Game birds are mean? Seriously?

[Becky_H]

First of all I'm going to own up to it; When I was a kid, I had an uncle (now deceased) who kept a metric ton of game roosters - and fought them. Yes, I know it was cruel and today I'd be horrified, but as a small child all I knew was he had a yard full of really pretty birds with little houses. I had no concept of what he was doing with them or where they disappeared to when they did. I picked them up, pet them, sat on top of their shelters and generally LIVED with those birds in the summers I spent up there (he lived beside my grandma) and never got pecked, spurred, or flogged. (The hens with babies free ranging was another matter). ...And yet, every time I turn around, someone's telling me game birds are MEAN.

I. Guess I tended to assume that they were kind of like dog aggressive dogs - chicken aggressive but not human aggressive as a rule, at least no more than any other rooster. Am I wrong here? Rose colored glasses of youth?

I will also add: This was 25-30 years ago, and I'm also kind of baffled by the number of apparently nasty roosters around today, based on reading these boards. I've NEVER had, or even seen, a human aggressive rooster. ...well, there was that one, but my grandpa's answer to HIM (the free ranging one with the hens) was to tell the kids to STOP SCREWING WITH THE CHICKENS.

 

[Avalon1984]

Hey Becky,

I have a game hen and she can get feisty when broody. I wouldn't say mean but she does have attitude. As long as I respect her "safety zone" she seems fine.

Jen

 

[LittleMoon]

Quote:
I heard game hens are awesome mothers.

I've never owned one myself tho.

 

[KBlue]

I had several varieties of Old English Game Bantams when I was younger. I would describe the roosters as spunky and, well, cocky ... but not aggressive. I handled them a lot, which likely helped, but I never had any more issues with them than my other roos.

 

[Teach97]

most of my roos are great towards people....another roo gets close and all bets are off! My hens don't put up with softness in other birds...had one that liked to chase roos around....that was kinda funny

 

[19hhbelgian]

I don't have any, but I've been told that game Roos are rooster aggressive, not necessarily human aggressive. As for other breeds, I have never had a mean rooster like you mentioned reading about on here, and I've had MANY Roos. Even talking to people, I'm always going "but I've never had a mean rooster"

Even the big thing I have right now is just fine despite his "I'm all that" attitude. Maybe its because I just go and do what I'm gonna do, and I'm not at all afraid of them. If someone has an attitude it gets checked at the door and we dont have anymore issues. Just had to put a couple show girl roos in their places the other day for incessantly chasing one of my other boys. Its worked so far

 

[Pinky]

Out of all the chickens I've had, I would say the game chickens are the best human friendly birds I've had.

 

[Saltysteele]

a mean rooster is not a "attitudes are checked at the door" type thing. you can try to check it, but it won't check. believe me, the one i'm dealing with has been checked several times; i'm in no way soft with him. his days are numbered.

anyway, i agree they are rooster aggressive, not necessarily human aggressive.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

The only "game" birds I have are my Sumatras. They can be nasty to other chickens if given the chance (I don't give them that chance) but they are perfectly fine with me. They all eat from my hand, the hens will fly up to my arm to eat some my hand. The rooster respects my space and keeps a good distance and he's just fine. The only times I've had issues with any mean roos, they were not "game" birds. Crevecoeur, Light Sussex, bantam Orloff and bantam MFC's have been the only mean ones in my flock. And they get one chance. After that, all bets are off...including ninja roo stew!

 

[sourland]

Human aggressive game roosters were stringently eliminated from most breeding programs for obvious reasons. Pretty indicative of the genetic nature of human aggressivness. The same could be accomplished in all breeds if temperment was regarded to be as important as other traits.