Catching a wild rooster

[centrarchid]

My neighbor said she'd try to get a picture, but she said it pecked her hen's head to death. He also pecked her eyes out in the process. Everybody has seen (and heard) this rooster. I can't imagine she wouldn't know a rooster from a hawk. 

Even a rooster missing it marbles would not do such. None that I have seen and I have seen a few.

 

[LauraSac]

I found this info on "rapist roosters":

"Then there are other genetic problems that no one understands. One of the worst cases was the rapist roosters. I wrote about them in Animals in Translation. Fortunately, the broiler industry has made some genetic changes to correct these problems, although there’s still a way to go. The rapist roosters violently attack hens and injure and even kill them. Before the 1990s there weren’t any rapist roosters. They just suddenly appeared out of the blue. First it was just one strain of roosters that had become aggressive but within a couple of years almost all strains had developed the same behavior. Nobody knows why.

The rapist roosters have two problems: They are hyperaggressive and they have stopped doing the courtship dance the hen needs to see before she will mate. They’ve lost the little piece of genetic code that makes them do the dance. When the hens don’t see the courtship dance, they don’t become sexually, which may make the roosters’ aggression worse. An unreceptive hen would be a form of frustration because it is a restraint on the rooster’s action. So the RAGE system would be activated to some degree.

When I wrote Animals in Translation it looked like the rapist roosters were a side effect of the industry’s selective breeding program to create chickens with bigger breasts for more white meat. But now researchers aren’t sure what caused it, or whether the hyper-aggression and the bad courtship behavior are the same problem or two different problems that happened at the same time. Industry breeding programs are trade secrets. It’s obvious the industry is selectively breeding for larger breast size because breast size is getting larger. But we don’t know what other selective breeding programs the industry might be using."

He may be trying to mate, but he kills them in the process.

 

[lightchick]

My neighbor said she'd try to get a picture, but she said it pecked her hen's head to death. He also pecked her eyes out in the process. Everybody has seen (and heard) this rooster. I can't imagine she wouldn't know a rooster from a hawk.

That sounds horrible (the pecked out eyes). I hope you can catch him soon.

 

[LauraSac]

That sounds horrible (the pecked out eyes). I hope you can catch him soon.

Thanks. I've always enjoyed him, actually. He's beautiful and with just one, he's not too noisy. But now that I have my own chickens, and learning what he's done to my neighbors' hens, he needs to go.

 

[LauraSac]

Now, another neighbor has said it killed her hen as well. She didn't see it, but this is what she said:

The rooster did kill our Pom Pom. The vet (speciallizing in live stock) said the wounds were not consistent with a small animal such as cat or rodent. She said they were that of a rooster and that the rooster typically goes for the eyes then head.

 

[lightchick]

Now, another neighbor has said it killed her hen as well. She didn't see it, but this is what she said:

The rooster did kill our Pom Pom. The vet (speciallizing in live stock) said the wounds were not consistent with a small animal such as cat or rodent. She said they were that of a rooster and that the rooster typically goes for the eyes then head.

How horrible! Their chicken was named Pom Pom? Wow sounds like a name someone would call their dog.

 

[LauraSac]

How horrible! Their chicken was named Pom Pom? Wow sounds like a name someone would call their dog.

I was thinking the same thing, but she has a 6 year old girl, and that explained the name. Makes it a little sadder, too.

 

[lightchick]

I was thinking the same thing, but she has a 6 year old girl, and that explained the name. Makes it a little sadder, too.

Yeah. it must be very sad for her 6 year old.

 

[LauraSac]

So here's the killer. Sorry I couldn't get a better shot, but my dog spooked it into a neighbor's backyard and I felt creepy enough as it is looking over the fence. I couldn't get any closer. It's in the same tree every morning, so I can take another photo tomorrow without my dog around, but I don't need confirmation that it's a rooster, just advice on catching it. I talked to my neighbor and Pom Pom was still alive when they found her, but they took her to the live stock vet to have her put to sleep. We may be an urban area, but we have UC Davis in our backyard. It's one of the country's premier ag colleges, so I trust the vet to know what he's talking about. Plus, we have the literature about aggressive roosters killing hens when attempting to mate. If it were a predator, it would attempt to eat them instead of just pecking them. It may be rare, but it's happening.

Any advice on catching would be appreciated.

 

[LauraSac]

If caught, it's likely going to one of the farm animal sanctuaries in this region. I know for a fact that aggressive roosters aren't always given that option. I was simply seeking advice from the community on catching it. This is an urban neighborhood. Roosters are illegal, and this poor fella was dumped here by somebody who didn't give a hoot about it or our neighborhood.

Thank you to everyone else who has helped me as I joined this wonderful adventure of having backyard chickens>

edited by staff