Dealing with aggressive rooster

[John Roth]

Aggressive roosters aren't bad roosters. Just are to people's point of view. They are really just protecting their ladies, they're doing their job. If they see a dog, they see a predator/competition even you. Just put some consideration before sending him to the pot. I've had several aggressive roosters and have managed just fine. You don't need to fear them. They are really just being a really good rooster. It's just like a really "mean" mother hen and her babies. She is just being a good mother.

 

[John Roth]

Just gets annoying when everybody says. Get rid of him! Kill it! Make it dinner! You guys need to realize that they aren't senseless evil creatures. They are just a good rooster doing his job. And when/if they pass it down. Those offspring of roosters will also be great fearless roosters. Doing what they were suppose to do.

 

[John Roth]

One time a hawk came down and grabbed one of my hens. And my "aggressive" rooster didn't run away. He ran to the hawk. And he rammed it! The hawk was so stunned and flew off. That's a pro of "aggressive" roosters.

 

[chicken pickin]

One time a hawk came down and grabbed one of my hens. And my "aggressive" rooster didn't run away. He ran to the hawk. And he rammed it! The hawk was so stunned and flew off. That's a pro of "aggressive" roosters.

Well behaved, people friendly cocks will treat his hens well and respect the space of people AND can still know the difference of actual potential danger and act when needed.

I only keep behaved males around my yard. PERIOD. I have children, nieces and nephews, company comes over all too often, we also have dogs, goats etc. My males respect our space and seemingly know that we are not the threat, they step out of our way when we walk through and they never look at us with "that look" in their eye. They will sometimes hang around us and they always stay close to their hens. They are very aware of where each hen is and they will walk from area to area to check on them, if a hen makes an odd call he will fly like a bat out of hell to protect them. A hawk flew down in my yard a few weeks back, the hawk left with nothing because the cock was close.

Another behaved male of mine a little while back, I found him a little bloody and missing a spur, I assume he had a battle with wild life, each and ever hen was accounted for that night.

A good male bird does not need to be aggressive . An aggressive male can potentially be dangerous and here at my house they make fine dinners.

You can keep your aggressive males, Ill keep the kind I described above

 

[Folly's place]

My first rooster, a little bantam, was a total jerk! He finally met his (well deserved!) end, and I learned. Any bird who thinks that a huge human who brings food every day is another rooster to challenge, is a total idiot, and shouldn't reproduce himself. I have zero tolerance for human aggressive cock birds in my flock, and life is much better for everyone. Mary

 

[CochinLover1]

One way to prevent future quarrels with roosters is never let them mate in front of you. If you see them mounting a hen, push them off. This is a dominance thing. If you have more than one rooster, you will observe that one is dominant and pushes the other off a hen if the other isn't dominant. He is telling you that he's dominant. So doing this will help establish that your the dominant too and those are your hens and he has no authority over you. Even do this with a friendly rooster you like. This will help him stay friendly.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I've found amazing Buckeyes, Speckled Sussex, Javas, Delawares, multiple varieties of turkeys, etc, from private breeders for little more than you'd pay from a hatchery. It took a long time to find the right breeders, and a few false starts, but they're out there. Some only sell started trios, but lots of them sell hatching eggs or day old chicks. I recently ordered 20 Speckled Sussex chicks from an excellent breeder. They were $7 each, only $15 for shipping, and he sent 24 in case a few didn't make it during shipping. They all lived and are incredibly vigorous. They were toe punched to identify the 4 different breeding pens they were hatched from, so I have the opportunity to continue line breeding, or to mix the established lines to create a new line if desired. At 16 weeks the pullets are already 5 pounds and the cockerels are over 6 pounds, and not nearly filled out yet. They aren't all breeding quality, but even the best breeders don't produce 100% breeding quality offspring. Yes, these are straight run chicks (as hatched, instead of ordering specifically males or females), and I ended up with 8 pullets and 16 cockerels, but that's actually perfect. I'll keep the 8 pullets, and still have a large number of cockerels to choose my 2-4 roosters from, leaving 12-14 delicious HUGE cockerels for the freezer. That's a whole lot better than the SS I ordered from a hatchery years ago. The 5 SS chicks (along with several other breeds, for a total of 25 for shipping) that I ordered didn't do well. Of the 5 SS chicks, 2 died in shipping. The 3 that lived were 2 cockerels and one pullet. The one pullet only reached 4.5 pounds, and laid a huge number of large eggs, as productive as a Leghorn. Unfortunately, that level of production couldn't be sustained by this breed, and she died when she was 11 months old from a liver rupture, common in hens that are undersized and lay excessive numbers of eggs. One of the cockerels was so poor quality that he had the body of a gamecock, and was so mean that he couldn't be kept with his flockmates after 3 months of age because he was causing serious injuries to innocent birds. He was slaughtered as soon as he was 4 pounds, which took 7 months! The last cockerel was a very beautiful and sweet boy, until he reached sexual maturity and started attacking everything -- hens, turkeys, people, dogs, cats, fence posts, etc. That's not that uncommon, but is still a fault in a rooster of a calm breed, IMO. The last straw was when he rushed a blind pet turkey hen while she was eating and flogged her in the face!! She was terrified to eat for the next three days. After that, he went into an isolation pen and was put on the finishing diet. I'm not saying that none of the breeder's cockerels will become unacceptably mean -- chances are a few of them will. But at least these most of these birds will have appropriate temperaments, and so far look and grow like a Speckled Sussex.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Aggressive roosters aren't bad roosters. Just are to people's point of view. They are really just protecting their ladies, they're doing their job. If they see a dog, they see a predator/competition even you. Just put some consideration before sending him to the pot. I've had several aggressive roosters and have managed just fine. You don't need to fear them. They are really just being a really good rooster. It's just like a really "mean" mother hen and her babies. She is just being a good mother.

