A Viewpoint on Handling Roosters: How to Deal with Aggression

Very well written and informative article! Good use of photos/video

The most useful and sensitive article on reading a rooster that I’ve come across yet. Thank you! It will help me realistically assess my own capabilities and that of any animal I have.

So very well.written and informative...I miss having roos-they are my absolute favorite chook..so full of personality! Thank you for posting this!

Excellent!! This article is wonderful written and highly informative. I’ve found it so helpful when dealing with my aggressive rooster.

So interesting and thorough! I could see my roosters in your roosters and now it makes more sense. My current three are wonderful but sooner or later I'll wind up with a problem child again and I'll come back to reread parts of this. Excellent!

I Think this is a great article! In particular because so many of us are new at raising chickens and especially roosters! I have always liked to watch my animals and chickens so I appreciate the very thoughtful behaviour analysis and examples of same. they help so very much! I would like it even more if the author had gone into depth about raising strait runs and whether or not to allow flock integration and at what age...including young cockerells who may try (in their foolishness) to challenge the established rooster..and how to handle that scenario with some examples of her experiances. Overall, a very important article and in my opinion should be required reading, before becoming papa or mama to a flock of chickens!

Excellent viewpoints. As a professional dog trainer but new to chicken keeping, I can see the similarities here. I always love when people take time to analyze animals in a species appropriate way.

Good article!

I've used this method for several years now. It has worked very well! It really taught me how to speak "rooster".

Well written viewpoint on roosters. It seems to have experience with chickens and many different breeds so this is valuable for all.

Raising Cockerels isn't for the weak and this article really shows the dedication you need to raise them properly. My jersey giants have been the easiest to raise so far after they're over that hormonal stage.

Fantastic, well written article complete with photos and video examples. What more could one ask for?

I loved this article! So much time and insight from someone who really knows their stuff. Greatly appreciate the in depth knowledge into roo behavior as well as my own. So much of what you said has sharpened my own insight and cleared up some questions I had. We are first time (& first year) owners and learning as we go. This is one article I will keep and read over and over again! Thank you.

Thanks for sharing your experience and tips!

I love the silhouette picture at the end of the article

A lot of helpful and experienced information and well presented. Good stuff to consider.

Thank you so much--I've been trying to learn more about how to manage roosters. This one is probably one of the best I've read so far.

"Bruce" and his girls! As a fellow horse person I applied the same method with my one and only rooster. He is a perfect gentleman! Now 4 years old and a handsome good boy

I began reading this article, as I have many, in hopes of finding an answer to a problem I’ve encountered with too many of my cockerels, 6 to be exact. I am to the point of thinking I’ll never be able to keep a cockerel, much less dream of having a beautiful, mature rooster. I am not one for giving up on anything, and please don’t tell me I can’t do something, because I sure enough will prove you wrong...until it comes to cockerels, that is.

Out of my last batch of eggs that I incubated, 7 out of 8 were male. Yeah! Go figure! Anyway, I took this as a sign to do a little experiment. I mean, I have enough birds to experiment with, right? There’s no way I’d be keeping all 7 anyway, so if my project doesn’t work, no harm done, chicken soup it is.

They were all mixed birds and two of the males were given more attention from the get go, and naturally I bonded with them. They were my first and they were prettier.

When all 7 were running loose with the flock, even though none presented any ill will toward me, they were like a gang of thugs running loose on the streets and were wreaking havoc on my girls. So now, five are in the batchelor pen/soup holding pen and the two I like are still with the girls.

So far things are going good and I’m hoping beyond hope that I’ll be able to employ some of the suggestions in this article to help me correctly raise a decent boy, if not two.

Hallelujah, this information is what I’ve been waiting for and I didn’t want the article to end! Thank you, thank you!