Do all sweet cockerels turn into jerk roosters?

[Chuckenman]

Basically i have 3 cockerels, an Australorp, a mix of three breeds and a leghorn. The mixed breed one goes about doing his own thing the leghorn one is very shy never comes too much close to humans but the Australorp is so sweet. Whenever i come to open em he rams in the coop door trying to open it. Then he follows me around until i give him food and water. As soon as i sit on a chair he jumps on my lap and just hangs around there. He pecks a little bit but nothing too seriously. Now my grandma came a few days ago and she saw how i treated the roo. She's raised a lotta chickens before and told me to not treat the rooster like that or he'll peck everyone when he grows up. She said "treat the roo like a chicken and your hens like your cat and dog. Don't show love to the roo or else he'll be peckish and peck everyone." She said "i used to have a roo and i loved him but he grew up to bite everyone and even bled me one time by pecking"
Is this all true? Can i really not show love to the little guy? Seriously that little dude is so cute. I havent pet the dude in 2 days now and whenever he jumps on my lap i push him away. Tbh i feel bad for doing that. Is it guaranteed he'll turn the way my grandma said?

 

[Lady Clucks-a-Lot]

It MAY be, well, chickens are just like a kid, right? You love him too much, you give him everything he wants doesn't stop his bad behave, he grows up, he takes nothing seriously, thinks he is the center of the world, so, possibly/probably true. Yeah, you Grandma's probably right.

 

[Chuckenman]

It MAY be, well, chickens are just like a kid, right? You love him too much, you give him everything he wants doesn't stop his bad behave, he grows up, he takes nothing seriously, thinks he is the center of the world, so, possibly/probably true. Yeah, you Grandma's probably right.

Thing is she said i can show love to hens but not roos whys that?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thing is she said i can show love to hens but not roos whys that?

Because it's likely to make the male think you're subordinate to him. Petting a bird is much like preening, which usually hens do to a rooster that's in charge of them. By petting, especially often, you're sending signals that he's higher than you.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

But no, not every sweet male will become aggressive. I have several that I would consider sweet that have yet to give warning signs and some are quite old now

 

[Chuckenman]

Oh i suppose ill have to throw the petting habit away haha

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Basically i have 3 cockerels, an Australorp, a mix of three breeds and a leghorn. The mixed breed one goes about doing his own thing the leghorn one is very shy never comes too much close to humans but the Australorp is so sweet. Whenever i come to open em he rams in the coop door trying to open it. Then he follows me around until i give him food and water. As soon as i sit on a chair he jumps on my lap and just hangs around there. He pecks a little bit but nothing too seriously. Now my grandma came a few days ago and she saw how i treated the roo. She's raised a lotta chickens before and told me to not treat the rooster like that or he'll peck everyone when he grows up. She said "treat the roo like a chicken and your hens like your cat and dog. Don't show love to the roo or else he'll be peckish and peck everyone." She said "i used to have a roo and i loved him but he grew up to bite everyone and even bled me one time by pecking"
Is this all true? Can i really not show love to the little guy? Seriously that little dude is so cute. I havent pet the dude in 2 days now and whenever he jumps on my lap i push him away. Tbh i feel bad for doing that. Is it guaranteed he'll turn the way my grandma said?

It’s not a guarantee at all. Though you should discourage pecking, even if it is just an “I want food” peck.
Personally, I used to have a rooster who followed me around and flew up besides me so I could give him chest rubs. He never pecked, spurred, or bit anybody, and was more than 2 years old when he died. Though I have no idea how he was raised, as he was a rescue.

 

[nuthatched]

Friendly to people can be bold, semi aggressive and fearless to chickens, not something you want to encourage with something with strong protection instincts and powered by hormones.
There's no hard and fast rule though, chickens are individuals.

 

[room onthebroom]

Is it guaranteed he'll turn the way my grandma said?

No, not necessarily. All birds are different. I get the “treat the rooster different” theory & we try to abide by it, but some roosters are just inherently sweet birds. We have a giant rooster right now who is a lap bird. We’ve had others that were definitely not lap birds. We’ve had one that was downright aggressive. There are no guarantees either way.

 

[CNJ]

Your grand ma maybe onto something, I had one that I use to handle a lot thinking it would keep him tamed, but he grew up crazy. I can relate to this thread because I hardly handled my new rooster and he doesn't attack me like the crazy one. He's kind of cool, I can walk pass him with out being challenged. He's kind of afraid of me, I don't bother him and he doesn't bother me.