First Time Ever...Cockeral Came At Me

[PamB]

I have a 7 month old silkie cockeral. He has never tried to come after anyone. Today, I went out to take pictures of him so I was following him around. I had just touched his tail and reached again to pet him. He flew up at me (he doesn't fly well, so it was only a few inches off the ground). I pushed him with my foot and he flew up one more time. I pushed him harder with my foot and he ran away. Then I followed him around, making him walk away from me. After that, I sat and took some more pictures and he was pretty much ignoring me. Did I handle that correctly? Was there anything else I should have done (in case he tries it again)? I don't know if I just made him overly nervous because I don't normally follow him around like that. He seems to keep his distance from us usually, but will come to eat out of our hands when we have treats.

 

[nivtup]

And so it begins.

Good luck, he will probably be a pill going forward.

 

[PamB]

Quote:
Great! I went back out and gave them their daily bread treat and he acted like usual. Came to eat, didn't bother with me at all. I knocked some ice off the top of the run and spent some time doing stuff around the run and he acted normal. I hope that I just freaked him out...I guess we'll see. I hate to give him up because he has been a good boy up until now, but if this is a new habit for him, he will get rehomed.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Two things. First, he's coming of age and his hormones will make him far different than he was in the past. That's nature.
Second, re-homing is merely passing the buck on a bad rooster. Responsible owners take them out. This is premature perhaps. Maybe he did freak because you touched him. But he's given you warning and you need to watch him at all times.

 

[jen5680]

Maybe you just surprised him or something and he jumped at you not knowing it was really you???
Good luck and hope he doesn't do it again!!

 

[PamB]

If I rehomed him, I would be very honest about his nature. It may make me "irresponsible" but I cannot take him out. I would rehome him to a home that knew exactly how he was (if it had to come to that) or I would find a way to handle him. He is in a run, so he can't just attack me when I'm out in the yard and I'm not afraid of him. He is a silkie and he's small. However, it is my child that I would be concerned about. I was just wondering if I did the right thing in my response to him or if I should have done more. I'll just have to keep an eye on him.

 

[jeremy]

I've only had one rooster that was every people aggressive, he has since been rehomed because he just couldn't understand that he wasn't suppose to jump at children... I did make sure to tell the folks he went to live with about his problem around small children and that he would make an excellent table bird, due to the fact that he was a dual purpose breed.

If your rooster isn't overly aggressive, just skittish or trying to exert his dominance over you I've found the best solution is to catch the boy and carry him around while your outside in "his domain". Exerting a little force over him, letting him know YOU are boss and that they are YOUR hens can be easily done. I always feel bad after toting them around for awhile though, because they walk away with this defeated look...

It's always worked for me, hope I helped!

 

[easttxchick]

He may come at you again, he may not.
Rule of thumb here is this, the very first time I get so much as a wing drop-they get a backhand. Not enough to do any damage, but hard enough to make them get the point.
So far, it's worked.
Hopefully your boy was just testing you.

 

[PamB]

Quote:
That is what I am hoping. Like I said, I followed him around for a while taking pictures and I did reach out to him when he was kind of turned away from me, so it may have been a surprise to him and a "reaction" move. He has NEVER came at me or anyone, meaning if you are just standing or sitting there, he has never came running toward me. Normally, his nature is that if we walk toward him, he runs away. When I went out there a few minutes ago, he was acting like his old self.

 

[jaj121159]

I had a Welsummer roo do that a couple of times the second time he got boot leather. The third time he got his hackles up he looked up and saw it was me and backed off. He also had a bunch of co-habitating roosters at the time. He's one of three I kept, because he was the best looking of the bunch. Since I put a crimp in the boy's club and a boot up his nose, he's been pretty good.