2 yr old rooster has gone psycho

[Ganjaroo]

Thanks Chooks! ..for everything!
I have no experience with chickens in the purebred vs mutt debate, yet with all of the other animals I've had in my lifetime, the majority of them being rescues, ..the mutts were always the better behaved and more intelligent. I've always found purebreds to be high strung, high maintenance, and have far less personality to be worth the trouble. ..kind of like wealthy and spoiled humans born with silver spoons. lol
When I say I want to get my chicks from a breeder next time, I'm referring more to the natural born vs incubated issue, and having some idea as to their lineage. Other then that, I'm thinking I'll stick with the 'mutt' variety. ;-)

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome.

That all sounds very much like my experiences too, mutts of all sorts are my preference due to my experiences. I can appreciate purebreds but mutts always seem to beat them hands down.

Good luck with your current and future mutts! And the rest too of course.

Best wishes.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Offer him some scratch the minute he starts shuffling or acting aggressive. He will call the ladies over and forget about you. This method is highly recommended by Robert Plamondon, who notes that the first rule of handling roosters is to remember that you are not a chicken, and if you get in a fight with a chicken, you should be embarrassed because you are taking orders from a chicken.

 

[Folly's place]

That's exactly why any chicken who picks a fight with me is an idiot. I'm not a chicken, outweigh him by a lot, and am bringing the food to him, not the other way around. Untrainable idiocy is heritable, and gets culled from my flock. Mary

 

[chooks4life]

Back when I was naive enough to not see the long term consequences of breeding aggressive animals, not realizing exactly how heritable it was, and still unsure about how much was nurture and how much was nature, I tried that method (distraction with food) --- among so many others... But rewarding aggressive animals with food is generally considered to be a very bad move for very good reason.

It certainly didn't work with mine, neither did any of the other training methods I tried, they could control some behavior in the short term but certainly didn't stop him (or her) passing on their underlying aggressive mentalities.

Why feed and house a vicious animal when you could devote those resources to a nice natured one? And why put up with the risk? Vicious chickens make life stressful for their owners or their flock, quite often both, and they contribute their attitude to future generations. Sometimes it skips a few individuals but it breeds on more often than not in my experience.

Best wishes.

 

[Ganjaroo]

Again, I understand the "Cull him!" mentality for those who breed chickens, yet there are many of us, (myself included), who keep chickens for eggs, pets, and/or just the fun and benefits of having them around. Also worth noting, is the fact that "vicious" is a far cry from sass and attitude. There are levels to aggression, and under the right circumstances, there ARE roosters who can be worked with and my feathered fool is a prime example. He has far more good traits than bad, entertains me on a daily basis, the hens absolutely adore him, ..and I wouldn't trade him for anything!


Furthermore, for anyone who may be interested, this roo is still baffling every vet and chicken 'expert' I know with whatever ailment is ailing him. He is still doing fine in spite of all of us believing at one point or another that he was certainly at deaths door. They now tell me the only way I will know what health issue he has is to get an autopsy when he passes, ...which I am not going to do. He will live until he dies, ..and that's all there is to it. Meanwhile, we all enjoy him for who he is, ..sass, attitude, and all.

 

[Machi]

Why do people HOLD roosters, untill they calm? I think something's wrong, if the rooster needs to be calmed by holding... And I could imagine that suppressing it's behaviour with force, will only grow the aggression in the roosters mind: you can stop the aggression at the moment, physically - but mentally, on some level, you are doing the opposite!? So by holding a rooster untill he calms, you might make him even more aggressive, on the long run?

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

Wow! chooks4life....that was an awesome post! thank you I will be watching my young roo more carefully now and wont feel bad about culling him if he "turns to the dark side"

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome ChooksinChoppers. As this thread shows, there are a lot of schools of thought about roosters, everyone's better off experimenting with what works for their chickens and situation. Obviously I'm keen on, and endorse, permanent methods that help better the whole breed or family line, but some would rather maintain corrections for a lifetime. Each to their own, I guess!

Best wishes.

 

[chooks4life]

Machi I never personally found the holding and carrying around type methods a true success. Some people say it has been for them, but it never was for me, only culling worked permanently.