Aggressive Rooster

[Poultry Queen]

I have a Bielfelder rooster who is very polite and non-aggressive; in fact we had to rehome a rooster that was beating the hell out of him all the time. However....if I wear black leggings in the henhouse he immediately goes into attack mode. If I leave and come back in jeans he's right back to normal. My girlfriend was looking after them one day and I forgot to mention that - she went into the henhouse with black leggings on and he attacked her.

Who knows what gets into their little brains.

 

[quackyduck]

So, a friend of mine has this rooster that was never mean until she was kicking at something frozen on the ground, then all of a sudden he started acting aggressively towards her. Now, I am taking him in, mostly to protect my hens, and I was wondering if there are any tips to get a rooster to not be mean.
Thanks for any tips!

This is my bad guy. I'm the only person he goes after.

 

[pmcquilkin]

I was friendly with one rooster and not th other the one I was friendly with is now agressive the other not so what I am starting to do is ignore him when he gets agressive if your worried about getting attacked just wear some chainsaw chaps and so far if I just ignore him he stops if I no be chicken I no threat

 

[LMVB]

I've posted about my aggressive rooster before, but it's gotten worse: now he comes at me EVERYtime I walk into the run. If I let them all out into the dog fence (no dogs there), I sit in with them as we have many hawks and wandering dogs in our area (owls too, at night) He never even pays attention to my husband or my son, just me. I tried the chasing around method and think this is what triggered the aggression towards me now. I'd like to keep him around, I would like to try hatching some chicks this spring, so I need him, Right now, I have him in a smaller, separate run with it's own coop. My plan is to keep him in there for the weekend. I had to put hen saddles on a couple of his favorite gals. So, tonight, with him out of the way, I'm going to remove the saddles and wash them.
My hope was my ignoring him he would do the same, but no. When I'm sitting in the dog fence yard with them, he's never more than 1 to 2 feet away from me, with one eye on me. And I have to keep an eye on him as well! There is NO WAY I can pick up and coddle this sucker. He is a HUGE Astrolorp, with 2 inch talons. He scares me, but is so good with the hens and is very beautiful. I don't know what advice to take anymore. He's just a turd, but think part of his aggressiveness is due to my chasing him around, when he wasn't doing anything at all (someone told me to chase him with a broom each time I go into the run and not allow him to breed while I'm in there, not good advice for this situation.)
Any ideas? Do they eventually forget this stuff? He's about 1-1/2 years old.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I've posted about my aggressive rooster before, but it's gotten worse: now he comes at me EVERYtime I walk into the run. If I let them all out into the dog fence (no dogs there), I sit in with them as we have many hawks and wandering dogs in our area (owls too, at night) He never even pays attention to my husband or my son, just me. I tried the chasing around method and think this is what triggered the aggression towards me now. I'd like to keep him around, I would like to try hatching some chicks this spring, so I need him, Right now, I have him in a smaller, separate run with it's own coop. My plan is to keep him in there for the weekend. I had to put hen saddles on a couple of his favorite gals. So, tonight, with him out of the way, I'm going to remove the saddles and wash them.
My hope was my ignoring him he would do the same, but no. When I'm sitting in the dog fence yard with them, he's never more than 1 to 2 feet away from me, with one eye on me. And I have to keep an eye on him as well! There is NO WAY I can pick up and coddle this sucker. He is a HUGE Astrolorp, with 2 inch talons. He scares me, but is so good with the hens and is very beautiful. I don't know what advice to take anymore. He's just a turd, but think part of his aggressiveness is due to my chasing him around, when he wasn't doing anything at all (someone told me to chase him with a broom each time I go into the run and not allow him to breed while I'm in there, not good advice for this situation.)
Any ideas? Do they eventually forget this stuff? He's about 1-1/2 years old.

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Post # 18 & 25 of this thread will tell you all you need to know.

My coddled cockerel is also the only one that attacks me.

SO sweet when he was little.

But that was before I knew that friendliness on my part was going to likely cause future issues. It was too late though, he was no longer afraid of me and in the chicken world fear equals respect.

I was friendly with one rooster and not th other the one I was friendly with is now agressive the other not so what I am starting to do is ignore him when he gets agressive if your worried about getting attacked just wear some chainsaw chaps and so far if I just ignore him he stops if I no be chicken I no threat.

Ignoring is not going to work. And chaps won't help if your bent over doing food or something.

