Advice on culling a rooster

[duckncover]

I have a 4 month old old serama rooster that I'd like to both not deal with anymore and ideally not give him away either. He's aggressive with people, hens, and other roosters. Will even chase the dogs. I feel like letting him breed is a bad idea because maybe his temperament is spreadable to his chicks? He also rarely hada chance to mate because he'd rather actually try and hurt the hens. His hatchmate is like a puppy and he wants to be pet and is nice to his girls. If I had to do this it would need to be not with my own hands. It would be too much to feel all of that happening. I keep seeing the same method over and over again and I know theres gotta be another way.

 

[Neil1366]

Did you try separating the rooster from the other flock? That usually helps.

 

[Geena]

I keep seeing the same method over and over again and I know theres gotta be another way

What method is it that you keep seeing? A four month old Serama cockerel is pretty small isn't he? Like a only around a pound or less?

 

[duckncover]

Separating which rooster? They have not been together since shortly after they started crowing and they started brawling. I have 2 serama-type roosters and 4 serama-type hens. Trying to breed for smaller birds that look more like Louie. Atilla is the bigger well behaved one. Doesn't really meet the criteria very well for the breed but I can't help loving him. Louie is the darker one that can't seem to be nice to anyone. He's been seperate from them for drawing blood on the hens and just giving them a hard time in general. He was supposed to be the one with the hens not Attilla. Attilla is happy to hang back with me for company until we have some new pullets but I can't even get Louie to be civil with the ladies. Louie on the other hand has become aggressive with me over being seperate. They cant see each other or anything like that. Getting rid of him is not really what I'd like to do but I don't know if his behavior can be fixed. At least towards the girls and probably me. I can deal with keeping my roosters apart.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I used tin snips for mine at the time as they where aggressive they where more like game birds then seramas

 

[duckncover]

What method is it that you keep seeing? A four month old Serama cockerel is pretty small isn't he? Like a only around a pound or less?

He's like a really big pigeon in size. Its a big word for dislocating the neck. But I'm not really comfortable with it being a hands on type thing if it comes to this.

 

[maryn7]

If I'm reading your post right, you'd prefer not to have to do it yourself. I'm the same.

You might call around to processors in your area to see if they do one off birds. In my area, none do - but there are live poultry butcher shops in the major city near by me where you can bring in a bird, pay $5 and leave with a cleaned bird.

Not sure your guy is big enough to roast - but might be worth the peace of mind for you.

I know there are also some techniques that use a kind of gentle suffocation via carbon monoxide (I think?), which is another thing you could explore. Might be too big for that at this point.

 

[Geena]

He's like a really big pigeon in size. Its a big word for dislocating the neck. But I'm not really comfortable with it being a hands on type thing if it comes to this.

I think it almost has to be a hands on type thing if you want him to go quickly and not suffer. With quail I always just use kitchen shears, one quick snip and it's done.

 

[duckncover]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I really wanted to give him a chance to be better but I have to draw the line somewhere and it is at people aggression and aggression towards the hens. I feel terrible and very upset but it was as quick as people said. I wore gloves to try and not have to feel anything that I didn't need to. It was quick and not at all as bad as I was fearing. I'm going to try to donate him to the nearby exotic animal sanctuary as I know they have to feed some of their carnivorous rescues the whole animals. I'm sorry this was not a happier ending.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I really wanted to give him a chance to be better but I have to draw the line somewhere and it is at people aggression and aggression towards the hens. I feel terrible and very upset but it was as quick as people said. I wore gloves to try and not have to feel anything that I didn't need to. It was quick and not at all as bad as I was fearing. I'm going to try to donate him to the nearby exotic animal sanctuary as I know they have to feed some of their carnivorous rescues the whole animals. I'm sorry this was not a happier ending.

You have done the right thing.

It's hard the first time, but now you know that you're capable of doing what's necessary when it's necessary and that's a good thing to know about oneself.