Bantam roo accidentaly hit on neck/face, help!!!

[chooks4life]

I'm really thankful for all your advice, I will keep this things in mind when I get home to tend to him.I am in Los Angeles, CA and the lowest it will get here tonight will be low 55 degrees Fahrenheit is that too cold? Thanks for all your help.

Sorry, I wasn't online... Generally an animal with an injury could do with some extra heat, but that's not very cold... Depends how he took it.

Going by the lack of pics, I take it perhaps things did not go so well, or maybe you just weren't online too?

Hope all is well. Best wishes.

FWIW, farmers have had problems with aggressive animals for years.... They cull them... Continuing aggressive genetics is not a good plan...

There is no reason to keep aggressive animals, especially, when you are afraid of them....

Your flock is supposed to provide enjoyment and relaxation for you.... Donate him to someone's stew pot....

I agree, and I also think people tend to under-prioritize the flock's enjoyment of itself, or quality of life too, as they leave brutal roosters or hens among the flock they victimize, making the lives of others a misery. You should both be able to enjoy your chickens and only keep chickens that don't cause grief among the flock.

I'm often reminded of all the good work many people over the centuries have put in, and are putting in now, with good temperament selection every time I see a good cat, a good dog, a good horse, etc... And of course, good roosters, and one obvious reminder is always seeing stud males which so many expect to be violent just because they're male. Like seeing bulls with toddlers standing in front of them or kids leading them around, most not even pets or regularly handled, just brought in and polished up for a sale... And everyone nonchalantly standing with their backs to them for the photos... And of course all the same with quality roosters, rams, billies... Such a shame when such work is undone by bad selection.

Best wishes.

 

[cucharitavoce]

My apologies, I did not take photos because he's fine, all day on Thursday he was a little slow because of the trauma, but he seemed better the next day and by Saturday he was crowing as usual. I monitored him all weekend and he's well, thank you so much for the advise. I think he will become soup one of these days since I was not aware that his behavior is not worth breeding, this is the first time I raise chickens, I don't have a flock, but rather just him and another bantam frizzle hen, they were given to me by a teacher who hatched them in the classroom for the kids and then was looking for a home for them. Growing up my grandma raised chickens, but I don't remember well how her flock behaved, I do appreciate your imput.

 

[chooks4life]

Thanks for the update, always good to know how it turned out. It will be interesting to know whether or not that unfortunate incident frightened some civility into him. Probably not, but never say never.

Whether or not a violent animal is worth breeding is a very personal decision. You know my stance on it, but that doesn't mean you should feel pressured either way. I believe if you keep chooks for long enough chances are you'll come to see it the same way anyway, since most people seem to (barring people who deal with very rare bloodlines, they're generally forced to put up with abusive individuals anyway). But most people try everything else first, nothing wrong with that if you choose to do so. Nobody's keen to just give up on an animal, which is very understandable, but they tend to end up culling because it's nigh impossible to change a violent chicken.

Once you've seen a good rooster, you won't look the same at a vicious one again. They're exemplary 'husband'/father figures, and great pets, when of a kind nature, but can be absolute terrors if of a vicious nature. A good rooster will never attack you.

Personally I think it's somewhat akin to owning a very aggressive dog, there's some element of social responsibility involved in keeping such animals and the spur wounds a rooster can impart are sometimes comparable to a dog's bite wounds. As always children are the most at risk, though roosters wounding and permanently scarring adults is also common. It's not unheard of for roosters to kill toddlers too.

Most roosters have an instinct to go for the face, and will even jump up to your face from the side or behind, especially if you've made them afraid to attack you directly (as often happens when people try to train them out of attacking; the roosters tend to just learn to wait until you're busy, or distracted, or not looking, or not holding anything you could use as a weapon. They're not stupid).

