Dealing with and Taming Aggressive Roosters

Firm and insightful. Thank you for the thoughtful advice! It can be difficult to understand the fine line between cruelty and the firmness necessary to make an animal understand that you are the alpha.

Very informative ... I'd just like to add that if you pick up a hen and she starts squawking, calm her down -stroking her, talking calmly, etc - before putting her down so that your rooster sees that you aren't harming her. He's less likely to react.

I think this is an excellent article but as I read through the reviews,
It's just human nature not to agree with everyone, especially with those who have more experience in training their rooster. So far, my 5 rooster have not been aggressive with me at all. They eat out of my hand, I pick up their hens and I hope it stays that way. But, if it does change I feel I know what to do. In fact I picked up Harley today. He been getting in the chicken pen. Not his hens had to take him back to the Marans pen. So thank you !

I really liked this. I have a tiny Sebright rooster coming of age. He is my favorite and his 3 girls have been a joy to raise. He's doing great so I needed these tips on how to continue in a safe way as he grows. His natural instincts are so fun to watch. Tidbitting and now herding them into the run and letting them eat first. He's a good boy.

This is horrible advice. You should never aspire to be a part of your flock. Why would you want to be viewed as a chicken? Be their caretaker. A shield rather than a weapon is preferable. Never hold a rooster to the ground. It will only incite him more and is mean, as is “parading” him in front of his flock. Give him treats to share with his flock to help him maintain his position.

Excellent advice! I have done most of these things with our rooster just by intuition and he has never attacked me. He loves to crow around me at times, so I have used some of the techniques in the article to show him that I am still the boss, but I appreciate him protecting the hens and treating them well, which he does! He always, and I mean always lets them know where food can be found and lets them have food first. He'll look at me with that look after letting the hens eat that seems to say -I'm treating them right, just want you to know! We have been able to have people in the same area with the rooster with no problems, as long as they show no fear - he really does pick up on that and I think he has fun with it when he senses that, because he doesn't attack, he just acts like he will but has always backed off. Almost like he wants to establish that he is the boss, but because we have treated him well since he was a young chick, he is just attempting to see who will be in charge. I have picked him up and carried him around the hens on numerous occasions and it really did settle him down in the early days. He rarely needs that now, but every once in awhile he apparently has an overload of testosterone which is best handled with handling and a mealworm treat.

Lots of good information, clearly written.

Well written and informative article. And great advice.
I may have missed one important part. The one where a hundred roosters may react a hundred different ways to any or all of our attempts at getting along. As some will never accept any of our training methods, we have to decide how important an amicable rooster is compared to a good provider and protector he is for our hens. Over the past four years I have tried all of the methods presented here on BYC, and my wife continues to try them still.
Worked well on Olaff and Lttle Bit. But Rodger is having none of it. lol.
So since he is a great protector, a good scrounging provider and even great with the baby chicks, i will let him do his thing on my legs as long as he doesn't get habitual with it and does not put me or himself in danger. If he forgets the rules i will give him a stern reminder.

If we put as much effort into taming a rooster as we did making them mean few of us would ever have to get rid of one!

Excellent advice. I carry my "meanie" around often, it works. Also, I find that if I talk to them 1st & say hello, they remain calm.

Fantastic article! There's a teeny litte typo at the end where it says (of failure) instead of (or failure)
Very informative article and kept me reafibg 'till the end!

When I pick up my rooster he begins to shiver.

Great article! I am a chicken newbie, my rooster is a 20 week old EE. He was SO sweet then at about 15-16 weeks his hormones kicked in, he bit me right on the back of the leg and drew blood - I was wearing shorts. Well, that was the last time. I did/am still doing everything suggested in this article and my boy and I now have an understanding of each other. Every now and then he still starts his little dance, i just scoop him up and carry him and you can sort of feel his body go "oh s&!t", then he calms right down.
Definitely follow all this great advice!

It was well explained, and pretty much went through every situation.

This is such a great article. Read it for the second time today. It has helped me immensely in raising my two cockerels. And what a beautiful rooster that is in your photos!

Sounds to me like the most important part of staving off cockerel aggression is to maintain the top position myself. I'm sure glad I read this before my cockerels got to the rooster stage with bad attitudes. They are responding to this advice very well. One completely ignores me now when I'm in his pen. Woot!

Loved all the info!

Thank you for taking the time and effort to put this information together! I'm learning to work with a new juvenile rooster and don't want to mess it up. So far so good! I will bookmark this article as a reference for future use.

Thank you soo much for this article. We have 2 roosters and only 4 hens. Reason being we live in the woods and most likely a fox got ahold of some of them when they were young as i try to get up to 20 only to be disappointed everytime i get new ones. A crowd of them just disappears. Anyways because we dont have enough hens, one of our roosters is pretty aggresive. I have named him and i walk around the yard talking to him, i feed him separately. He's still a meany tho. Ive learned alot reading your article and will use some of these techniques.

Exactly why I joined this site. Excellent advice from experienced keepers. I have a vicious Rooster who has terrorized our whole family and know I better understand how to approach the situation better.