Crazy mean cockerel

[azygous]

Let me tell you the true story of a little SLW cockerel who needed to be re-homed because he was too aggressive.

I raised Walter from a day-old chick, and when he was five weeks old he went to live, along with five SLW pullets, with my friend's flock. When he got to the age of yours, around five months, he suddenly became very aggressive towards my friend and overly "attentive" to the pullets and hens, making some of the older hens nervous wrecks. So my friend decided he needed to get rid of him.

He asked around but couldn't find anyone who wanted him, so he phoned the local animal rescue and they said they'd try to find him a home. So next day my friend headed to town to turn Walter over to the shelter. On the way he stopped by the lumber yard for some building supplies and mentioned to one of the yard hands that he was on his way to the shelter with a rooster. "Oh! Can I have him?", said the boy. So my friend said, "You aren't planning to eat him, are you?" "Oh no!", said the boy. So my friend said, "Sure! You can have him!"

Some weeks passed and my friend made a trip to the lumber yard for more building supplies, since that is is trade. He found the boy who had taken Walter off his hands and asked him how Walter was doing. He was very surprised to learn what had become of our little roo.

Walter is now a house pet. He plays outdoors during the day with a small dog and a goat, and at night, he comes indoors to watch TV with the family from the back of the couch. When the family goes to bed, Walter goes to roost on a file cabinet. When morning comes, he goes outdoors again to spend the day.

With no hens to trigger his hormones, he's become a very docile little rooster, and at one-year of age, he will only continue to get more so.

So, there are other options than eating an aggressive roo.

 

[Bethel3330]

Right, but how likely is that? It's a neat story though.

If I called our shelter with such a request I'd be laughed out of town. Granted, they'd have to take him. But I'm in 4-H country. People here keep chickens as livestock, not pets. And for those of us that keep them as dual purpose, well, that's one of their purposes...
I'm fine with people having house chickens. It's cute. Just don't know where I'd ever find one.

If the OP is absolutely opposed to eating one or letting someone else do so, fine, but I'll never understand people who have so many objections to someone else processing animals we keep for food then them going to the store and buying one, that was raised in inhumane and filthy conditions btw...
If that's not you, cool. But if you do eat chicken, whatever the source, then please consider that we raise them, feed them...why should we not get some use out of them?

 

[azygous]

I'm simply pointing out there are options, plural. Admittedly, it's not likely a rooster will be snapped up like this by a willing party. But I also live in "4-H country", and most livestock here is raised for the market. Yet there are still people to be found who have a soft spot in their hearts for an individual unit of live "food" and are prepared to give it a good home.

Roosters, unknown to most people, I would venture to guess, are very intelligent creatures. Absent hens, their hormones tend to settle down in a very short time, and they can become pets, albeit not house pets very often, that can be trained to poop on a paper, answer and come to their name, and follow simple commands, all while being completely trustworthy to be well-behaved and non-aggressive. But the key here is absence of hens. It's the combination of the presence of hens and the first adolescent rush of hormones that make cockerels "crazy mean". Remove the hens from the picture and give the little roo about six months, and almost every time, he'll become docile again.

But if you are so inclined, by all means eat him if that is your choice in the matter. It's certainly your right.

 

[Bethel3330]

I'm not the OP, so it's not my cockerel we're discussing...but option and viable option are two different things. People can certainly try but if your story is true it was just dumb luck. He was actually going to take a chicken to an animal shelter, which has become a huge problem in some parts of the country.
My husband pointed out it's very likely your friend got snowed and Walter went in the oven while the guys at the lumber yard had a good laugh about it, but that's us being cynical.

Thanks for the info. I'm a biologist so I know how hormones work But for those who don't know and maybe don't want hens for eggs, they can make a home for roos they want to keep and that'll help.

 

[azygous]

I got an update on Walter the house rooster today.

I was at the lumber yard and I looked up the young man who adopted Walter. I had not met him before so I introduced myself. He was happy to meet the person who had raised his rooster from a day-old chick, and he raved about how much he and the family loves Walter. It seems Walter is well behaved with everyone but the wife. Walter hasn't flogged anyone, but he does do the obnoxious "dance" and is very intimidating.

I instructed him on how to have his wife gain dominance over Walter, and maybe prevent him from taking it to the next level and flogging her. He was surprised it was as simple as pushing the roo to the ground and pinning him down until he relaxes. I also told him how to removed Walter's spurs with pliers after they get a bit longer.

I told him about BYC and he said he'd register and come on with some photos of Walter.

So, no, it isn't some cruel cynical joke about the story of Walter. It's summer now, and Walter is sleeping in the dog house out in the yard with the family dog, the two being inseparable. When winter rolls in again, Walter will go back to his little perch on top the file cabinet in the house. Yes, he's trained to poop only in that one spot.

You really can't make this stuff up.

 

[Clayglen]

Well I did it and now feel bad...found the cockerel a good farm home and the first evening he's gone a neighbors dog attacks one of my hens. Would that have happened if the rooster was around ??? He'll have a happy barn yard life I'm sure and hopefully my hen will recover. She's mire or less in shock I guess...just sitting quietly.