Mean white leghorn rooster

[Byugal]

I have a white leghorn rooster that came from the Humane Society. He was originally one of those dyed Easter chicks....survived that, adopted by me, and I got him a couple of EE hens. He should have lived happily ever after....but, oooooh, noooooo!

He hates my guts. He has flogged me several times and I have knocked the fire out of him several times for doing it. Usually I throw something at him, and miss though. He will sometimes quit for a few days...but always, always comes back after me. My mother raised chickens and one of her white leghorn roosters jumped up and spurred me one time, hit the quick of my fingernail and I ended up losing my nail....horrific pain when it happened....and he ended up in the stew pot. She never kept a rooster that was mean.

The thing is....because I haven't killed him, he obviously thinks he is winning....and I am keeping him for now, but as soon as I can find another rooster, he will be humanely put down at the shelter. I have never seen him mate with one of the hens. The eggs don't look fertile....don't have that little spot you see in fertile eggs. He will usually follow them around, but he isn't like other roosters I have had....attentive to their hens. I'd keep the mean old devil anyway, if he wasn't bent on fighting with me. I'm in my mid 60's and I am too old for this...know what I mean?

My question.....are some breeds just more aggressive like that?

 

[sourland]

My experience around white leghorn roosters is that as a breed they tend to be pretty aggressive. Roosters around kids is a bad scenario. It only takes one flogging around the face for an irreperable accident to take place. Roosters are easily replaced. Why keep an aggressive one? The answer "for breeding" is not a good one since like begets like. A mean rooster's sons will very likely be mean also.

 

[Chookmaster2000]

Your story about the angry white rooster has compelled me to respond with some very fond memories of a white leghorn rooster that I had as a pet several decades ago.

My father kept chickens and at one stage we ended up with seven roosters getting hatched from the same batch of eggs. Had to separate them from the hens because these leghorns were especially horny and "gang bangs" were not uncommon.

In the rooster pecking order, I took a shine to the second rooster from the top, simply because he displayed a lot more personality and whit than the other roosters. I spent an awful lot of time with him over a number of years, probably more time than would be considered healthy. I used to carry him around in my arms at all hours of the day and night, hand fed him, gave him lots of cuddles, and eventually he bonded with me to the extent that if he was down the far end of the backyard with the rest of his kind and I called his name once from near the house, he would literally come bounding as fast as he could straight to my leg and look up at me, at which point I would scoop him up, put him on my shoulder and take him for a walk up the street... the only thing missing was the eye patch.

But wait, it gets better. At one stage I introduced him to the interior of our house. If I placed him on my knee while sitting on the lounge couch, he would never poop, even though I sometimes watched TV with him for an hour or more - a house trained rooster. I remember a time during one of these TV watching sessions when he started giving me the most delicate, barely perceptible pecks on my cheek and later fell asleep on my lap with his neck extended and head resting sideways in the palm of my hand! I remember keeping my hand in that position for as long as I could, just marveling at what this rooster was doing. I have to stress that for any bird to behave in such a way, it would have to have absolute 100% trust in a human.

I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, this was quite extraordinary behavior, of a sort I did not think possible for this type of animal. That rooster was more like a dog to me than a chook.

I still think about him to this day, and miss him very much.

 

[seminolewind]

I think so. But it's not a guarantee. I've got some real sweet cuddle Jersey Giant roos. You could always check your Craig's list, people are always rehoming spare roos, and meet the roo in person before you take him home.

Or you can try this, worked for several other roos I had; get some heavy clothes and gloves on. When he comes at you, walk right into him, and continue to walk into him all around the yard, moving him along by a nudge of your foot. Do this for 10 minutes a day. When your out with the chickens, do this. And do not let him eat, drink, or romance in your sight, just nudge him away from anything HE decides to do. This method has made sweeties out of the ones I've done. When the roo starts standing and looking at you, like what's next?, you are winning. You must be alpha roo, without starting a fight. If you back away from him, you lose. Being alpha roo means that you can tell him what he can and cannot do in a language he understands.

Please let me know if you do it and what results you get.
Karen

 

[chicken5]

I just wanted to say that I have used the method described in the post before mine. It has worked well for me with three roosters. The roosters all walk around like they own the farm. That is until I go outside. I just keep walking towards them, and they step to the side. My youngest rooster is part white leghorn, and boy is he mean. But not to me... I just don't stop moving towards him. Everyone who watches me do this, can't believe the way the roosters respond. The main thing for me is to keep constant eye contact with the rooster, and walk like I'm "The Man" !! (for me, woman) Just a note to add, the roosters will start in with my kids from time to time. It's like the roosters can sense that the kids have a little bit of fear of them. So, I always keep a watchful eye. Or, if the roosters try to act up, they get caged for a few days !!

