I recently installed 3 eight month old roosters in my layer flock for breeding purposes, a Black Copper Marans, a Blue Copper Marans, and a blue one with Americuna beard & ear muffs. I raised them from the incubator so I was always in close contact with them but never petted or babied them, they are just regular old chickens, kinda aloof & indifferent towards me. Blackie took the role as head rooster with the blue one as second in command and the bearded one was just there. They never fight with each other and are always together where ever they go, looting, raping & pillaging the countryside.
Several weeks ago the Black one gave me a funny look when I was in the pen and started pecking the ground, like they do when they're tidbitting for the hens only he wasn't making the "booka booka booka" sound like when tidbitting.
I said to myself yep he's gonna be a problem.
Next day I took a riding crop in the pen with me, one with the little hand flapper thing on it. Blackie pecked the ground, fuzzed up and charged me and started hammering my ankle & shins with his spurs. I wear cowboy boots so it didn't really hurt that much, it was more annoying than anything. I slapped him in the face with the crop, it made a nice WHAP sound. He flipped over backwards, jumped up with a dumb surprised on his face and charged me again and I slapped him down again. He did this 4-5 times before he decided he had enough and went and hid in the henhouse. His attitude adjustment lasted 3 days then he got the nerve to flog me again so he got another dose of the riding crop.
Before the chicken huggers start calling me mean, inhumane & abusive, let me remind you that is how roosters deal with each other, only they use claws, wings & spurs to hammer each other's head to a bloody mess instead of using a piece of nice soft leather like I used.
This went on for about 3 weeks before he grudgingly accepted me as the barnyard pimp and now he goes to the other side of the pen when I enter. If he starts crowing at me I walk towards him and stare at him. If I were to make a sudden move with my foot it would trigger a reflex attack, but challenging me or fighting with me isn't on his list of options. Instead of egging him on by kicking at him and giving him an opportunity for a foot boxing match I just stare at him until he loses his nerve and chickens out, takes about 10 seconds.
This rooster is lucky because ordinarily I don't tolerate animals that make a nuisance of themselves, but the weather has been just too cold & nasty to cull & process him. If he's still cocky when it warms up, he has a date with Mr. Hatchet. Roosters are a dime a dozen where I live so little effort is spent trying to rehab an undesirable one.