Well, yes and no. I agree, it is the job of a rooster to protect his hens, to fight to the death to keep his hens safe, so he has to have that drive inside him. I always give a rooster the benefit of the doubt if he attacks because he thinks I might be hurting, scaring, or threatening a hen if I am handling her. BUT, he also needs to have enough judgment to determine the difference between a real threat and a child, or his flock's caretaker, or a sweet blind turkey hen happily eating at her feeder. Any rooster that is enthusiastic about doing the first part of his job but isn't capable of doing the second part of his job isn't doing his job, period. Imagine the consequences a driver that knew how to press the gas pedal but not the brake pedal, or a surgeon that knew how to make the incision but not how to suture it closed, or a marine sniper who knew how to pull the trigger, but didn't have the judgment to know who to shoot. It's no different. Jails and death rows are full of people who have the drive to do something without the judgment to control that drive. Any rooster who can't distinguish the difference in threat level between a coyote and a child is defective, and has no place in a family flock.

The broody hen that is protecting her chicks is different. Anyone who doesn't know how to handle the chicks properly can be a threat, and a hen that is properly protecting her chicks won't let ANYONE near them until she trusts that person. I can handle the chicks of any of my broodies at any time. I have put in the time and worked hard to earn that trust. But until she knows that the person with her chicks will not hurt them, she has a responsibility to keep that person away. But chicks are much more vulnerable than a flock of hens, and the rules of nature for protecting infants are completely different than the rules of a mate protecting his females.

 

[chickenpatch]

Everyone is saying "Kill him!" "Cook him!" "Eat him!"

Most people don't realise that you can actually tame an aggressive rooster! Especially silkies.... I've been taming and re-homing roosters for years now and I know it's definitely possible, you have a %80 of becoming the boss of your rooster, and there are no broken bones or aggressive actions involved.

When he attacks you, DO NOT kick him back or RUN away! This only provokes roosters and makes their nature more aggressive...
Next time he has a go at you, simply pick him up and hold him tight until he stops struggling, then do a few chicken chores for about 2 minutes with him and only then can you let him go. If he tries attacking once you put him down then pick him up again. Do it as many times as you need to.

Most aggressive roosters absolutely hate being picked up, although it may take a bit of patience and a few days to start working, it's worth it. The rule is not to try and friend him (It could work though, two birds with one stone) but to rule him. Don't avoid standing next to him and don't make it obvious that you're frightened of him. Walk up to him, walk closely past him and hold hens while he's watching you. DON'T SHOW ANY FEAR!

Kicking puts him in stress and danger, making him more alert and aggressive. While just running away makes him think that he's winning, and he'll keep doing it.
Picking him up and holding him makes him helpless, and luckily since he's such a small breed, he shouldn't be able to hurt you that much.

Try this and see if it starts working after a week or so... Mind you, you need to do it every day and patience is required.

 

[Belle7]

Take it to the butcher or show him who's bose with a broom then he will think of you as the dominate one not joking and he will probably try to challenge you again after a week.