First Rooster Experience- Advice

[SamLockwood]

This is my first time owning chickens. We have 3 hens a surprise black sex link rooster (got in the barred rock bin at TSC). We actually had another rooster (same bin) who got taken by a hawk at about 11 weeks. They are all 6 months old and two are laying. . . and 4 more chicks in a brooder, getting ready to be added to the flock.

As someone who is new to this, the rooster thing has been tough. He's pretty good with me and the hens. He takes care of them and isn't rough. He's jumped on my back (not hurt me) when I turned around, and tried to jump on me in the garden once.

HOWEVER, he always charges my 11 year old. My son is now terrified to go in the yard if the birds are out. He flew at my husband and scratched his leg quite deeply. Worst, I think, my dogs are terrified to go outside because if the rooster sees them, he attacks, he's pecked them, jumped on them, chases them, and they are small dogs (about the same size as the rooster) and terrified.

It's kind of ironic because I was so worried the dogs would be aggressive to the chickens, but it's the other way around, who knew.

I have already decided we are just not ready to have a rooster. I am disappointed because 1) we have a lot of predators, and he is tough and intimidating. He's a big guy, and in this case it's been both good and bad. 2) I am worried about the adding of our new chicks in a few weeks because we won't have a rooster to keep the peace. I am also sad because I found someone who is taking the rooster but I suspect it's probably just for dinner.

I'll take any advice on adding 4 eight week old hens to a group of 3 7 month old hens. I've read about it, but just worried since we won't have a rooter.

My husband (who was raised with chickens and other livestock) keeps reassuring me--I gave the rooster a great life for 6 months, everything will be more peaceful when he's gone, etc. But this sucks.

It sucks but it comes with the territory with chickens.

I have lots of advice if you have a rooster that's borderline aggressive but if he's already attacking you I've got nothing to offer.

Roosters can be good ambassadors but you can smooth things over with integration with the "look but don't touch" method: try and set something up where the newcomers and the old-timers can see each other but can't physically interact: set up a separate coop or a wire divider in your coop / run setup. The idea is they can see each other but can't physically interact.

Watch the aggression across the wire. When it tones down, you ca start letting them physically interact.

Start with short visits: a hour or two before dusk. If they more or less behave themselves extend the physical interaction an hour or two on the next day.

Note that some pecking / chasing / feather-pulling is normal. As long as they're not doing serious damage to each other it's just a normal part of establishing the "pecking order" with chickens.

I prefer to let my birds choose when they move into the "big house" with the main flock on their own.

 

[red horse ranch]

I have a 5 month old Cream Legbar rooster and he decided to challenge me a few weeks ago. It was the 1st time he had shown any aggression at all. Without thinking I kicked him in the chest (not hard enough to hurt him) and he went flying like a football, crying all the way. He has shown respect and never gotten close to me since. It only hurt his pride. Hopefully that put an end to his aggression!

 

[2 Acres]

This is my first time owning chickens. We have 3 hens a surprise black sex link rooster (got in the barred rock bin at TSC). We actually had another rooster (same bin) who got taken by a hawk at about 11 weeks. They are all 6 months old and two are laying. . . and 4 more chicks in a brooder, getting ready to be added to the flock.

As someone who is new to this, the rooster thing has been tough. He's pretty good with me and the hens. He takes care of them and isn't rough. He's jumped on my back (not hurt me) when I turned around, and tried to jump on me in the garden once.

HOWEVER, he always charges my 11 year old. My son is now terrified to go in the yard if the birds are out. He flew at my husband and scratched his leg quite deeply. Worst, I think, my dogs are terrified to go outside because if the rooster sees them, he attacks, he's pecked them, jumped on them, chases them, and they are small dogs (about the same size as the rooster) and terrified.

It's kind of ironic because I was so worried the dogs would be aggressive to the chickens, but it's the other way around, who knew.

I have already decided we are just not ready to have a rooster. I am disappointed because 1) we have a lot of predators, and he is tough and intimidating. He's a big guy, and in this case it's been both good and bad. 2) I am worried about the adding of our new chicks in a few weeks because we won't have a rooster to keep the peace. I am also sad because I found someone who is taking the rooster but I suspect it's probably just for dinner.

I'll take any advice on adding 4 eight week old hens to a group of 3 7 month old hens. I've read about it, but just worried since we won't have a rooter.

My husband (who was raised with chickens and other livestock) keeps reassuring me--I gave the rooster a great life for 6 months, everything will be more peaceful when he's gone, etc. But this sucks.

I think your rooster sees your son as competition. Especially if he's wearing brightly colored clothes.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

I think your rooster sees your son as competition. Especially if he's wearing brightly colored clothes.

