I was expecting a scientific explanation of a roosters behavior. A while ago I watched some videos about it and how some experts spend days and days observing the flock behavior, with roosters in it, without them, only roosters, etc.
I'm not an expert, I'm far away from it, however I was raised until I was 10 years old around chickens and yes roosters as well. I don't think any rooster is really "mean", that is a human word that is linked to feelings, naming a roster "mean" shows feeling of resentment against a rooster who is not behaving friendly in human terms or how humans expected.
Roosters are dominant and they are individuals who can show their dominance in different ways, some do it by kicking you, aiming to your face, picking your flesh, others crow after you, in front of you, etc, others want to hump you and others are very mild, so they keep to themselves the desire to reject you and accept you. Having been around some fighting roosters as a child, I learned roosters could take one of my eyes out if I didn't understand which one was a rooster to tame and which one was a rooster to leave alone, because they will mostly continue to follow their genetic program, which sometimes translate into being over dominant, which in turn means they might hurt you badly if you are not on your guard. So, being afraid of a rooster is a normal and natural reaction, even more if you are not a dominant person yourself and have not try subjecting an animal with under your own very hands.
As dogs, chickens can learn, at least that you are the boss and have to subject at the end to your wishes, at least when handling them. But, not all will do it without putting a fight and protesting about it forever. In that sense, Rooster are way more resilient that humans and when they show who they are, sometimes we don't like it, because we expected something different out of that specific rooster. The problem is not in the rooster itself, but in the human who had a wish that is not compatible with the rooster genetics.
Of course, there's a lot to do on our part, for example a rooster must get that we are in charge. That might mean constantly working with roosters who don't want to accept readily you are the boss. That is exhausting, time consuming and with bad luck it could turn dangerous.
My pet rooster from my childhood was so docile, with all, but even more with me, because I handled him everyday, several times a day, so he was used to it. Logically, if I hadn't handle him, he would had been an "aggressive" "mean" rooster too. Actually, he would had been a NORMAL ROOSTER. So, what I'm trying to say is that people call them MEAN, but there's not such thing, a rooster is just a ROOSTER. He does what he is programmed to do and when in contact with humans, no matter how close and docile he was before, it might happen that when he grows up, he will be intelligent enough to see clearly you are NOT a chicken and therefore will not wan to have anything to do with you. Such exemplar, is not made for pet.
Saying all that, I have to say, I had to put my rooster to sleep last week. It was devastating. The rooster had a wart on his beak, an inflammation on his right side, he was crowing A LOT, I wanted to give him more life time and see if it gets better (since I bought him at 10 moths old), but my ***ing neighbors where annoyed and they wrote a ridiculous letter saying plainly that they do not condone me having chickens and a rooster and they threatened me with legal consequences. What those a********* do not know or didn't want to know, ( BUT KNOW) is that by law I can hold up to 20 chickens in my backyard and rooster too. Only that the rooster is not to make loud noises in the quiet times. With other rooster, it could have been possible, but this one, nope. He was not "aggressive" like other roosters I had. But, his way of showing irritation was CROWING and CROWING, nothing had to pass our back street, no human, bird or anything, and he was quiet for a few hours, but if anything moved, he would crow with an interval of 3 seconds for several rounds.
I will get another rooster, but as I said, even if I get him from the egg, even if he is close to me, still the genetics of that specific rooster will be shown later on, will see if it's not so very dominant, at least not vocally. Whatever it comes I'll have to accept, because chickens are not puppets we buy on a store. I just hope it will not be that sensitive to all the birds that visit out garden and the bicycle road business next to our back door. What it was for sure, is that from my previous rooster, I didn't really want to breed him, because nobody want now days those loud vocal genetics. 30 years ago, same town, they had competitions which rooster was crowing more times. Life is ironic! Live long Pacho Villa :'(View attachment 1438757
I'm not an expert, I'm far away from it, however I was raised until I was 10 years old around chickens and yes roosters as well. I don't think any rooster is really "mean", that is a human word that is linked to feelings, naming a roster "mean" shows feeling of resentment against a rooster who is not behaving friendly in human terms or how humans expected.
