Advice: Get a Rooster!

[appps]

And I've had multiple people on here call me crazy for suggesting people offer their roosters food to calm aggression.

A rooster gets aggressive for one of two reasons, he thinks you're a rooster he needs to compete with or he thinks you're a threat. Offering him food takes him out of either mindset.

On the fence on that one. Our rooster would take a couple of mouthfuls of chickweed from my daughter through the fence and then proceed to launch himself in full attack mode at her. Had she not had the fence between them he would have ripped open her face I'm sure.

 

[LeAnnL]

Thats what I am concerned about Andrea, because my girls really are "pets" The pets that keep on giving had no idea I could love a chicken! But I am moving towards self sustainability, so will have to have a Roo. These girls will retire here, no ones eating them! BUT I am not opposed to eating future generations, that will not have names.
I read someones post that said their girls dont fight as much with a roo around, I have 2 that want to be top dog in the run and garden, never bother me, but will peck at their underlings if they get close.
My coop and run are like Fort Knox with 1/4 inch hardware cloth as fencing, and a skirt around the whole thing to help prevent digging. I still worry. We have tons of predators around here. Fox, coyote, hawks, coon, bear, panthers (DNR says no, but we have all seen them) dogs and cats. So when they are in my garden, where they get to "free range" they arent nearly as protected, just regular fencing with bird net across the top.
I think I will just keep at baby roos until I find one with a decent disposition

 

[Lous Eggmoble]

I got a rooster and to date he has caused me know problems. Sometimes when I'm in the coop and he gets near enough I will reach down and pick him up, just so he knows who is in charge and at the so called head of the pecking order. When I feed them some sort of feed outside the coop and I call his name, (Elmer) he is the first to come see what I have. Then he will call all the ladies over.

 

[RunningRabbit]

Oh my. I feel like I missed out on battling a mean roo. My Hannibal is a total baby. He protects his girl 100% of the time, but is a powder puff of unroosterly behavior

.

 

[LanceTN]

On the fence on that one. Our rooster would take a couple of mouthfuls of chickweed from my daughter through the fence and then proceed to launch himself in full attack mode at her. Had she not had the fence between them he would have ripped open her face I'm sure.

Some Roosters cannot be saved. I would never say any method for training an animal is 100%. However it's important to know why a rooster would be aggressive with you and develop ways to deal with them that take this into account.

Too often people personify their animals and over complicate things.

 

[barefootpaula]

I have 4 Rhode Island Red hens (actually just found one dead so now 3) and about 40 bantams! I started with 6 bantams and only 2 were roos. One Rooster adopted the big hens so we named him Huge. The other stayed with the 4 bantam hens. The bantams free range because they fly so I can't keep them in the fenced chicken yard. They roost in the barn with the other animals. We have an alpaca farm and the chickens are in charge of bug control and do a great job. Bantams brood like crazy! That's how we ended up with now 40 of them. The thing is that there are at least 16 roos in the bunch. I've watched them grow up and now they're all crowing all day and working the poor hens real hard. I was going to have to eliminate most of them but then came repeated hawk attacks. We were even standing right out there in the yard and suddenly we realized a hawk was roughing up a hen and trying to take off with her. We scared it away and it dropped the hen and she ran mostly unharmed. SINCE THEN the roosters all on guard!!! I don't allow any more than 2 or 3 eggs under a broody hen (I take them as soon as they start sitting) but these free ranging super brooders hide them and I just found a hatching group of 8. Hawk got one baby the other day and now there are two roosters guarding her and the chicks. The roosters take turns guarding hens so now I can't bring myself to eliminate them! I'm not in the city and not quite out in the country so 40 is just too many and 16 crowing roosters is too many but I can't make the hard decision to cull and who to cull. So sad. Only the original bantam roo attacks me but I chase him with a rake or broom and if I catch him I carry him upside down by his legs for a while. He leaves me alone for a couple weeks. He's much better now that there are more roosters.

 

[LeAnnL]

Earlier I was talking about waiting until spring to get a baby roo for my 8 girls. My nephew lives across the driveway, and just this morning he had a second "hen" cockadoodledoo

( I say second, but in all he had 9, yes 9 roos its a long story for another time) I have been in his coop with his "hens" and they are friendly, not as friendly as my girls who perch on me, but these havent been handled as much, and he didnt get them as babies, although they are just about the same age as mine. I have a big garden area fenced in, about 30'X30' also covered with bird netting, where I let the girls free range. I was thinking to go get his other roohen and put him in the garden, then letting my girls in. What do you think? He has had them well over a month, and we have been back and forth between coops, so I am not worried about disease. Of his 12 they all look and act healthy I have held most of them. His arent as pretty as mine, they are taller and not as fat bottomed, I think they are an orpington mixed with maybe a RIR. But I would be there if anything should happen. Is this a bad idea? Im not so much worried about my girls, as I am him getting beat up by my 2 bossy butt girls.

 

[aart]

Quote: A friend had this work very well for her....until he scalped one of the hens.

But I totally agree that our attitudes, both positive and negative, can have a powerful effect on roo behavior.

 

[centrarchid]

I posted below in the following thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/897832/2-yr-old-rooster-has-gone-psycho/180#post_13698333



To give credibility to what I write. Much of my background involves gamefowl (fighting chickens) but I also keep at least fifty American Dominiques and as a kid my family commercially produced hatching eggs for a chicken hatchery that sold to just about everyone interested in backyard / farmyard chickens. I likely have more roosters than most backyard people have chickens in total and that is when my flock size is at its lowest in early spring. My games need to be easy to handle because it is done a lot. My Dominiques need to be easy to because they are supposed to be. I also use my birds for educating the public and most of my contacts are kids and some of those are very young. Finally I always have at least one flock that free-ranges around house and others that free-range in adjoining pasture. Almost all male gamefowl are confined with the exception of one around house and those on walks. My very small kids intermingle with the flock that free-ranges around house and 4-year-old harem master is intact with respect to spurs. I also have been around chickens for well over 40 years.

