Aggressive roo and chicks

[jmelbert]

We had to cull our roo for being very aggressive with me and almost killing one of my hens. She is so traumatized that she now is afraid of everything where she was not before. With that said, we hatched 4 of his eggs (they are less than a week old) and we think there is a roo in the hatch. Do I keep this roo? Is aggression hereditary? My roo was a black australorp.

 

[nuthatched]

Aggression can be hereditary, to both genders.

 

[FrostRanger]

Agreed, you aren't guaranteed to have problems but it is more likely. For now I would watch and wait and see how it goes

 

[HollowOfWisps]

If you like him I would wait and watch. If you aren’t that fond of him now I would cull now. One of my favorite and most docile roosters came from an aggressive Roo. I didn’t wait long enough between Roosters after I butchered the aggressive Faverolle and replaced him with an Orpington. Well lo and behold a 5 toed cockerel hatched out. However, with the 5 toed cockerel I put him with the older hens and let them push him around to teach him manners.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You don't get guarantees with behaviors. Chicks inherit traits from both parents. In behaviors, you do not know which traits will dominate.

A chick hatched with an aggressive rooster as a father is more likely to be aggressive than one hatched from a non-aggressive father. Human aggression is one thing I use to decide which of my cockerels I eat. No need to put up with that. But like Hollow, I had a great rooster that had an aggressive father.

I have no idea how that specific chick will turn out.