cockerel already starting to feel his oats!...questions

[showjumper_girl2002]

I'm still guessing  what breed your cockerel is. A Maran?
Mine is a 23 week old California Grey and has 1/4" stubs. He's testing my reactions and tries to rush me when I'm not paying attention or my back is turned. He's quick on the draw, lol.  I just turn around slowly reach down from above and he moves away. If I reach at his level, he takes it as a challenge. I don't yell or move quickly. Sometimes I'll walk toward him if he's challenging me and speak in a gentle tone. Bribing him to see the benefits of some scratch in my hand turns the aggression off. Like I said, catching him and picking him up shows your dominance in a gentle way. Years ago I had a big Araucana rooster. He was very brutal to the hens. I witnessed him pecking his hens in the skull while mounting them. Not just a few times, but as if he were trying to kill them. I stopped it, and later found a hen with half her comb torn off. So Mr. Araucana was dispatched to the next dimension. The hen recovered. I can accept a human-aggressive rooster and deal with that, but not one that will injure hens.

He's most likely mixed. The dad was a black copper Maron but he has a harem of multiple breeds of hens lol so not sure what the hen was. It is possible that he's full Maron because there are a couple black Maron hens with the rooster.

 

[LTygress]

I have a bantam frizzle roo that was aggressive when I got him. I have almost no fear of being hurt by chickens or roosters, so one day he started to come at me and I stuck my foot out at him. I didn't hit him - nor intend to - I just wanted to invade his space. He grabbed the top of my foot and bit pretty darn hard! Meanwhile he kicked the rest of my foot really hard as though "beating" it. But when he grabbed and kicked, I didn't move. I left my foot right in the same spot. Sure, I ended up with a nasty bruise from the bite, but he learned that I don't back down. Since then, he has NEVER run up on me.

The problem however, was my nieces and nephews. They don't have the same lack of fear. So when he chased them, they ran! he was essentially rewarded for his behavior - he got what he wanted! I tried working with them, but it never worked.

The GOOD news is, he calmed down once he was actually allowed to mate with the hens. However, because of his past aggressive nature, once I get some actual frizzle offspring from him, he'll be put up for adoption.

 

[Michael Apple]

He's most likely mixed. The dad was a black copper Maron but he has a harem of multiple breeds of hens lol so not sure what the hen was. It is possible that he's full Maron because there are a couple black Maron hens with the rooster.

Gotcha. I knew I saw some Maran there. Nice looking rooster. I've had Marans and they are a top breed. They are more aloof than some others. I had a very gentle Cuckoo Marans who almost sacrificed himself to a bobcat to protect his hens. He was wounded but I nursed him back with no terminal injuries. I'll never forget that rooster, or the Dominique, Wyandotte, and Plymouth Rock roosters and hens I've had. They all have their own distinct character.