Well it’s happened. My sweet lovable cuddly little cockerel has decided his hormones are kicking in and with it his cocky attitude.
The past week he has been making some screeching sounds I hadn’t heard him make before, almost an angry or irritated sound. Last night I was in the run scooping poop with my back to him and he came right up behind me and bit the back of my bare leg. It flipping hurt and it broke the skin! That has never happened before, nor will it happen again.
Let me tell you a bit about my handsome hormone fueled young man. Gwynnie is a 14 week old EE. When he was about 9 weeks old he became partly blind . We don’t know why, the vet I consulted didn’t feel it was Mareks. Most likely diagnosis was genetic. He seems happy and healthy otherwise. He was one of my favourites from day one, but when he went blind he definitely got special treatment, special cuddles and special treats. I didn’t teach him to respect me or my space the way I did the other rooster we had (we rehomed him, we can not accommodate 2 roosters) so now here we are.
First let me say, I know this is my fault, I let our relationship get to this point. I didn’t teach him to respect me. So now what? What to do. I found a great article on here by @Beekissed ’rooster behaviour modification’.
So armed with my rake I entered the coop today to start Gwynnie’s reform school. Since he is blind and can’t see me (much) or the rake, I had to teach him to associate the sound of it hitting the ground (or me stomping the ground) with him needing to give me space. We had one major stand off today when I started teaching him what the rake meant. I gently push him backwards with it, which he responded by attacking the rake - jumping, kicking and flapping. I let him do it and the moment he backed off I banged the ground, then gently pushed him back again. This confrontation lasted close to a minute I’d say. But eventually he backed off. I let him come out then would bang the rake near him to which he started turning and walking away. I did this several times on and off today and each time he would retreat sooner.
I feel as though I am making progress training him to respect me even though it's only been one day, but obviously this will need to be repeated over and over.
he needs to learn who is in charge of the flock and it ain’t him! I’m top hen! Inexperienced chicken newbie or not, Ive never let my 60lb pit bulls rule the roost and I’m not about to let some 4lb cock do it either!
I hope maybe my story might help some other chicken newbie who may be experiencing the same thing. Definitely check out the article I mentioned, it’s a great informative read.
Experienced chicken keepers, do you have any other words of wisdom to teach Gwynnie some manners? Remember, it can’t be visual, I have to adapt it to auditory training. Thanks!
The past week he has been making some screeching sounds I hadn’t heard him make before, almost an angry or irritated sound. Last night I was in the run scooping poop with my back to him and he came right up behind me and bit the back of my bare leg. It flipping hurt and it broke the skin! That has never happened before, nor will it happen again.
Let me tell you a bit about my handsome hormone fueled young man. Gwynnie is a 14 week old EE. When he was about 9 weeks old he became partly blind . We don’t know why, the vet I consulted didn’t feel it was Mareks. Most likely diagnosis was genetic. He seems happy and healthy otherwise. He was one of my favourites from day one, but when he went blind he definitely got special treatment, special cuddles and special treats. I didn’t teach him to respect me or my space the way I did the other rooster we had (we rehomed him, we can not accommodate 2 roosters) so now here we are.
First let me say, I know this is my fault, I let our relationship get to this point. I didn’t teach him to respect me. So now what? What to do. I found a great article on here by @Beekissed ’rooster behaviour modification’.
So armed with my rake I entered the coop today to start Gwynnie’s reform school. Since he is blind and can’t see me (much) or the rake, I had to teach him to associate the sound of it hitting the ground (or me stomping the ground) with him needing to give me space. We had one major stand off today when I started teaching him what the rake meant. I gently push him backwards with it, which he responded by attacking the rake - jumping, kicking and flapping. I let him do it and the moment he backed off I banged the ground, then gently pushed him back again. This confrontation lasted close to a minute I’d say. But eventually he backed off. I let him come out then would bang the rake near him to which he started turning and walking away. I did this several times on and off today and each time he would retreat sooner.
I feel as though I am making progress training him to respect me even though it's only been one day, but obviously this will need to be repeated over and over.
he needs to learn who is in charge of the flock and it ain’t him! I’m top hen! Inexperienced chicken newbie or not, Ive never let my 60lb pit bulls rule the roost and I’m not about to let some 4lb cock do it either!
I hope maybe my story might help some other chicken newbie who may be experiencing the same thing. Definitely check out the article I mentioned, it’s a great informative read.
Experienced chicken keepers, do you have any other words of wisdom to teach Gwynnie some manners? Remember, it can’t be visual, I have to adapt it to auditory training. Thanks!
