Do I need to take action now? Is it certain my rooster will be mean?

[lisahaschickens]

Hello all,

I am a first-time chicken owner and my 15 chicks are now just over 10 weeks old. I have four roosters (I will be getting rid of two) right now. One has always been ahead of the game - he started crowing at 8 weeks old and at 9.5 weeks, he started courting and trying to mount the pullets (only occasionally).

Anyway, I have been blogging about my experience (link in my signature) and I got a comment today from a lady who said that I should beware of my cockerel that is crowing and displaying mating behavior already. She says that since he's doing when I'm around, it means that he thinks he's in charge of me and will become aggressive/dangerous. Is that a sure thing? Right now, he is head-honcho in the coop, but he's quite scared of me. He likes to hang out near me but squeaks and runs away in terror if I even put my hand out to touch him. I cannot even pet him. He has never acted aggressively toward me. Is it only a matter of time? I have a breeder who wants him if I don't keep him, but I'd like to keep him and get rid of two other ones (one of whom is actually kind of mean and annoying).

The commenter on my blog said that I need to pick him up and carry him around with me to teach him that I am in charge and to bond him to me. I have read about doing that with aggressive roosters, but my guy is afraid of my hand! I couldn't catch him to pick him up if I tried! Please let me know if I need to do this, and if so, is there a way to easily catch him in order to carry him around?

Thanks for any thoughts and advice

 

[lisahaschickens]

no one has any thoughts? Did I post this in the wrong place or maybe I have a bad title... I'm not so good at coming up with titles...

 

[Chickenmaven]

You could catch him with a fishing nest if you feel you must. I have a rooster that gets fiesty every once in awhile. I just give him a little love tap with the toe of my boot.

 

[farmerlor]

I don't think early crowing has anything to do with aggression in roos but I guess I could be wrong. I would see if I could snag him once in awhile and carry him around and pet him and give him a special treat or two just to bond with him and teach him that you are head honcho, not him. My roo always crowed while I was around, mostly because we'd get into crowing contests but he never even thought about getting mean toward me.

 

[lisahaschickens]

What about the mating behavior? Is that a sign that he thinks he's dominant over me?

I honestly don't think I have a problem. As long as he runs away from my touch, it doesn't seem like he could think he's in charge of me, right? I have grown up with and always had big dogs and I know about acting like I'm in charge... I feel like I would recognize the signs if there were any. But since I'm new to chickens, I just thought I would get some other opinions since I got that comment on my blog.

I will try to catch and hold him just for the heck of it. When my parents came for a visit, my dad caught him a couple of times and BOY does he SCREAM when you hold him. He really doesn't like it. He likes to hang out at my feet and generally near me, but he does NOT want to be touched!

 

[gritsar]

Lisa, I sent you a PM. If you have 15 chickens and 4 of them are cockerels you might want to consider giving up 3 cockerels. Two roosters for 11 hens means the hens are going to be putting up with an awful lot of mating.

 

[jenni2142]

I have a sebright rooster who is confused about the meaning behind the rooster dance. He comes close and does it when he wants me to pick him up, he then bows his head for comb kisses and sometimes rubs his comb on the underside of my chin. It took me awhile to figure out what he meant by it, my first thought was aggression. The longer I take to give him what he wants the faster he dances and the fluffier he gets, like a toddler with their arms lifted. I have(his father) and have had other roosters and not one has ever danced for me. I have one now that used to use it with the hens for mating and now uses it only for "go over there". maybe someone else would know, is there more than one meaning behind the rooster dance?

 

[lisahaschickens]

I was really just looking to find out if anyone thinks that my rooster is acting like he'll turn aggressive. Right now he is perfectly fine and nowhere near aggressive. I was just wondering if his behavior is a sign of the future, as the one person told me. I can handle making myself seem more dominant if need be.

Also, I have three chicken books and they all say that two roosters and 11 hens would be just fine... in fact, my Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens says that if I have only one rooster and more than 6 hens, some will get ignored by him, so two roosters is better in my situation. My other two books say similar things...

 

[WriterofWords]

Roos are just like people, they have their own personalities. Some people are more aggressive and some roos are too. I have a ton of roos, way to many, but I have no problems with any of them showing aggression towards me. Right after we got Popcorn home he tried to bully me, he's a fully grown white leghorn roo, big guy,, I chased him around until the almost fainted, picked up up and carried him like football. Now if he gets fluffy towards me I get in his space and start asking him if he wants to dance, and he backs off.
I have personal interactions with all my roos, and I don't allow them to mate around me. I have a couple really big guys, Nugget is one, if he came after me I'd be toast, but he's gentle, loving, a real sweetheart and I've carried him around since he was born.
Just because they are roos doesn't mean they will be violent, but the more you handle them the better.

 

[Chicks R Friends NOT Food]

I don't think it necessarily means that he will be mean, but being afraid of you could also lead to fear agression. If he likes to be near your feet, put some treats down there for him to make him more comfortable around you. My baby roo (2 months now?) doesn't like to be held either but he's the one who will take food out of my hand. And the whole 2 roosters thing, I tihnk it's all up to the roosters if they get along or not.