2 yr old rooster has gone psycho

[ivan3]

Ganjaroo wrote: Any suggestions on what to do with my seemingly possessed rooster?? Has anyone else experienced this drastic change in behavior after two years?

Had our first roo for a little over 8 yrs.. The only time he displayed overt aggressive behavior was when he was 4yr old. He approached, raised the hackles and pecked at my boots. I had just bought a new pair of mud boots that had yellow lines separating soles from uppers.. When I put on the old boots the roo ignored me and was back to being his `loll-about the girls' self. I then just used a black sharpie to mark out the yellow lines on the new pair and both the roo and I went about our business.

I'd probably examine any potential change in environment/approach/etc. that would trigger a sudden alteration in behavior.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Had our first roo for a little over 8 yrs.. The only time he displayed overt aggressive behavior was when he was 4yr old. He approached, raised the hackles and pecked at my boots. I had just bought a new pair of mud boots that had yellow lines separating soles from uppers.. When I put on the old boots the roo ignored me and was back to being his `loll-about the girls' self. I then just used a black sharpie to mark out the yellow lines on the new pair and both the roo and I went about our business.

I'd probably examine any potential change in environment/approach/etc. that would trigger a sudden alteration in behavior.

Well that was certainly the case with mine. He was just fine until the Great Lice Dusting Armageddon of December 2013!

 

[subhanalah]

So, what do I do when my 13 week cockerel flaps his wings at me?
Should I cull him now and not bother with him anymore?

 

[Gingersnap722]

@chooks4life
Can you tell me more about this comment: It's not a bluff... It never is. Even a charge, terminated before arriving at the victim, is not a true bluff. It's indicative of his mental state

Mine ran up behind me a few weeks ago as I was coming back to the house and I heard him, but he stopped 8-10 feet away. It surprised me and he wasn't making any type of threatening gesture. When I turned around he wasn't doing anything but standing there. Head wasn't down, hackles not raised. I thought to myself You better not be running at me, you Booger.
Well, he did it again this week, but I noticed it was in the same place, alongside my chain link fence that my dogs are behind and he does not like my boxer, who i know would attack them. The first time i don't know if she was there. This time i think he was charging at the fence and she was about six feet on the other side of it but, hello, he was behind me again! Lol So I don't know if it was a coincidence or what.
He's about 1 1/2 years old, moves away when I walk toward him but not skittish. He'll come right over for treats, letting the girls eat more than he will. Generally, he's watchful but we just co-exist. I'm very careful to have my son not startle the birds or do anything to appear as a threat. Do you think we're ok? Anything else we ought to be looking for? The only other questionable sign is how he watches us sometimes. I can read a dog like a book but I can't understand rooster looks yet. I don't want to inadvertently challenge him. :-/
Other than that, he was alpha at his previous place but always fine with people, I was told. I know them so i don't think they'd sell me a mean one, they'd probably butcher. They just had a lot of roos and he was not tolerating the young ones. No dropping the wing at me or dancing around etc.

Thanks for sharing! I just want to be careful. I have a little boy and don't want any surprise attacks. Of course, my son is never around them alone at this age.

My Mottled Houdan roo, who is only 17 weeks old btw, started doing what your roo is doing. He would run up behind me and then stop. This was a few weeks ago. He is now a full blown attack rooster and just went after my 17 year old daughter. I was going to sell him and his betrothed Houdan hen as a pair. Looks like he'll be culled now and she'll be for sale by herself. I'd better learn how to cull quick.

I actually came on this thread to ask a question about aggresive roos, but looks like my questions were already answered after reading the advice of a few. We've always raised our roos from baby chicks and I have never had the luck of ending up with a nice one. Hopefully my Partridge Rock roo (supposed to have been a hen), doesn't start showing the same traits.

 

[centrarchid]

So, what do I do when my 13 week cockerel flaps his wings at me?
Should I cull him now and not bother with him anymore?

Many but by no means most of mine do as you describe at about that age. I ignore it making certain they have ample opportunity to figure out such "fishing" gets no reaction from me or nor does it result in some sort of a reward.

 

[subhanalah]

Many but by no means most of mine do as you describe at about that age. I ignore it making certain they have ample opportunity to figure out such "fishing" gets no reaction from me or nor does it result in some sort of a reward.

so, stepping towards him and him running away is not good. Dern. Guess I better keep my eye on him for other signs.

