One of the best resources I've found on dealing with roosters

[bayareapilot]

Understanding Roosters

The above web page has been one of the best resources I've ever had on how to manage a rooster. The problem I found with most of the online forms whether it be backyard chickens or another one is that so often the advice on dealing with the natural aggression of a rooster tends to land of Grog the caveman.

I'm sure you know what I mean- someone will ask on a forum what to do with their adolescent rooster who's being aggressive. Unfortunately most of the so-called advice, devolves into caveman speak. Like, you got to show them your boss and rough them up if they come for you. The latter is such crappy advice cuz all it does is escalate the situation and before you know it this person who has followed that poorly considered advice is now asking about where they can rehome their rooster or dispatch it- read kill the rooster.

I'm definitely a guy guy- I'm a flight instructor and pilot for over 24 years and even I knew when I read such advice about 'showing them who's boss' that was just going to be a recipe for failure.

Absolutely love my rooster and he was definitely an accident he was supposed to be a hen. Having never had a rooster before there was a big learning curve and the preponderance of bad advice on many of the online chicken forums definitely wasn't resonating with me.

The odd thing about some of the advice is it always sounded like some advisors were proud of getting rough with a rooster which is a creature great many times smaller than you. It always struck me as some miscreant adult being proud that they could knock out a 5 year old child with a punch? I mean geez in both cases you're so many times stronger and larger what do you think your rate of success is going to be? So suffice it to say that I decided to put away Notions of grunting and responding to the name of Grog to prove myself over a rooster.?!?

The above shared link is one of a couple of web resources that I found which I found very very helpful and forging a reasonable and respectful relationship with my rooster.

Anyway hope some others find it helpful that may not be aware of the link.

 

[SarahGfa]

I agree no one should ever hit or strike a rooster. IMO it is more humane to euthanize a man-fighter.

I don't really agree with your linked article about rooster socialization. Chickens don't have big brains and 99% of their behavior is from genetics or imprinting. I have not heard of anyone successfully training a mean rooster to be nice.

 

[bayareapilot]

I agree no one should ever hit or strike a rooster. IMO it is more humane to euthanize a man-fighter.

I don't really agree with your linked article about rooster socialization. Chickens don't have big brains and 99% of their behavior is from genetics or imprinting. I have not heard of anyone successfully training a mean rooster to be nice.

I have not heard of any of my friends going to the Moon but I know some people have gone to the moon. LOL

I think you missed the point. It's like individuals who deal with so-called exotic animals like some of the large cats etc. You develop an understanding what they're innate behaviors are and you work within a manner redirect or not to trigger those innate instincts. I always hate it when people say well I've never heard of such and , so therefore it isn't

Thank goodness some of our Pioneers who crossed the Sierras who would had never heard of anyone successfully making it over didn't think like that.

The other issue I had was your statement regarding brain size. A rat has a brain much smaller than a dogs get their intelligence is approximately the same. A fly has a minuscule brain but it's capable of abrupt Changes in Attitude and direction that would cause a human aerobatic pilot with a much larger brain to black out. Besides if you look at what humans with are much larger brains have managed to do to the political situation in the world in general, well I wouldn't be the one waving the banner for the Brilliance of big brains.

I also value the opinion that have handled The Castaways whether it be dogs or cats or roosters. Mainly because they probably got these creatures when they had been subjected to the worst type of treatment and yet developed methodologies to address the issues. Certainly not for each and every one that comes in because sometimes the psychological damage is already been done, but if even just 50% that's one life that gets to continue.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Human aggression is genetic, can be passed on, & cannot be trained/corrected. Can be a hen/pullet as well with human aggression. In this case slaughtering the aggressive bird is the best option, cuz it removes the bad trait from potentially passing down to the next generation. Also gets rid of chance of injury to you, a family member, a child, etc.

If he's busy attacking his keeper(s), then he's not protecting his hens.


I rarely have Man Fighters here, only had 2 in the most recent years. Rest of my boys are big babies.

