearly the entire flock is molting. I'm only getting about 3 or 4 eggs a day and the coop and run look like a pillow fight. I'm so happy my girls' backs are filling in and my EEs are getting their beards back.