10 week old Cockerel pecks me when I pick up his sister

[AOrchard]

Hi guys! Hoping for some advice on how to respond to my little guy. He's about 10 weeks old, he's a tiny bantam. My hen hatched him and siblings out and taught the chicks from day one to come eat out of my hand and sit in my lap for food, so very people oriented. 2 weeks ago momma hen settled onto a new clutch of eggs, but the chicks kept going into the nest box with her at night to sleep. I kept removing them at night, and after a few days most of them had got the message to roost instead. I sold off all the chicks but him and one pullet. These two hang out all the time, and they just keep sleeping in the nest box with their mother and her eggs! The last two days when I grabbed his sister out he pecked me! Very kind of him to "protect" her, but I am not impressed.

Any advice on how to respond to the pecking? Do I need to respond to it? His father is an exceptionally well behaved rooster (he came that way, and I was careful over the first couple months to build a good relationship with him). I'd like to encourage this little guy to do the same, so I'm wondering if this is behavior I need to nip in the bud, and if so, how.

 

[Folly's place]

You can peck him back, fast, and hard enough to be annoying; peckpeckpeck! See if he backs off then. Use one or two fingers, and hit whatever's nearest, obviously not his face.
Establish some ground rules here, he needs to respect your space on the ground at all times. You should walk around out there, and he should get out of your way. Don't walk around him, make him move! He needs to be invited to invade that bubble around you, and that includes not jumping up on you without a clear invitation. He shouldn't be on your shoulder.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Is it necessary to pick her up? How about moving him first?
Mary

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

You can peck him back, fast, and hard enough to be annoying; peckpeckpeck! See if he backs off then. Use one or two fingers, and hit whatever's nearest, obviously not his face.
Establish some ground rules here, he needs to respect your space on the ground at all times. You should walk around out there, and he should get out of your way. Don't walk around him, make him move! He needs to be invited to invade that bubble around you, and that includes not jumping up on you without a clear invitation. He shouldn't be on your shoulder.
Mary

Fighting fire with fire always ends poorly for everyone involved. Pretending to be higher up in the pecking order than him will make him treat you like you are higher up in the pecking order then him. He will fight you, peck you, try to move up above you, etc.




I would just try to show him you are good. Treats, cuddles ( if he is okay with it), etc. will make him treat you better as he matures. I would just give him a treat whenever he goes to peck you. He will one, get distracted by the treat and not peck you, and two, he will see you as the treat fairy and not want to peck you.

 

[Lovem all]

I would ignore it or stop point at him say no and proceed. Do this every time he pecks

 

[neo71665]

X2 peck him back. You have to show him you are the boss not him.

Treats for bad behavior only enforces the bad behaviors.

 

[Folly's place]

Treats for pecks? Amazing!
Mary

 

[The Happster]

There are a lot of conflicting opinions on this.....
I think IHaveSomeChickens is saying treat BEFORE he pecks.
Of course she doesn't mean rewarding pecking.

I do pet my boys a lot. They are allowed to walk onto my lap whenever they choose.
And I've never had a problem. But I've had some lovely boys.

I'm sure pecking back can work.
If you don't want to be close to them.


Different things work for different people.
Pick which works for you.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I mostly agree with Folly, personally. Having raised several dozen roosters, they do best in my experience at learning to be polite if they view you as something so overwhelming they can't win. This means walking through their space and being in charge. When I'm friendly and use lots of food they just get aggressive with me and their flockmates. I don't usually "peck" back at birds older than 8 weeks, at that point I've moved on to more overwhelming techniques like picking them up and carrying them on their back, fluffing their head and generally harassing them. I will even chase them down to scoop them up. It's a great opportunity to give a health check and bounce their wings and touch their beaks and examine the bottoms of their feet and pick at their nails and check under their feather and all the other things that chickens hate that doesn't hurt them but is fun or good to do. And if they bite during this I grab their beaks and shake their heads around and flip them over until they stop.

The goal IMO is to make them view you not as a good or bad thing, but an overwhelming force, the way a squirrel might treat a horse. The horse is not a threat, but you sure don't get in their way and if a horse has your buddy you won't be trying to fix that any time soon.

Treats and love are just as likely to make them view you as a flockmate as anything else in my experience. So I try to be something so totally alien they can't react with any confidence at all. They won't jump into your lap like that. But they also won't attack you, and I've had a higher percentage of roosters come out not attacking me with that technique than being nice. So if a lap rooster is your goal this won't work well. But if you want a lap rooster chances are good you're going to go through more birds to find one that won't attack you.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

if you want a bird that loves you, i recommend treats and cuddles. he will eventually learn that you are a good thing. pecking back is mean and will just make him not wanna be around you