Pinning down a rooster - does it work?

[LaurenRitz]

I did a recovery project with an aggressive roo.

1, they are his hens now.
2, do not give ground. Do not back away, do not walk around either him or the hens. That puts you below the hens in the hierarchy. If he walks toward you, walk straight through him. Make him get out of your way. Establish your dominance in chicken. He doesn't understand human behavior.
3, do not hunch over (chicken posture) spread your "wings" or stare him down. He will take this as a challenge.
4, and I know a lot of people won't agree, talk to him about what you're doing. Explain, wait for him to calm down, and continue with what you need to do.

 

[PopPop63]

What works 100% is to make Chicken and Dumplings from him. He wont attack you after that. IME thats all you can do.

 

[ChasingChooks]

I did a recovery project with an aggressive roo.

1, they are his hens now.
2, do not give ground. Do not back away, do not walk around either him or the hens. That puts you below the hens in the hierarchy. If he walks toward you, walk straight through him. Make him get out of your way. Establish your dominance in chicken. He doesn't understand human behavior.
3, do not hunch over (chicken posture) spread your "wings" or stare him down. He will take this as a challenge.
4, and I know a lot of people won't agree, talk to him about what you're doing. Explain, wait for him to calm down, and continue with what you need to do.

Thanks, this is great. No, I don't think that talking to him is weird - I was actually thinking that if I just chatted away, like I normally do, it would keep the peace.

 

[my spoiled chickens]

ok this might work but I've never tried it put him in a cage and put him in a car and drive him around then bring him back and let him loose

 

[ChasingChooks]

I also saw that you could spray his face with water when he attacked....

 

[McChooky]

Thanks a lot. That makes sense. I'll read the article, and hopefully things work out. I was doing a chicken checkup and picking up the hens when he attacked.

I've noticed that my hens that were easy to grab and liked being held are now skittish. Does this have to do with their new flock leader?

Put your rooster up when you do inspections to prevent attacks. The squawks from my hens causes both of my roosters to come running.I put mine up when I do inspections but I raised mine from chicks.Avoiding handling the hens is the easiest way to gain his trust but once they start its often hard to stop

 

[McChooky]

You can teach one to TRUST you by not hitting it, kicking it or spraying it with a water hose. Once you cross that line it'll become a pissing contest between you and him. FEARING you can make them act worse

 

[McChooky]

Stopping and catching one immediately after every attack is necessary and adds time to doing chores .It also takes the fun out of raising chickens and makes you dread dealing with them.Unless you're committed to saving and 'taming' this rooster its futile to start...

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I would suggest killing any rooster who is acting aggressively towards you. You do not want to breed a human-aggressive rooster, as his offspring have a very likely chance of getting his unwanted personality passed down. I have seen where sitting on a rooster helps with training him to be friendly, but sometimes the male is simply too hormonal to care about whether you are trying to be more dominant than him.

 

[ChasingChooks]

Okay. No spraying with water. I'm pretty sure that he isn't an aggressive rooster, but is just acting out in his new home. Hopefully things settle down.