Breeding for PERSONALITY. AKA Hello SWEET ROO!

[CrazyTalk]

Everyone has talked about breeding for personality, but what about 'training' for personality? Is this not a possibility? Starting with a less aggressive breed, couldn't you raise and work with a rooster to get the results you want? I'm not experienced by any means. I have chickens and have raised most from chicks. They come when I call. They calm when I speak quietly to them. Our rooster, Big George, is a mixed breed and a huge, beautiful guy. He is very passive towards humans although will speak up when he sees a stranger. He also has zero tolerance toward dogs and cats and other roosters. He was young when I got him and focused on him a lot. I removed him from his roost at night many times and was only pecked once. He now tolerates it well. I stroke him and talk to him. I also go after him when he's acting inappropriately. Done this for 5 years. He gives me wide berth, but listens when I speak to him. Maybe I just have a smart rooster, but a lot of animals, including birds, can learn behavior management. Why not roos?

There are way too many stories on this forum of people training or reforming bad roosters, and then that rooster attacking one of their children, or a guest, a couple years down the road.

How you handle the animal is of course important, but there's no reason to ignore the fact that temperament is largely genetic. A trained nasty rooster is still a nasty rooster - and that will come out at some point. It may be you accidentally cornering the rooster, it may be a kid doing it, or it may be the dog. Keeping roosters and not selecting for temperament is irresponsible and dangerous.

The fact that you "go after" the rooster when hes acting inappropriately means hes basically just afraid of you.

 

[enola]

I guess I do a little training. ALL male chickens are forced to stay out of my space as soon as they have feathers. But, the first move past the stink eye gets them put into the stew pot.

 

[ellend]

I agree with what you said, but even with the gentlest of birds, no way would I let those chickens be that close to that lovely child's shiny eyes. Chickens peck at shiny things, and it's OUR job to remember that! Corneas are fragile, and need to be carefully protected.

 

[ellend]

Sorry; above post was "reply" to TaraBellaBirds. And not meant to be harsh, btw; just concerned.

 

[ellend]

I'm honestly not certain on the comb genes. I am still learning on the breeding part of it. I know the egg color genes mostly blend, I am learning on feather coloration still. I just started breeding this year, and have chosen to work with Ameraucana as well as EE's, English Orpingtons, and after the first of the year I am getting some Scots Dumpys.

Yes, I do caponize myself. I was very lucky to have a practiced teacher nearby, got hands on course, tools and much needed support for a forgotten art. It is not for everyone, but I felt it was an important skill! I will be selling Capons in the Spring, I think it would be a good alternative for those in the cities that can't have roos but would like the eye candy! They don't crow, breed, or show aggression!

The one I did became markedly non-aggressive (wasn't bad to begin with) but still crowed.

There is no reason to think that one can't breed less aggressive roos by selecting gentle hens and roos to breed. It's been done with all large farm animals. Genes are genes.

 

[enola]

I think I'll offer one waterer with ACV and an other one with plain water, as well as the FF.  I know that the female determines the gender of the embryo, and assume that the female chicks are favored for development, while the males not so much by the changes caused by the increased acid in the diet (if in fact this theory works).  Any embryologists or genetecists out there who can weigh in??

I fed FF the entire breeding season last summer and didn' see any changes of the sex ratios. I still got approximately 60% males.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks Enola for posting your results. We'd ought to do a gender hatch % thread, to see what percentages folks are getting, and what their flock care routine is.

 

[pip31453]

Ok. I am discounted.

 

[enola]

Ok.  I am discounted.

I don't understand what you mean....

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I think it's important to remember that a "bad" rooster isn't just a single entity -- something that can always be cured with one technique or another. There's a long spectrum of "badness," or "goodness," depending on your outlook.

One end of the spectrum is the completely horrible, wakes up in the morning looking for something to attack, and spends all day attacking something/someone type of rooster. The bird that you have to walk into his pen with a metal trash can lid as a shield to avoid loss of blood, and you can't keep any other birds with him because he'll even savage the hens, and has numerous wounds on his face and feet from body slamming the wire of his pen trying to get to the birds outside. No one, and no circumstances, are going to make that rooster an acceptable animal. I've seen lots of people try, but they have all come away injured. The boy just isn't wired right, and you can't untangle that mess.

The other end of the spectrum is the genuinely sweet bird that you just can't make attack anyone, no matter how stressed he becomes and no matter the circumstances -- the Golden Retriever of roosters, if you will. He also isn't wired right, since that's really not normal for the species, but no one wants to rewire him. Unfortunately, he's almost always at the bottom of the pecking order, oftentimes even under the hens, and unless he's the only rooster he rarely gets to pass on his genetics. But he's the ideal pet for a child, because he doesn't care what anyone does, he's just happy to be included.

Most roosters are somewhere in between these two extremes. There are many that are just a little aggressive but are not anxious, and once you establish that you are above them on the pecking order they respect you and never or rarely challenge that balance. That's the rooster that "gives you a wide berth," "only pecked you once," corrects his behavior when you "go after him when he's acting inappropriately," and on the other side of the coin is a rooster that is "passive around humans, " "tolerates it well" when you stroke and carry him around, and "calms when you speak quietly to him." But additionally, he is wary of "human strangers, and has zero tolerance towards dogs, cats, and other roosters." In other words, he is a rooster with enough drive to protect his flock from real threats, but enough judgment to know that you are not a threat and respects you. To me, that sounds like the perfect rooster for a household with respectful adults and children over 6-10 years old. He might not do as well in a household where the people were not respectful of him (there are some people that just bring out the aggression in animals, and others that innately calm them), or in a household with small children who wouldn't be able to be above him in the pecking order. Big George sounds like a well balanced, wonderful rooster who is in the right circumstance to bring out the best in him.