Attacked!!!!

[theoldchick]

Send him down the road....

 

[AmericanMom]

Ditto what everyone has said about the availability of good tempered roosters. I'm on my second Blue Orpington roo, and wholeheartedly recommend them. They are sometimes hard to find, but oh so worth it. Our first, Gus, lived to be 5; he died last year after a long illness, and I was determined to find another one. Our current boy, Turk, is barely a year old, but he is nearly identical to Gus. Very large (about 15#), stunningly handsome, dignified crow, good to the ladies, always surveying the scene and the sky, the first out of the coop and the last to go in; and best of all, has never, ever showed the slightest aggression to people. That, to my mind, is the perfect rooster. It's my good fortune to have a young 4-Her in the next town who raises all kinds of poultry, including Blue Orps (and the heritage turkeys I'm raising this year.) If anyone is within a day's drive of eastern CT and wants to check out her birds, I can put you in touch.

I tried to copy this from my phone but it wouldn't allow it, so sorry for the double post....

I have just acquired a Blue Orpington in the last month... He is now almost 6 months and has just started crowing... He is nothing more (so far) but a gentle giant.. As with all my roosters no matter how much I am in awe of there awesomeness, I do not even attempt to befriend him nor do I hand feed him. I hope he remains as good as he is now and hope he is as good as yours..
This is our Big Blue

 

[mskitn]

I read some stuff online about thinking about the roosters point of view. He's never been aggressive before so it was probably caused by me scareing him or something. When he attacked me I attacked back which just escalated things. I was then definitely a threat in his eyes. I have stopped doing anything back to him. I spent all yesterday backing away from him, going way around him. I started hand feeding a lot of treats. He got to where he wouldn't attack yesterday and he would come up and eat from my hand. He didn't attack at all today and let me walk normally in front of him. We will see how it goes but I think my rehabilitation is coming along. He hasn't even seemed like he was going to go after anyone else. Fingers crossed.

 

[AmericanMom]

I read some stuff online about thinking about the roosters point of view. He's never been aggressive before so it was probably caused by me scareing him or something. When he attacked me I attacked back which just escalated things. I was then definitely a threat in his eyes. I have stopped doing anything back to him. I spent all yesterday backing away from him, going way around him. I started hand feeding a lot of treats. He got to where he wouldn't attack yesterday and he would come up and eat from my hand. He didn't attack at all today and let me walk normally in front of him. We will see how it goes but I think my rehabilitation is coming along. He hasn't even seemed like he was going to go after anyone else. Fingers crossed.

Most roosters do not show aggression until the are 1+ years old, some much earlier.. I had a four month old rooster that was part of the freezer camp crowd and although he never attacked, just the way he acted I knew he would eventually.. He was very aggressive acting ...

I hope it works out for you, but something else I have always been told was to not hand feet a rooster, something about them being to familiar I believe... He has to see you as the dominate party at all times, being at his level may be dangerous.

 

[Hilarie]

mskitn - I hope you're right, and it's not that he now sees your submissive behavior as proof that he "won." My advice: if you're heartset on keeping this guy, don't let down your guard, and use your peripheral vision. Napoleon bided his time for SIX MONTHS before he put a hole in my sister's cheek, and I did not enjoy sewing that up as we had signs before that day that he was aggressive.
Americanmom - what a handsome teenager he is! He'll really fill out, if he's anything like the Blue Orps I've seen. He looks quite substantial already, but has that "dinosaur" look they all get when they're pubescent It's taken Turk most of a year to find his voice. It sounded like a creaky barn door for a long time. I'm told English Orpingtons take longer to mature than other birds. I wish you the best of luck with him.