NEED ADVICE taming rooster

[Meri Maura]

To be honest - that IS the behavior you want from a young cockerel. Often times, if they loose their respect of you, people tend to see this as loosing their fear of you, but it is not. If they have no respect for you, your space, they often time think that you need to back down from THEIR space and become aggressive.
Walk right through him, do not get down to his eye-level, do not have him sit in your lap - those are all signals that you are less dominant than he is. Make him move away from you. Especially a RIR cockerel that can be a bit aggressive.

A lot of times, an intact male cannot be trusted, his testicles are bigger than his brain.

MRs K

I had 5 roosters who like to sit in my lap, be petted, flipped over, ect. and they were never ever aggressive in any way.

 

[Chikenshiken]

I had 5 roosters who like to sit in my lap, be petted, flipped over, ect. and they were never ever aggressive in any way.

Never owned a rooster, but been friends with many. They’ve never been aggressive to me either, even me being a complete stranger to them at first, so I guess it varies from rooster to rooster. @TesoroSena Try not to let “ my rooster might become aggressive “ sway you to not try and tame him some roosters are wonderful little guys who deserve the same respect and love we give our hens!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I recently had a 8 month old rooster, I think he was held by a lady and her daughters. He would not run away, but would walk away if I petted him, and I could take him off the roost and hold him. He bred with my hens a few weeks, then I gave him to a teenage girl who wanted a nice rooster. She has called and thanked me since.

I never offer a rooster a shoe, or hit with a broom. If he gets near me I pick him up.I have not ever been beat up by a rooster.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

To be honest - that IS the behavior you want from a young cockerel. Often times, if they loose their respect of you, people tend to see this as loosing their fear of you, but it is not. If they have no respect for you, your space, they often time think that you need to back down from THEIR space and become aggressive.
Walk right through him, do not get down to his eye-level, do not have him sit in your lap - those are all signals that you are less dominant than he is. Make him move away from you. Especially a RIR cockerel that can be a bit aggressive.

A lot of times, an intact male cannot be trusted, his testicles are bigger than his brain.

MRs K

Totally off-topic here, but you're reminding me of my interactions with our 2,200-pound herd bull, Homer, in the pasture right now with five heifers, two of whom are ready to breed. Now Homer has been raised to be bucket-trained and tolerate humans touching him, and to respect my space and commands. He even comes to the gate sometimes for a good neck or back scratching, and in summertime he bellows when the flies are bothering him and he'll actually turn his head or body so I can get the fly-powder all over him. He's smart, that big boy.

There's a saying, "Never turn your back on a bull." And another one, "Never get between a bull and his girls." Now Homer has never shown signs of human aggression at all, in fact he's quite calm and friendly - but that's not to say he won't turn on me or my husband in a split-second, especially if the girls are in heat and nearby. One kick or head-butt could kill instantly - and bulls are FAST. If it came to a foot-race, he'd totally win. I fully respect his size, power and strength - and his space. I hope he continues to respect my space as well.

When he's strutting, sniffing, snorting, and mounting the girls, I stay FAR FAR away. It might be feeding time, but he and the girls won't get any feed that night if he's in a hormone-crazed mood. He KNOWS me and seems to be affectionate at times, but am aware that in his brain, I could be seen as another bull challenging his position or trying to steal one of his ladies, or worse, mistaken for a heifer or predator. He is NOT human and does not have the same mental capacity, reasoning ability, inhibitions, nor emotions and such. He is an animal and should be expected to behave as such.
Like you said,

an intact male cannot be trusted, his testicles are bigger than his brain.

Aaaanyway....
I think of roosters in much the same way. You can train them to do certain things, like eat from your hand or sit on your lap and be petted - but do NOT mistake it for affection. A rooster is ruled by his instincts, not reasoning or sentiment. His instincts are: To protect the flock, make sure they are fed and nested, mate to further his genes, and drive away challengers. If something goes crosswise in his animal brain where he sees YOU as fitting into one of his instinctual categories, he could turn on you without warning.

