Rooster Advice Please

[settingdusk]

it depends on the rooster. i had a wonderful EE roo that I hand raised but had to give and i couldn't kill him. he would peck my feet and i took that as aggression but he was just looking to get petted and get treats lol.

 

[tcmstalcup]

Don't risk your children even if its a phase. he could damage a child or make them fearful of chickens for a lifetime before he gets better. Personal opinion is that he will NOT get better anyway. Get a gentle roo or another hen.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

How old is he?
Ive seen some roos go through a phase. SOmetimes you just have to show them who is boss. You can do this fairly easily. Works for a lot of roos.
Grab hold of him & pick him up, avoiding claws & any spurs. Totw him around while youre working, thus dominating him. Make sure the hens all see him & make sure he realizes they see him. Also, while youre holding him, push his head down, forcing him to submit to you as the 'higher' rooster. If he tries to raise his head, push it back down. Keep doing this several times til he gets the hint. Then set him on the ground, still holding on to him & push his ehad down again, in plain view of the hen. It forces him to submit to you. You may have to do this several times. It worked for one of our roos. Not so much for the other, he got put down after he jumped at my daughters face, knocking off her glasses & scratching her face.

You can overthrow him from the throne, so to speak - I did it with my aggressive BO rooster. The pushing down thing didn't work fore me. So - if it doesn't work for you - if comes at you - kick him. Hard. Not enough to severely injury him, obviously. Chase him around. Keeping doing it until he submits. (It will most likely take several times/days for it to stick, they can be a little dense.) If he is younger, (1-2 months.) Make sure to not kick him very hard, so you do not injure him. At random times, chase him around to make sure he doesn't forget. Like dandrews said, they go through a phase - when they get their hormones - that they are grumpy and mixed up and are mad at the world. After they get through this, they won't pay as much attention to you. (At least, that is what my roo did.) Hope you can beat this thing!

 

[Shellz]

Some roos just need to have their lives made a bit miserable. It's a dominance issue for sure. Every roo is an individual. Some are more persistent at making YOUR life miserable. I had the luxury of training mine. I'm not very 'hands on" when raising my birds, so my birds would rather avoid me. This is what you want with roos. Respectful distance. Problems seem to occur when folks 'baby' their little roos. I'm not saying this is always the case. Some roos are just bad a**es, no matter what. I don't have small children, but if I did there would be no 2nd chance. Coq au vin makes a nice, tasty meal out of a nasty roo.

Once roo is gone, no worries. A hen will step up & fill the role becoming the new leader. My black star hen took over after we culled the old rooster & she even crowed once, like a young roo.

 

[buffbrahmaboy]

I agree - eat him. And I like having roosters around. One of my earliest bad memories is being chased and put down by a rooster, and your kids don't need that. Reconsider when they're older and can learn the 'kick out of my way' technique, because a good rooster will sacrifice himself to keep the flock safe.

 

[andham]

Thanks for the advice. As the rooster had been our favorite hen, the rest of the family was opposed to removing his head. I placed an ad on craigslist and he was taken in by a flock that needed a new rooster.

Now we have to decide what sort of hen to replace him with....

 

[donrae]

Glad you found a new home for him.

Ah, the adding more birds.........

 

[Shellz]

That's great! Gotta love a happy ending.