Hello, this is my first post so to everyone. We have just purchased some property and I have placed an order for some chickens from McMurry. This will be my first experiance with chickens and I have been reading this site and one of the things I have noticed is the problem some are having with mean roosters. I have a ten year old son who loves animals and I am concerned about him. I love the look of roosters though and they seem to help the flock from predators and such. I won't need the rooster for fertile eggs, so I was wondering if I had a rooster fixed, would that stop him from being aggressive toward us but still keep the good qualities? If anyone has anythoughts on this, I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.
All roosters are not mean. If you hand rise one, you shoudn't have any problems with him. If one does get a little aggressive, your son can use my grand daughters method of schooling him. This can be found in one of my earlier post. I have never heard of a rooster being fixed myself. Not saying it can't be done.
I don't think you'll be able to fix a rooster. I think you'll be okay like the previous poster if your rooster is handraised it should be friendly and fine. Right now we have 10 15-week old chickens 5 roos and 5 hens (we are going to eat most of the roos) the roosters are the friendliest, come out and see us first and are happy to be held one is particular is wonderful my son has named him Curious George.
if you camponize a rooster, it looses the rooster qualities that you want to keep. It won't be a good flock protector. Check out my page on rooster behavior through the link in my signature line.
Please use caution with any rooster even one that is hand raised. A rooster is no different than a bull or a stallion. His punch is just in a smaller package. A child should NEVER be left alone with a flock, nor with a roo. The roo can be hand raised by the child but when he reaches maturity can still be defensive and aggressive when it comes to what he might preceive as a danger or threat to his flock. I am not trying to scare you or build on any fears but make sure you know yourself how to protect you and you son if the roo were to become agrressive. Some of the nicest of cockerals can take a dislike to anything or anyone at any time as they reach maturity. His behavior is natural. He is preprogramed to be a fierce leader in the animal world.
Some of the nicest of cockerals can take a dislike to anything or anyone at any time as they reach maturity That is absolutely true. Even my sweetheart of an Ameraucana rooster, that I hatched and hand raised, suddenly bit my DH one day when he perceived a threat. It was only a matter of time before he also bit me, too. This is a rooster who would follow me around and allow me to pick him up and pet him all the time. He became very defensive around his girls, too, unlike my other two much larger roosters, who still allow me to do anything I want to their ladies. He wasn't really bad as roosters go and I could still handle him, but I had to use caution before bending over to pick up one of the girls. You just never know. And a rooster is exactly the right height to take out a small child's eyes with their claws or spurs. All it takes is one surprise attack. Caponizing a rooster will take away the very things you want a rooster for and I for one, would never do it.
We have had a lot of roosters and have only had one aggressive one; and him we defeated by swirling a broom around our legs whenever we went to the barn, or our Whitey roo would chase him away for us. Most of our roos are very sweet tempered or at least polite. When I was little we had two roosters that once in a while would charge us and try to spur our legs. We thought it was hilarious. We would stick a foot out and let them run into it; and at the most it felt like being hit with a basketball covered with burrs. We were not afraid of them, and would never have dreamed of getting rid of them; we just thought it was funny; a little annoying, sometimes. I say, get one, and just see how you do; I can't imagine not having our roosters! I think, chances are, you'll get a nice one.
I agree with the others-roosters should be looked upon just like a stallion or a bull. You wouldn't like a child near a stallion or a bull, but people do it all the time with roos. Roos are doing what they were bred to do and that is to protect his flock. As much as I love chickens you can't really put them in the same category as a human or even a primate, they react out of instinctive programed behavior. There are some breeds that are more mellow ie the buff orpington. I have heard bantam roos can be just as aggressive. I would just be aware of the bird. Just because he is smaller than you don't mean he can't hurt. I am definitely against fixing -caponizing a roo. This was done originally to roos before the hybrids came along. This can be fatal to roos if the operation is not done properly and even most vets don't know how to do it. I love roos and think they play a very important role in flock protection and behavior.
Thank you every one for the replies. I couldn't remember the word, caponizing. I've grown up around horses and dealing with a stallion doesn't bother me, but I was starting to get worried after reading comments about roosters blinding children. Can a rooster be despurred(if that's a word?) and is it humane? I didn't know caponizing wasn't something commonly done. Is there a good book about rooster behavior any one can reccomend? I have ordered Story's Guide to Chickens. I'm getting the chicks in around April 1 si I have a little bit of time.