Difficult Cockerel

[jodiyorty]

Hi All. I have an ~10 month old Welsummer cockerel. He is beautiful! My husband and I can hand feed him and I can carry him around. However, he has a bad habit of chasing and attacking my husband whenever he turns his back on him. Even if my husband isn't near the hens, he will race up behind my husband and kick him in the legs and back. The cockerel is my first and I will admit that we first starting dealing with his attacks by chasing him back and getting into "fighting" matches. I realize this may have been a bad way to deal with the attitude. So far he isn't harming the hens. Any thoughts on whether or not we can retrain him? My husband has had about enough. Thanks!!!

 

[drumstick diva]

Most difficult cockerels end up swimming in a bowl of noodles. Aggressive roosters can cause a lot of damage with their beak and spurs. In my mind, there is NO reason to keep a BAD rooster. There is a glut of cockerels/roosters looking for homes. Many of them are breeding/show quality but the owners aren't allowed to keep them. Once you have 20 posts, you can participate in the BYC Buy,sell,trade forum - or Wanted to Buy ads.

Hens will lay eggs whether there is a rooster around or not. Unless you want to hatch chicks or sell "fertile" eggs - you don't need to have a rooster at all. Hens generally are happier without being pursued and harassed by them.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I agree with Drumstick Diva, you really do not need a rooster and the hens will be far better off without one around. They will lay just as well if not better because they are not being harassed.

When a rooster goes bad, he only gets worse. If he is going after people now, wait till his spurs are really long! He will do serious damage to you. So I suggest you either cull him yourself, rehome him or possibly keep him in his own bachelor quarters with no females around. Sometimes roos can calm down if there are no girls around, however not always.

Good luck with your boy and we do welcome you to our flock!

 

[sunflour]

Glad you joined us.

Good luck with retraining or rehoming the roo.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[Wyandottes7]

Welcome to BYC!

We're glad to have you.

 

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. X2 on drumstick diva and TwoCrows. There is no reason to keep an aggressive cockerel. You don't want to breed that kind of aggression into your flock or risk serious injury to someone (like an eye put out by a spur). Also, he will almost certainly become very hard physically on your hen at some point; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their backs and necks, battering them, and even potentially serious injuring them. And it is virtually impossible to break an aggressive rooster from his aggressive ways. The only reason you really need a cockerel is to fertilize eggs for hatching, and you want a gentle cockerel for that. Also too many cockerels will create the same physical risks for your hens. The recommended ratio of roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters in my flock, and I get loads of eggs without the aggression, fights, biting and plucking of feathers, crowing in the middle of the night, feeding of unproductive mouths, drop off in egg production, and over-breeding and battering of hens that goes along with having roosters (especially too many, or aggressive ones). My hens are stress free and enjoying life without a rooster. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.