Clothing is irrelevant to a good rooster. Someone should be able to dress like a clown and dance with the flock and not get attacked. Human aggression is inexcusable

 

[FrostRanger]

Clothing is irrelevant to a good rooster. Someone should be able to dress like a clown and dance with the flock and not get attacked. Human aggression is inexcusable

Indeed,chickens may not be the smartest birds, but they aren't stupid either. My girls know it's me no matter what I'm wearing. I'm not letting a bird dictate how I dress

 

[Ridgerunner]

Clothing is irrelevant to a good rooster. Someone should be able to dress like a clown and dance with the flock and not get attacked.

I'm going to partially disagree with this. There are several stories on here where a normally good rooster would attack if someone wore something different than normal. A few of those stories have been about footwear as when someone showed up in floppy rainboots instead of their normal footwear and the rooster attacked. Go back to normal footwear and the attacks ceased. Or the woman that typically wore shorts or pants and showed up wearing a dress. These are mostly "cute" stories where you know what triggered him.

To me, this story is different. A man had a great rooster that free ranged with his flock and everything was great. No aggression to anybody at all. Then one day the rooster started attacking his 5-year-old son. If that rooster saw that boy a long way off he would go after him. No one else, just that boy. It turned out the boy was chasing the hens. His parents thought it was so cute when he chased them and encouraged the boy to chase them. The rooster did not think it was cute. As a good rooster should he protected his flock.

I totally agree once that rooster decided that boy was a danger to his flock the rooster had to go. That one is clearcut, no choice. I've never been faced with it but if one started attacking certain clothing he'd probably go. You never know who may show up as a guest and how they might be dressed.

I had one rooster that would attack one specific chicken sitter but not a different sitter. I think that was because the first sitter was afraid of him and the other wasn't so he treated them differently. That rooster was replaced.

Human aggression is inexcusable

I'm not arguing with this. Chickens are not more important than people. If people are at risk they have to be protected.

I'm not going to let chickens dictate how I dress either. And I need to be able to work with the flock whether the rooster is around or not. If I have a need to do something I do it. If that included handling a hen or chick while he is around so be it.

But if I can, I first isolate the rooster so I don't put a lot of pressure on him to protect his flock from me. Maybe lock him in the coop while I deal with the others. Or if I am going through the entire flock I put them all into the coop where they are easier to catch during the day anyway and make sure he is the first one I catch and toss outside. To me this is a reasonable precaution to not help him become human aggressive. I do believe our actions can have consequences. I do not walk around on pins and needles and give way to him. That could be perceived as a weakness and invite attack.

To me this is a hard post to write. It involves a lot of opinion and judgment. I don't treat my chickens the same as I do my dogs. I don't train my dogs to viciously attack people. I try to not train my roosters to attack either. But if either do become that way I deal with the situation. I've never had to with a dog.

 

[CoopBoots]

Clothing is irrelevant to a good rooster. Someone should be able to dress like a clown and dance with the flock and not get attacked. Human aggression is inexcusable

Not gonna lie, if someone does that with my flock even I'm going to be scared and probably arm myself/call the cops I'm already impressed that my rooster allows the giant pink Bigfoot to steal his eggs and pick up his kids and wives... I don't think a little consideration for non scary clothing is really an extreme adaptation. My chickens have already adapted a lot for me, after all!

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

When I was a kid we always had a couple mean roosters. We had 60 - 70 birds for a while so we always had a couple roosters. If one was mean we would just kick him when ever he got within range. After a while he would get the message. Roosters fight with each other naturally. One will loose and the other will win. The same can be applied to a mean bird. It sounds mean but if you're already gonna make a meal out of him you have nothing to lose. Just whoop him and he'll be good. Admittedly its not a guarantee but its a idea.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

I'm going to partially disagree with this. There are several stories on here where a normally good rooster would attack if someone wore something different than normal. A few of those stories have been about footwear as when someone showed up in floppy rainboots instead of their normal footwear and the rooster attacked. Go back to normal footwear and the attacks ceased. Or the woman that typically wore shorts or pants and showed up wearing a dress. These are mostly "cute" stories where you know what triggered him.

I've had a variety of roosters over the years and my wife had a pair of bright green water boots for using in the swamp. One rooster attacked her multiple times, specifically attacking her boots, and only ever this very specific pair of boots

No other rooster ever assaulted her over the green boots

I suspect there's a very wide range of intelligence and confidence in chicken breeds, just as there is with dog breeds. A stupid, insecure rooster will attack odd clothing items that a more intelligent and/or self-confident rooster would entirely ignore

 

[2 Acres]

Clothing is irrelevant to a good rooster. Someone should be able to dress like a clown and dance with the flock and not get attacked. Human aggression is inexcusable

Then try having your son dance around in not so brightly colored clothes and see what happens.

I work construction (nights). and have been struggling to get my girls (and Roo) into the coop before I leave for work.


This is also the same time I feed them, to tide them over until I get back home. It's been a struggle some times, and other times they cooperate.

As I dealt with this... I have realized that the color of the shirt I wear may affect my birds behavior. (military brown... or bright safety green).

Humor me and try it.