Aggressive Rooster

[rockinpaints]

Eat him.....

Too many nice roos to deal with one that is that aggressive (a little, tiny bit of aggression isn't all bad)

 

[bjw113]

We put Ernie (our Roo) in the freezer after he bloodied the 4th hen in less than 2 weeks and really hurt one of my hens. Tore a dime size spot out of the back of her head. She is healing, but enough was enough. No place for an aggressive Rooster. We're considering getting another Rooster in the spring, but I will monitor very closely. I've read several posts where others have said you have to put the hens firts, and that the aggressions can spread to humans. But I would have to wonder how your Roo is treating the hens IF he has the propensity to attack. Best wishes but I have to agree with the dumplings idea!

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

Newbie here too but we just dispatched our roo this weekend after multiple attacks on us. He was good with the hens to a point but terrorized them in the morning to the point where they would not get off their roosts to eat. After talking and talking and talking about him my DH and I agreed that we thought he was a medium level roo. Not terrible - he did find the hens food when free ranging and make sure they all got in the coop at night. Not great - he did just randomly grab hens by their wings and not let go so they were screaming a lot. Bottom line is we didn't want to breed him and that finalized our decision.

BTW, maybe not even related to dispatching him, but our egg production has gone up this week since he's been gone. We got three more eggs yesterday then we've been averaging. I'm not sure it if the increased egg production will continue but if it does I might lean towards thinking that he was harder on the hens than what we assumed.

 

[IlliniPatT]

Have any tried plamondon's approach to roosters? It's very different than what has been stated in this thread but he has an awful lot of experience and generally gives good advice.

http://www.plamondon.com/faq_roosters.html

Pat

 

[bburn]

I can see that might work. Plamondon's method. Although I take treats when I go out for eggs anyway. I want them all to be eating their treats and not worry about who is going through the people door. My other rooster in the other pen has not been aggressive yet. But I have the people door to go through and don't have to go into his run. I do however, guide him back out the pop door should he come in.
And then throw some treats out for him. I fell like I have a good rooster at this point even in the one that came at me for the first time. I will feel different if I have to go through it again and Rooster and Dumplings is great.

 

[HoustonChicks]

Aggressive roosters: so it's not just mine, I'm glad to find out! I have 2 "flocks" that have their own territories in my yard. One bunch is about 6 months old, the others are a month younger, bantam Ameracaunas and silkies, a total of 48 chickens. I have a LOT of roosters from the straight run chicks. Killing any is out of the question. The silkies are sweet and no trouble. But the bantam Ameracaunas are no longer funny when they attack us!! They come from behind and flog our legs or feet. Their spurs aren't bad, but it makes me jump, which makes me so mad! I carry a slender stick and tap them (heavily!) on their back when I see that they are following me with bad intentions. I've read a lot of good info here about ways to tone down aggressiveness. I can't reach down & pick them up to carry them because they run away immediately! And of course, they always give a big crow right afterwards. Trouble is, there are several roosters like this in each bunch, the older group and the younger group. So we have to guard against 2 sets of bullies. They don't seem like they fight each other, which surprises me. I'm fearful for my grandkids, because they want to look for eggs & I know bad rooster experiences can last a lifetime. I'll try to keep reading the riot act to the banty guys. And they were so cute when they were a day old!!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

Houstonchicks - can we please see a group photo? I love Ameraucanas and silkies. I just got some hatching eggs are polish x E.E.

I am hatching a whole bunch of blue and green eggs, so I am sure I am going to be in your shoes before very long!

My E.E. rooster attacked me one time, but I was picking up a hen after dark to put her in the henhouse and I (stupidly) did not realise he was guarding the hens that were still out! A swift kick (he was fine) and we sorted out who was boss! He stays away from me now and I have a spur mark on my ankle that I got through my jeans!

When I was a kid we had some MEAN E.E. roosters! It is funny about 1 time when they come flying at you!

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Wow, I can't even imagine having to protect yourself to go in your own back yard!!!!!!

NO ONE that I feed and house gets to attack me........... EVER!!!!!!! You have children in that area too!!!!!!!! I don't mean to offend but are you crazy????? Allowing children w/ one aggressive roo is bad enough but you have multiple that are mean enough that you have to hit them w/ sticks.

If culling is out of the question what about rehoming? And why would you get staight run if culling is not an option?

 

[Mervin]

Quote:
I don't know that I agree. This spring I grew one out that was pretty docile as a chick. In fact, he was the lap chicken of the bunch so to speak. After getting rid of the other cockerels, he started to get aggressive once he became the alpha. I tried for a month to reform him b/c my wife really liked him (he used to sleep on her lap as a chick). There is little doubt in my mind that he would have continued to get worse.

Quote:
I don't doubt that you can with persistence. The simple fact is I don't want to have to keep taming roosters b/c I let a nasty one dirty up the gene pool. I'll keep searching for one that isn't aggressive and has all the other qualities that I want. The worse that can happen is a nice chicken stew.

 

[HoustonChicks]

No, I'm not putting my grandkids in harm's way with roosters, so I don't think I'm crazy. The kids aren't at my home very often, but they want to look for eggs when they do come over. I'm glad to teach them about having chickens around, including having to watch out for roosters if that's part of the deal. It's up to the adults to accompany the kids in the yard at all times so that kids don't get scared, roosters don't get kicked at, and a decent time is had by all. My yard is not small, less than an acre, so chickens have a wide range. These bad boys don't bother us when we're tending to their water or feed or coop; only when we walk by do they follow behind and jump the back of our leg. I might be singing a different tune if they bother me while I bend down. I know a standard size rooster's spurs are nothing to play with, but the banty guys are tolerable for now.
My parents had show chickens when I was young, and my father recently passed away, so I think that's part of the reason I wanted to get chickens. I wanted happy little hens singing "Ca-caaa-caaa" in my yard, & I got them now! I figured dogs would get some chicks, some would die of "whatever," etc. & I'd wind up with a few, but we were very good parents to 50 chicks so now we got 'em all (minus the 2). Straight run was what I could afford and still get the Ameracaunas and silkies that I wanted. We never got chickens with eating them as a possibility, seeing that some will take feed out of our hand and we consider them pets. I respect other people who raise them for meat, as the Good Lord meant it that way.
I think there's a good chance that the roosters can mend their ways with efforts on our part to show them they can't get by with aggressive behavior. We're going to try, anyways. I can try to trade them to the feedstore for bags of feed if worse comes to worst (is that correct?).