Are nice roos as scarce as hens teeth?

[ajneal30]

Yeah he's the one in the avatar. Putting him in his place seems to work for a while, as long as I don't egg him on while defending myself. (I used to let him beat him self stupid against my foot hoping he would realize it didn't work and he would stop, but he just learned to duck under my leg and go after me anyway.)
He is 2. I got him last year after his old owner gave him up. She didn't tell me the reason she wanted to get rid of him was because he was mean. He didn't start to get mean with us until this spring.
I can't get rid of him because he belongs to my 11 year old son and he cries every time we talk about getting rid of Mr. Chicken. My husband also likes him because he will protect the hens, we have had problems in the past with dogs.
I know I posted on two different threads but I wanted to get as many responses as possible. I hope that doesn't get people all riled up.

 

[aoxa]

My roosters are super protective of their hens...when it's appropriate, not around US. We are not the enemy and they know it. Can his behavior be changed at this point? I seriously doubt it, not if he's already mating the hens.

If you want to put up with that unnecessarily, that's your decision. In my opinion, life is too short and there are way too many great roosters who'll do as good or better job, won't kill your chicks or try to attack you, either, to waste on a rooster whose genes should not be propagated (yes, I said he should not be allowed to reproduce his temperament).

Exactly!

There are roosters around there that are calm, protective, human friendly and great fathers. My barred rock boy has never pecked a human being. No matter how much we are messing with his hens (ie: checking them over). He feeds the babies, and babysits.

We say he has split custody with our broody. She's letting go now that they are 7 weeks old, and I caught him babysitting all five the other day while she was out front taking a dust bath (spa day).

I also just brought a group of 36 outside (age 3 weeks) and he called out as something flew overhead (not sure what - nothing serious) - and he made that call.. All 36 chicks scrambled as fast as their little legs would take them into a crate I had brought them outside in (just a cat carrier). It was the cutest thing. It's so strange how that call is understood even at that young of an age! By chicks that have never been raised by a broody. How do they know? It's something else..

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Yeah he's the one in the avatar. Putting him in his place seems to work for a while, as long as I don't egg him on while defending myself. (I used to let him beat him self stupid against my foot hoping he would realize it didn't work and he would stop, but he just learned to duck under my leg and go after me anyway.)
He is 2. I got him last year after his old owner gave him up. She didn't tell me the reason she wanted to get rid of him was because he was mean. He didn't start to get mean with us until this spring.
I can't get rid of him because he belongs to my 11 year old son and he cries every time we talk about getting rid of Mr. Chicken. My husband also likes him because he will protect the hens, we have had problems in the past with dogs.
I know I posted on two different threads but I wanted to get as many responses as possible. I hope that doesn't get people all riled up.

I know a way that is pretty much fool proof to keep mean roosters way from ya. My friend did it and worked like a CHARM.

So, get a rooster, just the cheapest rooster you can find. Or a hen, but i suggest you use a chicken you DONT LIKE that you already have. So, take an ax, and kill the chicken IN FRONT of the rooster. Scares the heck out of them, and my friend did it with this meanest RIR, he has never layed a scale on her again

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

I have a RIR that is all naked behind her comb as well. Seems she is the only one that has the naked patch there from him. Maybe he's too long for her lol. Anyway.. We were thinking she may need a baseball cap

Oh gosh... We should do that for poor Nugget! XD


Speaking of good roosters.. My rooster Gryphon, eh, hes not the best defender of the CHICKS, but he'll protect the hens just fine. But we're selling him, in case anyone wants him

 

[aurorarex]

Dang...I read that ENTIRE thread. Thanks so much for the link, speckledhen.
Nobody told DH or I one thing or another, it was just a question that came to mind, that maybe a roo should be aggressive to keep the hens safe.
I've now been completely edumacated...so many of the folks here say that people-aggressive roos are completely unnecessary. Very helpful.
Thanks again,
aurora

 

[Mattemma]

Gosh, I lucked out with my free craiglists rooster from PA.Yes, I made my dh drive the family from OH to PA to get him.Thankfully close. He is SO freaking nice it baffles me.Our only problem is we live smack in the city surrounded by neighbors who have to listen to his big mouth all day long.People hate us I am sure.We have to move soon or get rid of him.It is to bad his kindness won't pass on(for sure),because he would make someone lots of money producing kind,big,beautiful rooster offspring.

 

[Brandi Leigh]

Our rooster is a big chicken.

Whenever this pair of Sandhill Cranes, that nests on our property, fly over head our Rooster sounds the alarm and runs for cover. He always beats the hens to safety. He is also the first in the coop at night and the first to the food dish. But, we have never had any problems with aggression. So as long as that continues I think he is a keeper!

 

[NYREDS]

I have a different point of view than most here. I rais a few hundred birds every year & have raised thousands in my lifetime & I pay no attention to "behavior" when I select breeders. In fact ,if anything, I go in the other direction. I prefer an aggressive male as they tend to be more prolific breeders & have better fertility. I'm a 200 pound man so I don't feel threatened by an 8 pound chicken. When my children were young & now with my grand daughter they just weren't/aren't in a position to be harmed by an aggressive male because they're on one side of a fence, the chickens are on the other side.

 

[speckledhen]

I have a different point of view than most here. I rais a few hundred birds every year & have raised thousands in my lifetime & I pay no attention to "behavior" when I select breeders. In fact ,if anything, I go in the other direction. I prefer an aggressive male as they tend to be more prolific breeders & have better fertility. I'm a 200 pound man so I don't feel threatened by an 8 pound chicken. When my children were young & now with my grand daughter they just weren't/aren't in a position to be harmed by an aggressive male because they're on one side of a fence, the chickens are on the other side.

And there you have it. Bill doesn't interact with his chickens as most backyarders do. He's a breeder, period. He breeds for looks and Standard of Perfection, which cares zilch about temperament. He never walks among his birds as we do so it's not a concern with him.

I challenge him on one point, for sure! You won't find a more prolific breeder than a Delaware rooster and my Isaac handles 25 hens at the age of 3 years old just fine, though he has some he just plain doesn't like (as witnessed by chasing those couple away from the feeder). In fact, some of his favorites are even wearing protectors. He is a complete pussycat with us and even with other people who have visited here. In fact, it should be a breed trait for a Delaware to be well-tempered and friendly. If you have a human-aggressive Delaware, you have a cull bird.

The idea that a good breeder must be human-aggressive is pure myth, in my humble opinion, sorry, but I hear that over and over again, and it just ain't so. You can feel free to disagree with me, but I'll never believe it.

I agree with one thing--you shouldn't let an 8 lb chicken bully you. If you can't change that behavior, that bird needs to be culled.

ETA: If that's what you want, aggressive males, that's fine, but backyard hobbyists usually don't want human-aggressive roosters. Even most breeders would rather not have a nasty-tempered male and propagate that temperament, because, don't kid yourself, it is heritable. The OP who asked is not a professional breeder, unless I'm mistaken. And even folks who breed to show do not want birds who cannot be safely handled by judges.

 

[Cetawin]

To the original poster....I think good roos are very easy to find. I am loaded with them here. My two huge free ranging Orps are not the slightest bit human aggressive. I currently have about 30 roosters..different breeds and ages...I have just culled my first one ever for behavior. He was a complete spazz...a threat to himself and humans so the first attempt at flogging when he his breeding age got him killed.

For the recommendation of killing a rooster in front of other roosters to stop bad behavior. O can tell you this ... Max was.killed on front of my two big Orps and they got excited and wanted to help me. It did not scare them at all.

I spoil and baby my birds so I do not think that males a difference, it is the individual bird and their own nature.