So far I've not seen any proof you can train roosters out of showing aggression to people. Fairly often, short-term successes happen but people never seem to give long term follow-ups on how that went, even when they said they would; unfortunately they often blame themselves for their failure to make the rooster turn good... But I've also had those short-term successes myself, only to find that they needed repeated training maintenance for years to keep them well behaved, always turning aggressive again, and despite all that their offspring were just the same: aggressive.

I'm not willing to spend decades of my life, risking my safety and my flock's safety and the safety of visitors and friends and family, breeding and training aggression out of a line; there's too many good roosters dying for want of a home for that to even be logical on any front. Luckily for me I'm not a serious breed enthusiast dedicated to saving some obscure and exceedingly rare but rotten-tempered, malicious breed...

Even if you're sure you can contain the rooster for his lifetime, they basically have one purpose/drive in life and that's to breed; he'll never be truly happy/have true top-notch quality of life unless allowed to mate, and I don't feel it's fair to spend a hen's lifetime paired with a male not worth breeding; she too has the basic purpose/drive in life to reproduce and her instincts will only be satisfied if she can be a mother (if she's maternally inclined, of course not all hens are). Even if she weren't so inclined, he's still taking up resources that could be given instead to a good rooster.

Nobody should live in fear of, or under attack by, their own animals, anyway.

If you breed him, there's a very strong chance his behavior will be inherited and you can inadvertently pass on his mentality by rehoming offspring you think are okay, because aggression to humans often does show up without any obvious warning beforehand, and will do so for several generations. As a general rule of thumb it takes 7 generations to fix or remove a trait, behavioral or otherwise.

Our ancestors spent a lot of time selecting only the most beneficial animals to breed, to raise the breeds to the state they have achieved. Animals that harmed humans/other animals, or were unmanageable due to their extreme aggression were selected against for practical reasons, and it's been for the benefit of all of us as well as the animals themselves.

Unfortunately in recent decades many people have kept and bred violent animals, as commercial profitability has come to be more important than the peace of the flock and the ease of handling, so there's been many behaviorally aberrant and basically psychotic animals being allowed to breed on their mentalities just because they happen to have economically useful traits as well.

Anyway, if you breed chooks in future you'll see how heritable mentality is. I did try to reshape it in my earlier years but soon realized it would take decades, and I culled it out instead. Problem solved. If you want to try to rehabilitate him, though, good luck.

Best wishes.

 

[DaveOmak]

Thanks for the update, always good to know how it turned out. It will be interesting to know whether or not that unfortunate incident frightened some civility into him. Probably not, but never say never.

Whether or not a violent animal is worth breeding is a very personal decision. You know my stance on it,

Once you've seen a good rooster, you won't look the same at a vicious one again.

Personally I think it's somewhat akin to owning a very aggressive dog,

Most roosters have an instinct to go for the face,

So far I've not seen any proof you can train roosters out of showing aggression to people. .

I'm not willing to spend decades of my life, risking my safety and my flock's safety and the safety of visitors and friends and family,

Nobody should live in fear of, or under attack by, their own animals, anyway.

If you breed him, there's a very strong chance his behavior will be inherited

Our ancestors spent a lot of time selecting only the most beneficial animals to breed,

Unfortunately in recent decades many people have kept and bred violent animals, as commercial profitability

Anyway, if you breed chooks in future you'll see how heritable mentality is. I did try to reshape it in my earlier years but soon realized it would take decades, and I culled it out instead. Problem solved. If you want to try to rehabilitate him, though, good luck.

Best wishes.

Well written, to the point and factual..... Perfect.... That took a fair amount of time to put together and I appreciate what you have done....

Dave

 

[chooks4life]

Well written, to the point and factual..... Perfect.... That took a fair amount of time to put together and I appreciate what you have done....

Dave

Thanks. It's not everyone's stance on the matter, but it's always good to see others who also don't tolerate aggressive animals. There's far too much aggression-tolerance in a lot of places, causing harm and stress to animals and people alike.

Best wishes.