Roosters are dominant and they are individuals who can show their dominance in different ways, some do it by kicking you, aiming to your face, picking your flesh, others crow after you, in front of you, etc, others want to hump you and others are very mild, so they keep to themselves the desire to reject you and accept you. Having been around some fighting roosters as a child, I learned roosters could take one of my eyes out if I didn't understand which one was a rooster to tame and which one was a rooster to leave alone, because they will mostly continue to follow their genetic program, which sometimes translate into being over dominant, which in turn means they might hurt you badly if you are not on your guard. So, being afraid of a rooster is a normal and natural reaction, even more if you are not a dominant person yourself and have not try subjecting an animal with under your own very hands.
As dogs, chickens can learn, at least that you are the boss and have to subject at the end to your wishes, at least when handling them. But, not all will do it without putting a fight and protesting about it forever. In that sense, Rooster are way more resilient that humans and when they show who they are, sometimes we don't like it, because we expected something different out of that specific rooster. The problem is not in the rooster itself, but in the human who had a wish that is not compatible with the rooster genetics.
Of course, there's a lot to do on our part, for example a rooster must get that we are in charge. That might mean constantly working with roosters who don't want to accept readily you are the boss. That is exhausting, time consuming and with bad luck it could turn dangerous.
My pet rooster from my childhood was so docile, with all, but even more with me, because I handled him everyday, several times a day, so he was used to it. Logically, if I hadn't handle him, he would had been an "aggressive" "mean" rooster too. Actually, he would had been a NORMAL ROOSTER. So, what I'm trying to say is that people call them MEAN, but there's not such thing, a rooster is just a ROOSTER. He does what he is programmed to do and when in contact with humans, no matter how close and docile he was before, it might happen that when he grows up, he will be intelligent enough to see clearly you are NOT a chicken and therefore will not wan to have anything to do with you. Such exemplar, is not made for pet.
Saying all that, I have to say, I had to put my rooster to sleep last week. It was devastating. The rooster had a wart on his beak, an inflammation on his right side, he was crowing A LOT, I wanted to give him more life time and see if it gets better (since I bought him at 10 moths old), but my ***ing neighbors where annoyed and they wrote a ridiculous letter saying plainly that they do not condone me having chickens and a rooster and they threatened me with legal consequences. What those a********* do not know or didn't want to know, ( BUT KNOW) is that by law I can hold up to 20 chickens in my backyard and rooster too. Only that the rooster is not to make loud noises in the quiet times. With other rooster, it could have been possible, but this one, nope. He was not "aggressive" like other roosters I had. But, his way of showing irritation was CROWING and CROWING, nothing had to pass our back street, no human, bird or anything, and he was quiet for a few hours, but if anything moved, he would crow with an interval of 3 seconds for several rounds.
I will get another rooster, but as I said, even if I get him from the egg, even if he is close to me, still the genetics of that specific rooster will be shown later on, will see if it's not so very dominant, at least not vocally. Whatever it comes I'll have to accept, because chickens are not puppets we buy on a store. I just hope it will not be that sensitive to all the birds that visit out garden and the bicycle road business next to our back door. What it was for sure, is that from my previous rooster, I didn't really want to breed him, because nobody want now days those loud vocal genetics. 30 years ago, same town, they had competitions which rooster was crowing more times. Life is ironic! Live long Pacho Villa :'(View attachment 1438757
Sometimes, I just let them eat something they like, they are so spoiled because there is so many greens around, but if they get any type of cabbage plant, that's it! Leaving the potato plants for them to room around was another bad idea I had, the loved to bathe there and were taking out potatoes and garlic cloves all around
, AYAYAY!!!