6 month old rooster- new raging hormones or true signs of an aggressive bird...

[Chickassan]

The carrying only works for mating dominance issues, your fella has just plain old dominance issues probably due to his age and hormones. The best advice i can give is seperate him from the ladies so he can "grow" without the need to defend his turf. He may mellow out during this time but if he doesn't it's probably time to find a roo more suited to your flock.

 

[MoeBug]

Stop holding him first off..Roosters are dangerous and should be treated as such..He should respect your space not the other way around...

Thank you. I am learning that pretty quickly. I read to hold chicks all of the time from day one and that is what we had done. This is our first time with chickens. Didn't have a problem until now.

 

[MoeBug]

The carrying only works for mating dominance issues, your fella has just plain old dominance issues probably due to his age and hormones. The best advice i can give is seperate him from the ladies so he can "grow" without the need to defend his turf. He may mellow out during this time but if he doesn't it's probably time to find a roo more suited to your flock.

We do have another rooster in the flock. He is a BLRW. We could try to find a way to separate our SS rooster entirely for now but, if he calms down, would we have to reintroduce him back into the flock?
I couldn't imagine eating our Winston and I don't have the heart to let the hubby cull him so the hubby suggested just kicking him out of the run. Our area has high predation and I would hate for him to have a long painful death such he be attacked cause I didn't protect him.
I am so not a country girl....

 

[MoeBug]

Welcome, Moe! You've just read very good advice from people with lots of experience, and some from some hopeful but not so experienced folks.
I've had a flock, including roosters, for almost 25 years, and have had roosters both good and bad. It's a combination of genetics and training, so some folks can get away with things that will trigger awfulness in some cockerels. LIKE YOURS!
My personal opinion is that your boy is already too dangerous to work with; he may learn to respect individual humans (but always be ready to attack) but will have to be convinced that every human must be ignored,
NO bird gets near my face! I'm just glad he didn't reach your eye!!
Beekist has that wonderful report on rooster management; if you want to try, start there.
Roosters, bulls boars, and stallions, have priorities and needs that must be met and managed, and need to be respected for who they are. Also, brains smaller than their testicles!!!
I've had almost a dozen SS cockerels over the years, and some few were charming, while more than half were jerks. The SS hens are a delight, but I can't say the same for all the males. You have one of the jerks, IMO. Move him on before real injuries happen.
Mary

Thank you!
I do love my SS hens. They are so sweet.
Our hens are usually very social and when we sit in the run they will come sit in our laps or on our shoulders. One of our RIR and EE hens insist on always being on our shoulders while doing chores. We are always very cautious about our eyes while they are up there.
As for the SS rooster, he never before had an issue being held. After he started trying to flog the DH I read that directly holding him after the attack was supposed to "put him in his place" so that is what I did. It did not turn out well for me and I was not expecting the result I got. While I was at work las night, my son said he kept rushing him and refused to let my son in to feed them. I hung out in the run today for 1 1/2 hours with no issue but he did keep his eye on me and followed me around. I will look into Beekist's info as well. If that doesn't work then he will have to go. We have a BLRW rooster that is low man on the totem pole that might be a good man for our ladies.

 

[Chickassan]

How big is your flock? If you don't have enough ladies to satisfy two roos probably twenty-five or more then reintroducing him will likely cause issues in your flock. If you're really attached I'd suggest building a separate pen for him and keeping him as a reserve rooster.

We do have another rooster in the flock. He is a BLRW. We could try to find a way to separate our SS rooster entirely for now but, if he calms down, would we have to reintroduce him back into the flock?
I couldn't imagine eating our Winston and I don't have the heart to let the hubby cull him so the hubby suggested just kicking him out of the run. Our area has high predation and I would hate for him to have a long painful death such he be attacked cause I didn't protect him.
I am so not a country girl....

 

[chickens really]

Yes...Too many times human emotions are put onto animals and Chickens that are actually considered livestock and not pets really, need to be treated as such. You will learn as you go..

 

[MoeBug]

How big is your flock? If you don't have enough ladies to satisfy two roos probably twenty-five or more then reintroducing him will likely cause issues in your flock. If you're really attached I'd suggest building a separate pen for him and keeping him as a reserve rooster.

We currently have 9 hens and 2 roosters. We had started out with more but I totally suck at buying sexed chicks and seem to come out top heavy with roosters. We gave several away but had wanted to keep my 2 favorite boys. So I went and got more sexed chicks after the discovery of so many roosters many weeks later. Of our newer additions, we have more roosters to deal with but got 6 more hens out of them. If we can ever successfully integrate the new chickens (they are currently in their own section of the run at 13 weeks old) we will have 15 hens. Successful integration feels like forever from now. We tried letting them mingle for about an hour (they are maybe just an inch shorter than the established flock) but the poor things got bullied into a corner.
I wish we had 25+ chickens but the DH won't let me. Starting this chicken stuff was all his idea and he insisted on it. Even dragged me to the store and showed me those tiny balls of fluff. I was the one that got stuck taking care of them and I wouldn't change it for the world. Just wish my head rooster wasn't such a cock! Maybe putting him by himself is our only option if he doesn't calm down. I have watched him do his little mating dance but the hens keep rejecting him. Could he just be pent up with hormones and if a hen finally accepts him, could he simmer down?

 

[MoeBug]

Yes...Too many times human emotions are put onto animals and Chickens that are actually considered livestock and not pets really, need to be treated as such. You will learn as you go..

Yep. That is me! I am a total fail. The hubby tells me I will never cut it as a country girl. There isn't a single animal that I wouldn't try to save or make my pet. He wants to raise some animals for food and I just want to bury myself in the closet and starve. I got him to let me keep the 2 roosters cause "We could get chicks with roosters around and you could start your little chicken meat farm, Baby." That is a total lie. I just want more chickens.

 

[chickens really]

Yep. That is me! I am a total fail. The hubby tells me I will never cut it as a country girl. There isn't a single animal that I wouldn't try to save or make my pet. He wants to raise some animals for food and I just want to bury myself in the closet and starve. I got him to let me keep the 2 roosters cause "We could get chicks with roosters around and you could start your little chicken meat farm, Baby." That is a total lie. I just want more chickens.

I don't Butcher anything here but do get my Son to Cull if needed..I give all Cockerels away free and many go for meat..

 

[MoeBug]

I don't Butcher anything here but do get my Son to Cull if needed..I give all Cockerels away free and many go for meat..

The hubby would gladly do it if I allowed him. He really likes Winston though and that is why he suggested just letting nature take its course and putting him out to free range alone. Maybe he doesn't want to be the one to hurt his boy.