Below are aggression categories as I recognize them and eluded to previously in thread. Each is defined when answering description of aggressive behavior. Pictures and videos I feel would help greatly and such are in the works. I also think maturation process needs to introduced to discussion where the term ”rooster” is avoided. Also, many of the forms of aggression below are not exclusively the realm of males.

1) Is he just running over, pecking / flogging then running to a safe distance to deny your counter attack and simply watching you?

Bird has associated such behavior with a reward. In most instances I have seen the bird has obtained food faster or in larger amounts by engaging in some behavior directed at you. This is frequently realized with brooder reared birds interacting with you as feeders are armed or eats otherwise become more evident with you present. Another situation is where birds work their basic tendency to try and get at the most attractive food which to them often involves it appearing fresh within their field of view. For me that can involve putting feed out from a bucket as feeding a flock of hungry birds. They rush after you pushing each and sometimes in the excitement the bucket or even you. Many people see such behavior and promptly put feed out for the apparently famished bird. It takes very little for bird to associate intense response with getting more or faster.

Prevention: Avoid rewarding exploratory behavior such as pecking and jumping up for food. Make so food reward is delayed relative to your activity around birds. My favorite technique is apply feed either when birds are asleep or foraging elsewhere. With latter you just call birds in after feed is applied.

Correction: Move about flock / bird even with feed but do not give feed out until bird looses interest.
Benefits of Behavior to You or Bird: I manipulate this behavior train birds for experiments and interacting positively with the public. Behavior promoted simply does not involve what a person would see as aggression. Smart birds are really prone to this.


2) Is he standing his ground and flaring his hackles and interspersing this with outright attacks with spurs, wings and bill?

He is outright fighting you for rank and treats you as a conspecific. Based on most discussions this the assumed by keepers of man-fighters. Something is or has gone on that got him into mindset that you need to be and can be defeated so as to be a subordinate. Somewhere along the line you got too familiar with him and / or he learned through exploratory pecking he can make you retreat. This is particularly prevalent with folks that are uncomfortable around their birds. Even many experienced keepers are afraid of their birds for one reason or another and sometimes these people are prone to act aggressively against the birds and even bully them. This situation is more frequent than you might suspect and denial is often a part of the problem. Folks like this may need to visit with the equivalent of Alcohol Anonymous to work problem out. I have even seen people into gamefowl that are scared of their birds and they would be ready to fight you if you said they were such. Males in particular will take advantage of activities that make them feel tough. This is where genetics can also impact predisposition for man-fighting.

Prevention: Do not retreat from him when exploratory pecking or even flogging occurs. Do not attack him in response to an attack as it is very difficult to do so with appearing to alternate between bouts of attack and retreat like which occurs when birds fight.

Correction: Make so aggressive bird can engage you by fighting you but do nothing that would be interpreted as fighting back or retreating. Let him wail away (flog) which may last several minutes. If he breaks off attack, then move towards him but do not even give him the respect of eye contact. Do not strike or push him. Repeat until he stops. Process may need to be repeated in subsequent days with hardheaded birds. You want him to start thinking of you as something that is very much not another chicken. This may mean a flannel shirt or sweat shirt and jeans. Ideally you will appear the same as you do on other days so he does not test you for days when you are weak. If spurs are an issue which they can be with birds more than 18 months old, then they can be neutralized by removal, trimming or covering with the equivalent of boxing gloves (most laymen will not have last option owing to legal restrictions). An alternative to this approach can involve the restraint / time-out sessions where bird does not get the release associated with combat but does get a penalty he will learn to avoid. This technique does appear to work although it takes more time and is hard on birds that are flighty and prone to panic when restrained which is a form of stress.

Benefits of Behavior to You or Bird: Can be used to help sell a gamerooster to a fool. In a competitive breeding setting such as in a commercial flock more aggressive birds garner more fertilizations of eggs therefore tend to be more prolific. This not directly related to what is referred to as gameness in gamefowl.


3) Is he attacking while fluffed up like a hen making lots of noises and moving about in a very fussy manner? This if often associated with roosters where members of his harem (hen(s) or offspring) are scared. Many roosters, especially games will attack whatever they see as the threat and sometimes, real or not, that can be you. His response will be in trying to repel you. Rooster may also get touchy when new feathers are coming in during molt.

Prevention: Be careful around birds, especially when hens or chicks are involved. Avoid grabbing birds during daylight. Get birds to move voluntarily. Any rooster is easier to work with when his charges are calmer so always having all birds tame helps immensely. One crazy hen can stir up a male. I always manage for calm birds and that means starting from before hatch of an individual. Be careful when handling birds, especially during molt.

Correction: Frequent low intensity interactions without stirring anyone up reduces sensitivity to your activities.

Benefits of Behavior to You or Bird: Such behavior can increase survival of males offspring which can benefit you. This especially with small predators a male can repel or distract.

Culling can also be employed, but some parties will, as a function of their husbandry technique, be culling a lot of birds that would not be problematic for most poultry keepers.

 

[Lorban]

My rooster has been very difficult over the years. We had to have brooms strategically placed around the coop so we were always in reach of a "weapon" . Anybody who dared enter the coop usually risked bruising or a scraped leg from his spurs. These days Im the only one that goes in the coop, so I just dont challenge him. I walk around behind him. He is pretty old though and not much of a threat anymore. He limps around protecting his girls. If we close him out of the barn while we do something with the girls he paces back and forth who-whoing the whole time. He is quite a character, I will miss him when hes gone but my family wont. And I doubt I would get another rooster!