 

[SarahGfa]

I have not heard of any of my friends going to the Moon but I know some people have gone to the moon. LOL

I think you missed the point. It's like individuals who deal with so-called exotic animals like some of the large cats etc. You develop an understanding what they're innate behaviors are and you work within a manner redirect or not to trigger those innate instincts. I always hate it when people say well I've never heard of such and , so therefore it isn't

Thank goodness some of our Pioneers who crossed the Sierras who would had never heard of anyone successfully making it over didn't think like that.

It is about innate behavior. Rooster's innate behavior is to dominate other roosters. "Socialization" and trying to be "alpha" is working against innate instincts, and will get the opposite results you want.

You can try to tame mean roosters, I am not stopping anyone. If you have ever been flogged from behind, then you will understand why some people get frustrated and kick their roosters.

 

[bayareapilot]

Human aggression is genetic, can be passed on, & cannot be trained/corrected. Can be a hen/pullet as well with human aggression. In this case slaughtering the aggressive bird is the best option, cuz it removes the bad trait from potentially passing down to the next generation. Also gets rid of chance of injury to you, a family member, a child, etc.

If he's busy attacking his keeper(s), then he's not protecting his hens.


I rarely have Man Fighters here, only had 2 in the most recent years. Rest of my boys are big babies.

Let me quote, if the only tool a person has is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. I'm willing to entertain the notion that there's different ways of accomplishing thanks. Sometimes you can get so lost up in your mindset you can't see through the forest of your own preconceptions. Certainly not saying all Critters are rehabilitatable but important that we don't contribute to the problem as a result of our own behavior for towards the same creatures

Aggression and violence isn't necessarily genetic in humans what it does do is follow Social Circles and conditioning. Certainly higher testosterone levels can lead to more violence but usually the precursor is violence in the home. Monsters are made not born in other words

 

[MysteryChicken]

Let me quote, if the only tool a person has is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. I'm willing to entertain the notion that there's different ways of accomplishing thanks. Sometimes you can get so lost up in your mindset you can't see through the forest of your own preconceptions. Certainly not saying all Critters are rehabilitatable but important that we don't contribute to the problem as a result of our own behavior for towards the same creatures

Aggression and violence isn't necessarily genetic in humans what it does do is follow Social Circles and conditioning. Certainly higher testosterone levels can lead to more violence but usually the precursor is violence in the home. Monsters are made not born in other words

I don't think you're getting it.

I've never kicked a rooster, just blocked with my shoe each time he tried to launch an attack at my legs.

So, good the rest of the day.

 

[Coops Dad]

I've kicked one rooster in my life but, in my defense, he was a big, strong sneaky bastard who'd drawn blood several times and was unrepentant. I cannot abide mean roosters anymore; we have too many people with small children visiting so our roosters are culled if any aggressive behavior persists after adolescence.

 

[bayareapilot]

It is about innate behavior. Rooster's innate behavior is to dominate other roosters. "Socialization" and trying to be "alpha" is working against innate instincts, and will get the opposite results you want.

You can try to tame mean roosters, I am not stopping anyone. If you have ever been flogged from behind, then you will understand why some people get frustrated and kick their roosters.

I would argue that if one has been flogged from behind, they have already made a very crucial error already. I always know the position of the rooster to me and I never place myself in a position where I don't know his position. Additionally I don't go into the run with shorts any more than I stick my hand in a bear's cage at a zoo and wonder why I get bit.

In aviation we have something call ADM. Stands for aeronautical decision making. It basically involves identifying risk assessing risk and creating a plan to deal with it. Kind of like you do with anything you approach in life or at least you should. Dealing with the roosters no different. I'm not saying that 100% are redeemable, just that the percentage is a lot higher than most people would be led to believe.

Here's what I know my rooster started out quite a bit questionable on the assertiveness scale to put it mildly. However I followed the trust but verify methods of sites like the one I cited and it worked.

 

[bayareapilot]

I don't think you're getting it.

So, good the rest of the day.