Your rooster doesn't care if you are a chicken or not! They go after my dogs. And as goofy as chickens are they can differentiate.

@Poultry Queen and
@quackyduck Welcome to all you guys!

Hope y'all enjoy this community as much as I do.

 

[slkyldy4evr]

I've posted about my aggressive rooster before, but it's gotten worse: now he comes at me EVERYtime I walk into the run. If I let them all out into the dog fence (no dogs there), I sit in with them as we have many hawks and wandering dogs in our area (owls too, at night) He never even pays attention to my husband or my son, just me. I tried the chasing around method and think this is what triggered the aggression towards me now. I'd like to keep him around, I would like to try hatching some chicks this spring, so I need him, Right now, I have him in a smaller, separate run with it's own coop. My plan is to keep him in there for the weekend. I had to put hen saddles on a couple of his favorite gals. So, tonight, with him out of the way, I'm going to remove the saddles and wash them.
My hope was my ignoring him he would do the same, but no. When I'm sitting in the dog fence yard with them, he's never more than 1 to 2 feet away from me, with one eye on me. And I have to keep an eye on him as well! There is NO WAY I can pick up and coddle this sucker. He is a HUGE Astrolorp, with 2 inch talons. He scares me, but is so good with the hens and is very beautiful. I don't know what advice to take anymore. He's just a turd, but think part of his aggressiveness is due to my chasing him around, when he wasn't doing anything at all (someone told me to chase him with a broom each time I go into the run and not allow him to breed while I'm in there, not good advice for this situation.)
Any ideas? Do they eventually forget this stuff? He's about 1-1/2 years old.

I have dealt with this problem in the past, what I found worked best was to carry a broom around with me I'm around him, and every time he even looked as if he wanted to come after me, I hit him with it (no so hard that it hurt him but hard enough for him to know I meant business. If he comes near you, let him get about 11/2 feet away and step forward, and if he stands his ground, shove him back. Never, EVER, back up if he challenges you, take a step forward instead, never let him think he is in control of you, I never chase him out of the blue because then he will retaliate and continue to be agressive, always bring a broom with you but don't use it unless he is giving you the stank eye, my rooster used to always come after me, but after doing what I said above, I can now walk right by him and he steps to the side when he sees me coming, good luck with your roo.

 

[Folly's place]

Sometimes the crock pot is the best solution. Cock birds have only so many brain cells, and idiots who attack the giant bringing food every day shouldn't contribute to the gene pool, or continue to be a danger to every human who shows up on your property. While he's stalking you, he's not looking out for his hens either! Send him off with full disclosure to someone else, or make chicken soup. There are wonderful polite cock birds out there, worthy of reproduction and food. I will try (three times and you're out!) to manage a cockerel who has big ideas, but after that, he's gone and a better bird stays. Mary

 

[pmcquilkin]

I use to raise aseels you know fighting cocks and if I can deal with them agressive buggers this americanna is a piece of cake and like the woman that her rooster only went after her if she wore black boots mine dose the sam when I wear my green ones. I think when we hold them and get friendly they loose there fear of man and become agressive

 

[Grits Chick]

When I started my flock I had gotten 19 roosters added into my first order-"freebies to keep the girls warm during transit". I had a neighbor who wanted the roosters, but I wanted to keep just one. So I picked the one who was the "friendliest", I thought! He was about 5-6 weeks old when he would come right up to you, he would play with the dog, He would peck your diamond wedding ring, etc, etc. So much fun, so the others went up the road. Then he started replacing pecking at the ring to pecking at your eyes, spurring your body, seemed like he was going for blood vessels! I tried EVERYTHING to deter this over protective behavior, nothing worked. Everyone finally suggested "re-homing" him, but who wants a VIOLENT ROOSTER?! He has a pen of his own 'til death do us part! He was a barred rock and have heard they can be more aggressive than others. Currently 1 have 2 Isbar roosters and 2 Whiting True Blue roosters that are very respectful and still do their jobs! Was wondering if anyone else can recommend more docile rooster breeds out there! Appreciate the info in the other posts!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Ever pick the more dominant or forward roosters, they are trouble as you have seen.

I have had good luck with double laced barnevelder, both my roosters have been docile and calm and take good care of the hens.

As side note, I'm on my second barred rock rooster without any signs of aggression. I have owned multiple breeds of roosters and none have been aggressive which leads me to believe it's more in the raising of them than it being one breed or another, as I'm not that lucky.