 

[seminolewind]

You could also get yourself a silkie roo. They might flog, but it's laughable-(ankle biters)

 

[Byugal]

I agree....no shortage of roosters, no point keeping a mean one.

I'm not afraid of him, and I forget about him most of the time, but if he thinks he can catch me with my back turned, I can hear him...usually...come running towards me. When I turn around, it is almost funny....he will start acting so nonchallant...pecking at the ground. I do have some young silkie roosters coming up, but they are probably going to be too small to cover my hens....I'd think. I don't know much about chickens and whether bantams are too small to cross with standard sized hens.

I did check Craig's List and found some roosters for sale not too far from me, and will probably be replacing him soon.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[Bilal]

I have some significant experience with chickens. I don't have a farm or anything, I like to keep them at my home in the city. I have had 2 white leghorn roosters (many years apart) and both of them have been extremely aggressive. This has led me to believe that it's got something to do with the breed. Both of mine grew up from the painted, commercially sold chicks that I bought. Both of them grew up with me, alone and were given extra attention. The reason why I say it's because of the breed is the way both of them behaved which was exactly the same. They started fighting with my shoe when taunted with, at a very early age (barely started crowing). They started attacking house-maids and strangers...showing a very territorial nature. And another bizarre trait that both of had was to attack shoes (whether they were worn on the feet or lying around) and then "hump" them! Has anyone else had the same problem? Yes, they actually try to mate with the shoe and even leave their thing behind. My first one used to do that, then I got him a hen, he mated with the hen (a lot) as well, the hen laid dozens of eggs and had dozens of chicks too. But that didn't subdue his aggressiveness even a bit, nor did he stop trying to mate with the shoes. One thing someone mentioned above...his aggressiveness did not pass onto his kids. Although they were a mixed breed, his chicks grew up to be the most civilized roosters ever (since they were not 100% white leghorns). The one I have right now, is alone. He doesn't have any hens. He is mad about shoes lol! and is extremely aggressive with everyone except me...attacks them like they're out to get him. He doesn't really attack me (except for the shoes that I wear) and is extremely close to me. He loves getting into my lap and eating from my hand. He can get extremely hyper but never violent with me. This one was brought up with even more care and attention. He does think he's king of the place but knows his place with me (I think as a friend/motherly figure...even though I'm a guy) and he's just adorable to me, no matter how aggressive he gets with people

 

[Pele]

X2, this is really solid advice. If he doesn't respond to this, stewpot him. He's just an annoying freeloading jerk that makes your property less enjoyable to you.

I think so. But it's not a guarantee. I've got some real sweet cuddle Jersey Giant roos. You could always check your Craig's list, people are always rehoming spare roos, and meet the roo in person before you take him home.

Or you can try this, worked for several other roos I had; get some heavy clothes and gloves on. When he comes at you, walk right into him, and continue to walk into him all around the yard, moving him along by a nudge of your foot. Do this for 10 minutes a day. When your out with the chickens, do this. And do not let him eat, drink, or romance in your sight, just nudge him away from anything HE decides to do. This method has made sweeties out of the ones I've done. When the roo starts standing and looking at you, like what's next?, you are winning. You must be alpha roo, without starting a fight. If you back away from him, you lose. Being alpha roo means that you can tell him what he can and cannot do in a language he understands.

Please let me know if you do it and what results you get.
Karen

 

[DeckDuck]

I love your story Chookmaster. When I was a little girl I once hatched out a small batch of Silkies and would play with them outside for hours. There was one hen that I was partial to and I carried her around with me. Then when we found out that her pelvis was messed up and she couldn't live with the other chickens, well, I brought her inside in a bird cage and things escalated from there. She would sleep on my belly while I watched tv and would sometimes drape her neck across my chest, just like you described. She seemed to be under the impression that I was standing guard for her while she slept. She was a good friend for almost eight years. I do appreciate the personality of a good rooster, though, and her hatch-mate rooster is still around and has an amazing personality.


Whoops! I was going to reply to byugal's original post, but it's four years old

Welcome to BYC Chookmaster!