I cannot count the number of times people have posted on this board, even in the short time I've been here, how their "tame" rooster whom they've raised from a baby chick, loves to be petted and sit on their lap, suddenly attacked and drew blood.

Well, enough said. Carry on.....

 

[3KillerBs]

A lot of times, an intact male cannot be trusted, his testicles are bigger than his brain.

I see laughing in the reactions to this post, but it's the literal truth.

The big white things just above the feet are the testicles -- as big as this bird's entire head.

 

[Chikenshiken]

I think of roosters in much the same way. You can train them to do certain things, like eat from your hand or sit on your lap and be petted - but do NOT mistake it for affection. A rooster is ruled by his instincts, not reasoning or sentiment. His instincts are: To protect the flock, make sure they are fed and nested, mate to further his genes, and drive away challengers. If something goes crosswise in his animal brain where he sees YOU as fitting into one of his instinctual categories, he could turn on you without warning.

I cannot count the number of times people have posted on this board, even in the short time I've been here, how their "tame" rooster whom they've raised from a baby chick, loves to be petted and sit on their lap, suddenly attacked and drew blood.

I do think that roosters can still show affectionate. Instinct can be said for any animals. Animals are still animals, always! Hens, which people primarily keep, can be affectionate but let’s say, for instance, she is broody. She is probably going to attack you. But we know that hens can still enjoy our company and want to be pet. They can purr and give affection by wanting to be near us. I feel like just because instinct can take over doesn’t diminish the affection they can show. Roosters can be great companions if you know how to handle them. Every animal is going to have their instincts. I see it with my hens, especially my bantam who can get moody and attack me some days and then calm down and want to be cuddled again and follow me around in the yard. Birds are hormonal, moody, and unexpected. It’s what we sign up for when we decide to keep birds of any kind. Not everything is smooth sailing all the time I’m sure we have all had unexpected aggressive encounters with our own hens because she is hormonal or she’s molting or etc. Roosters can be affectionate they are just what you can expect from any bird, they are birds!

 

[Keeper of Flocks]

I see laughing in the reactions to this post, but it's the literal truth.

The big white things just above the feet are the testicles -- as big as this bird's entire head.

I suppose we’ll have to take your word, as I don’t see the brain, nor a head. Organs can be disproportionately sized in comparison with the rest of an animals organs… Apparently, the brain can be larger or smaller, as with anything else. Nice carcass, by the way!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I suppose we’ll have to take your word, as I don’t see the brain, nor a head. Organs can be disproportionately sized in comparison with the rest of an animals organs… Apparently, the brain can be larger or smaller, as with anything else.

You can use the top of the neck to guesstimate the size of the skull

 

[Keeper of Flocks]

I do think that roosters can still show affectionate. Instinct can be said for any animals. Animals are still animals, always! Hens, which people primarily keep, can be affectionate but let’s say, for instance, she is broody. She is probably going to attack you. But we know that hens can still enjoy our company and want to be pet. They can purr and give affection by wanting to be near us. I feel like just because instinct can take over doesn’t diminish the affection they can show. Roosters can be great companions if you know how to handle them. Every animal is going to have their instincts. I see it with my hens, especially my bantam who can get moody and attack me some days and then calm down and want to be cuddled again and follow me around in the yard. Birds are hormonal, moody, and unexpected. It’s what we sign up for when we decide to keep birds of any kind. Not everything is smooth sailing all the time I’m sure we have all had unexpected aggressive encounters with our own hens because she is hormonal or she’s molting or etc. Roosters can be affectionate they are just what you can expect from any bird, they are birds!

Indeed! Fowl are quite full of surprises! And we can show them empathy and yes, they have situations where we can be understanding, or not, but I don’t think I’d put up with them constantly being aggressive.
That’s just intolerable!

 

[Keeper of Flocks]

You can use the top of the neck to guesstimate the size of the skull

Well, my statement would disallow this. Say he has a small neck and a larger head?
It’s missing, so how can I tell?
And although larger reproductive organs are correlated with higher hormone levels and sperm count generally, this is not always so. Just my thoughts, kindly, if I may.