Aggressive Barred Rock Rooster

[EggSighted4Life]

I know how you feel, my Barred rock rooster is a mean one too, I have no idea why but that just seems to be the way he is..

Some roosters are just nasty. But other than that there's hormones at play that will drive them to do certain things.

Curious, did you hold and make real nice with your boy when he was young?

I'm on my second hatchery barred rock rooster with no signs of aggression. The breed seems to have a bad reputation, but in my experiences they are the same as any other breed.

Glad to hear it! I didn't know they had a bad rep... but the girls are definitely bossy.

I agree that although some breeds do have tendencies... they ALL are individuals.

 

[CP Chicken]

Some roosters are just nasty. But other than that there's hormones at play that will drive them to do certain things.

Curious, did you hold and make real nice with your boy when he was young?
Glad to hear it! I didn't know they had a bad rep... but the girls are definitely bossy. 

I agree that although some breeds do have tendencies... they ALL are individuals.

No, we sort of just let him be once we knew he was a cockerel and we don't ever pet him and we never walk around him because my mom always tells me to show a rooster that your in charge so that he knows he should respect us.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

No, we sort of just let him be once we knew he was a cockerel and we don't ever pet him and we never walk around him because my mom always tells me to show a rooster that your in charge so that he knows he should respect us.

Mom sounds pretty smart.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[ChickAsThieves]

He had the last laugh. Five weeks later I found out a hen had a hidden nest. She presented me with 10 of his offspring. One is a cockerel, and I mean UGLY cockerel. So far he has been polite. Have read the personality is often inherited. I'm watching him.

I'm going to need to see a picture of this cockerel!!!

 

[Sandy001]

I have a 10 month old Barred Rock Roo from a McMurry Hatchery and he in the last month has become very aggressive. I have to do work in the run before I let him and his 7 hens out in the mornings and I have to lock him out of the hen house to do work and gather eggs inside the hen house because he will attack. I didn't want a Barred Rock Rooster but I knew that's what he was the day I received them from the Hatchery. Ever who sexed my order should have knew that chick was a rooster.

 

[PouleNoire]

That makes two of us, my second barred rock I order for my first flock was supposed to have two barred rock PULLETS in it, but there is a 10% chance the pros will fault and we have had two other Mr. 10%ers since then, lol!

 

[WildestThing]

I hope the switch works. He didn't come near me yesterday so I will be reinforcing that lesson every few days. From additional posts, it looks like the BRs are not pleasant. They can be demanding.

The chicks will be raised for food, yes. There are a couple of eggs almost ready to hatch under our older broody mountain hens. We have 6 Rhode Island Reds and 5 Barred Rock layers, plus the 3 mountain hens of mixed breeding and unknown age, plus the BR rooster. The RIRs and BRs are 6 months old and laying, so we thought we'd see if we could hatch chicks. It sounds logical that we should wait till they mature now that you mention it. We found an egg with a half formed chick with a peck hole in it, so we figured that chick wasn't viable. When we tried to take it from the broody hen, she stuck her beak in it and ran out of the coop. She was either trying to protect it or eat it, and I'm thinking eat it.

We had great luck with the mountain hens raising the RIRs and BRs. They were great moms and we were hoping for the same thing, but I have my doubts. We bought a dozen Cornish Cross and raised them ourselves because one broody mountain hen looked like she was pecking at them way too hard when we introduced them. One of the hens killed two of the Cornish Cross when we let them out of the coop. Poor things. The rest went to freezer heaven.

Next step is an incubator and maybe a secondary coop to raise chicks.

 

[WildestThing]

Take a look at EggSighted4Life's post #. She refers to another post and says: Best post I have seen, if you plan to keep him... #18 and 25...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1149551/aggressive-rooster/10

I grabbed a five foot long switch and chased him with it. Seemed to work, but I'm not turning my back on him again. I'll reinforce the lesson every couple of days. The BR girls are demanding, but sweet.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have a 10 month old Barred Rock Roo from a McMurry Hatchery and he in the last month has become very aggressive. I have to do work in the run before I let him and his 7 hens out in the mornings and I have to lock him out of the hen house to do work and gather eggs inside the hen house because he will attack. I didn't want a Barred Rock Rooster but I knew that's what he was the day I received them from the Hatchery. Ever who sexed my order should have knew that chick was a rooster.

You're not required to keep him, you know. You can put him in the freezer, sell or give him away (with full disclosure, of course, that he's aggressive.)

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have a 10 month old Barred Rock Roo from a McMurry Hatchery and he in the last month has become very aggressive. I have to do work in the run before I let him and his 7 hens out in the mornings and I have to lock him out of the hen house to do work and gather eggs inside the hen house because he will attack. I didn't want a Barred Rock Rooster but I knew that's what he was the day I received them from the Hatchery. Ever who sexed my order should have knew that chick was a rooster.

10 months is about the age they become more protective in my experience. He will still go through some more changes. If you are going to keep him consider post #18 and #25 in the following thread link. Very helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1149551/aggressive-rooster/10

But if you do not need or want a cockerel, life is too short... let him go. Even if it happens to be to feed some one else's family if you aren't able to do the deed yourself. There is no shame in that and many of us do it very humanely with the bird nice and calm.

It's unfortunate that the hatchery 90% policy doesn't account for the time, energy, or emotion it takes to deal with getting an unexpected cockerel.

Best wishes, whatever you decide!