 

[centrarchid]

so, stepping towards him and him running away is not good. Dern. Guess I better keep my eye on him for other signs.

You can step towards him but do so as if he is not there. Avoid eye contact. Make stepping into his space short duration as in no pursuit. When he looks at your face he is treating you as an individual whether as a conspecific or not. My objective is for him to treat you as if your inanimate but are otherwise mobile. Consider how a rooster treats something like a lawnmower. It is visible, it moves, but is also simply there.


I can get any rooster, any, with a little time to be a man-fighter by getting into his face while he exploring his interactions with me. Some of our efforts to be pleasantly interactive in chicken language are likely perceived to be a challenge.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

so, stepping towards him and him running away is not good. Dern. Guess I better keep my eye on him for other signs.

My experience is not as vast as others on this thread, but I would think that was a very good sign of a rooster prepared to let you be the Man, and I would give him a chance.

 

[lularat]

I have no experience with roosters, much less an aggressive one. As with any animal that shows aggression, I would first give it a chance. There have been many species of animals that have shown aggression and with some work on the owners part, they were able to co-exist and live with each other. There are some times though, no manner what you do, the animal's behavior doesn't change and they have to be put down. I am always willing to try and change the situation, instead of taking the easier route of disposing of the animal. I took in a feral cat years ago and most people thought I was crazy. After a lot of time and trust training, she has made a great pet. Still doesn't trust strangers, but she trusts me, my husband, and son. I know that a rooster is different than a cat, but I would still have to try before I gave up on him. People have different way of handling every situation, and do what they think is best. After all, an opinion is just an opinion and everyone has one.

 

[chooks4life]

You are not making sense, Spend less time writing and more time getting to know your birds. You will get to actually develop a working understanding of them, not just a very idealistic concept you currently have.

I'm sorry if you don't understand it, but please refrain from telling me what to do and making baseless assumptions about my animal husbandry.

I've spent years raising chickens, being very involved, I'd bet far more involved than even you. They were my full time hobby for the first few years I had them and due to serious health problems I did very little work off the property at that stage; I spent hours each day with them, every day of the week, for the first few years of starting my flock, and I made careful observations the whole time, and experimented with them. I wanted to quickly achieve an absence of human-aggression in them and it worked.

My opinions on them are based in my experiences with them, and when I have a theory I state it as such, not claim it's some universal rule. I understand my flock being so peaceful is indeed idealistic to some, utopian even (lol) but it's also reality. It's real, it's achievable, just because you've used other methods and not achieved the same thing doesn't mean I'm building castles in the sky here.

I've stated my point of view, you've stated yours, we disagree, and that's ok, but persisting with derogatory comments towards me or my methods certainly won't change my mind and it certainly won't help the OP.

At some point accuracy most be involved. Management in a way that people and birds are not harmed requires sound knowledge. Some of what Chooks is stating is definitely not based on such and gives less experienced folks inclinations to have unrealistic expectations about about behaviors of their roosters and chickens in general.

This doesn't make sense, lol.

I never claimed my peaceful flock was achieved through not harming any animals...I always suggest culling aggressive ones as the quickest and surest way to a peaceful flock, so I'm not sure why you're making the statement you are.

I've been completely transparent about my belief that culling human-aggressive birds is the best way to go, so you're right, I don't manage my human-aggressive birds in a way that doesn't involve not harming animals. The aggressive ones die. It's that simple. I'm not sure you can describe knowledge supposedly fixing the human-aggression issue as 'sound' when it takes more than the average lifespan of each chicken to 'manage' ---- not even 'fix' --- human-aggression, and the aggression is present with each new generation. I was talking about permanent fixes, and I think the OP was too, whereas you've not given sufficient info to make sense of your methods, and all the info you have given makes it sound like a complete failure in actually stopping human-aggression. But, who knows, maybe this is only the assumption one makes due to lack of information. If you've got some kind of plan for permanently getting rid of human-aggression I'm sure the OP would like to hear it, and so would I.

Your examples of your own flock haven't suggested any other methods work permanently. 10 years of managing any human aggressive birds is not feasible nor safe for most of us, especially not those with free range birds and children. (Incidentally you never told us if you keep yours caged which is a relevant factor.)

Have a good day, and perhaps spend less decades managing each aggressive individual and find out how to stop human aggression in your flock completely before out-of-hand dismissing my methods. If all this conversation has to offer is more attacks on my knowledge or my methods, then don't expect me to reply again.

Best wishes to all.