SkywheelerChick
In the Brooder
I've been keeping chickens for about a year now, and am still learning every day.
I started out with 30 chickens (10 Black Australorps, 10 GL Wyandottes, and 10 Cuckoo Marans) and two of them ended up being boys, one of the Australorps and one of the Cuckoos. I didn't have any restrictions on keeping roosters on my 10 acres, and felt they would be good guards of my pastured flock, so I kept them.
When they grew up, both of the boys turned aggressive towards me, they would stalk me incessantly and attack and peck at me. The male Cuckoo ended up dying of an unknown disease, but the Australorp still stalks me and bites whenever he can. It's weird because the girl Australorps are the friendliest chickens of the bunch and many hop right up on my lap.
I looked up threads of people who are dealing with the same problem, and only saw two solutions, either kill him, or try to catch him and hold him every time he gets aggressive with you. I tried holding him multiple times, and it was a fail. First, it was hard to catch the dude, I ended up using a stick to push his head down so that I could grab him and hold and pet him, and that only worked for about a half hour, then he was back at me. I didn't want to kill him, as he is a great guard and really wanted to try every other avenue before making him chicken soup.
I have come to believe the mistake I made with him growing up was when he started crowing, I would mimic the crow back to him. I think that made him decide that I was a competing male and someone that he needed to conquer to be top rooster. My DH never mimicked his crow, and the rooster does not bother him. He has since had 12 children, with 3 of them being cockerels. The new boys are now 7 months old, I have never crowed at them, and they have never been aggressive towards me at all.
My yellow broom worked well to keep him away, as well as my garden rake and my colorful umbrella. All these items though were difficult to lug around and do yard work and chicken upkeep at the same time. When I forgot one of these items, a nearby stick would at least keep him at bay. My DH would laugh every time I went to go check the mail, because as soon as my rooster saw me, he was running down the driveway towards me.
The solution I came up with was to clip a bright orange dish towel from my jeans pocket and let it billow down at my side. This allowed me to do my chicken duties with both hands and be out in the yard, and the rooster doesn't come near me, as the billowing bright towel freaks him out.
I've been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and it's worked like a charm, so I wanted to share this with others. The girls are also skittish around the towel, but when I want to get near them, I will hold the towel in a bunch, or stuff the end in my pocket. I'm short one dish towel now, but it was well worth it.
--Skywheeler Chick, located in Dolores, Colorado.
I started out with 30 chickens (10 Black Australorps, 10 GL Wyandottes, and 10 Cuckoo Marans) and two of them ended up being boys, one of the Australorps and one of the Cuckoos. I didn't have any restrictions on keeping roosters on my 10 acres, and felt they would be good guards of my pastured flock, so I kept them.
When they grew up, both of the boys turned aggressive towards me, they would stalk me incessantly and attack and peck at me. The male Cuckoo ended up dying of an unknown disease, but the Australorp still stalks me and bites whenever he can. It's weird because the girl Australorps are the friendliest chickens of the bunch and many hop right up on my lap.
I looked up threads of people who are dealing with the same problem, and only saw two solutions, either kill him, or try to catch him and hold him every time he gets aggressive with you. I tried holding him multiple times, and it was a fail. First, it was hard to catch the dude, I ended up using a stick to push his head down so that I could grab him and hold and pet him, and that only worked for about a half hour, then he was back at me. I didn't want to kill him, as he is a great guard and really wanted to try every other avenue before making him chicken soup.
I have come to believe the mistake I made with him growing up was when he started crowing, I would mimic the crow back to him. I think that made him decide that I was a competing male and someone that he needed to conquer to be top rooster. My DH never mimicked his crow, and the rooster does not bother him. He has since had 12 children, with 3 of them being cockerels. The new boys are now 7 months old, I have never crowed at them, and they have never been aggressive towards me at all.
My yellow broom worked well to keep him away, as well as my garden rake and my colorful umbrella. All these items though were difficult to lug around and do yard work and chicken upkeep at the same time. When I forgot one of these items, a nearby stick would at least keep him at bay. My DH would laugh every time I went to go check the mail, because as soon as my rooster saw me, he was running down the driveway towards me.
The solution I came up with was to clip a bright orange dish towel from my jeans pocket and let it billow down at my side. This allowed me to do my chicken duties with both hands and be out in the yard, and the rooster doesn't come near me, as the billowing bright towel freaks him out.
I've been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and it's worked like a charm, so I wanted to share this with others. The girls are also skittish around the towel, but when I want to get near them, I will hold the towel in a bunch, or stuff the end in my pocket. I'm short one dish towel now, but it was well worth it.
--Skywheeler Chick, located in Dolores, Colorado.
