Game rooster behavior and fighting

[Wyorp Rock]

My whole point of getting them was for flock protection from smaller predators. I wasn't expecting them to unrelentingly chase down and jump on another roo despite the other roo trying to get away.

Then you need to put up fencing to protect your flock. NO Rooster is going to protect from "smaller predators" Not even sure what those would be. A predator is a predator and they kill chickens. The males may be first to go since they do alarm and give the hens a chance to hit the bushes, but they sure aren't going to be a match for a predator.

LOL What did you think a Gamefowl rooster was going to do? Chasing down, jumping on another...yep, sounds absolutely right, you don't want birds that will hack, those are culled. They don't play well with others.
I assume when you got them, you looked at how true Gamefowl are housed? There's a real reason why you see roosters penned separately.

 

[Nashv755]

LOL What did you think a Gamefowl rooster was going to do? Chasing down, jumping on another...yep, sounds absolutely right, you don't want birds that will hack, those are culled. They don't play well with others.
I assume when you got them, you looked at how true Gamefowl are housed? There's a real reason why you see roosters penned separately.

I really appreciate the patronizing, it's very helpful. The breed I have supposedly has a lot of the "game" bread out of them in the US because they aren't a recognized breed in the US with a limited gene pool. My original 2yo roo for the same breed from a different breeder is an example of that. He pretty much don't care who mounts his hens as long as nobody interferes when he's in the mood, if anything he cheers them on. I didn't like that about him hence why I got some from another source because I only had him and 1 hen for the breed. One of these in the new bunch seem to be the extreme in the opposite direction.

 

[Tankueray]

My experience, education, and training disagree. While it's obviously not worth trying to convince you otherwise since you have such an extreme hatred for them, I have seen flocks in both Mexico and the Philippines with multiple roosters and even cockerels.

 

[Nashv755]

They are bred for strength and stamina, it is not ingrained in their DNA to kill at all costs, that is trained. Just like pit bulls, it's not the animal. There are some aggressive outliers with any breed of chicken, and yes, they usually have to be culled.

@Nashv755 Is the 2 year old, "top dog" rooster you mentioned no longer around? Remember they're full of hormones and pent up frustration right now. Even non-game cockerels will do this. I have probably 20 cockerels in the yard right now, all alpha roosters have passed away in the last two months, as well as my alpha hens, and there's a power vacuum. I have two giant brothers that are EE/Barred Rock mix that do and take what they want, but have no need to go after anyone, because they're the biggest. Most of the other cockerels are fine staying out of the way, but I have one group of 5 Spitzhauben cockerels that are doing this with each other. One has decided that since he can't win with his brothers, my dog is his target. My dog poops bigger than him. The Spitz boys have gotten into a couple of good scuffles, as did my previous 3 alpha roosters, but they eventually worked it all out once the girls started willingly pairing up with them. If it's normal teenage angst, your cockerel should be chasing around the girls relentlessly too, just watch for the other boys to join in the chase, because they all help each other out when it comes to being little crapheads like that.

There are a couple of options:

If there's not a strong enough alpha rooster in his mind in your flock, he wants that job, and he's making sure everyone else knows it and submits, regardless of their seniority or breed. If he has nasty spurs, trim/dull them and monitor his hostile takeover for a few days and see if once he's made the rounds a few times, he settles down. If you have fragile breed roosters, get them out of there for a few days.

You could put him in rooster jail for a few days (a wire dog crate in the run with everyone else able to stand around). I've never had to for more than a few hours, but even my wildtype breeds are closer to jungle fowl than gamefowl in their heritage. Monitor them, if he's fighting with anyone through the bars, decide whether it's just him and he'll either calm down or becomes dinner, or put another one in another jail if there seems to be an instigator you weren't aware of.

If that fails, you may have to separate him from the flock entirely while another rooster becomes alpha. Then you can try to reintegrate him (sneak him in at night) and see if Alpha will give him a place in the group.

Make sure you're asserting yourself as the ultimate Alpha at all times. He should get out of your way when you walk through, don't let him make you move; he should be easy for you to handle (catching is a different story!); watch for him being a creeper and spin and face him if he's more than just curious.

All that said, if he becomes aggressive toward you or another human - send him to be judged by the Queen of Hearts. Even gamefowl breeders cull manfighters without prejudice. You can chose to give him the time to mature and prove that he's not one, or you can make the call to stop the problem at the first sign, just don't ignore the responsibility to dispatch him if you have to.

If you choose to get rid of him, you know who will answer the ad first. If you don't want that to happen, I suggest reaching out to the local humane society or asking at the local feed store for some assistance with finding a suitable home. There are plenty of legitimate, responsible, and respectable gamefowl owners out there that may be interested.

Remember high school? You stepped in like the Principal and the other guy laughed at him. Hormones, teenagers, different species, same song and dance.

I just heard the Spitz boys outside the window causing some trouble for the fine folk of Hazzard County, I'd better go investigate. (I know they're up to no good when there's constant crowing, then some commotion, then silence, then ducks. The ducks are snitches.)

I let him out after a few hours in quarantine to see if that cooled him off any. 2 hours later right as soon as I started reading your post I heard thumping outside. He was locked up with big roo and put him back in solitary before big roo killed him. Problem child don't even have resemblance of spurs yet and big roo is fully armed. The only thing that saved him was they were under the porch and everytime they jumped they hit the porch so they couldn't get any air.

I'm not afraid to cull because I have 2 more. He is the prettier of the black ones but I'm definitely keeping my blue so I might be able to play with some splash genetics. I just liked that he's the biggest, had less but deeper red's and more shiny black in saddle and hackles than the other black. 1st pic is him, 2nd is obviously blue, 3rd is the other black one.

 

[Tankueray]

Wow, they are beautiful. Mugs? I'm not sure if there's mahogany (mh) in there, but I see autosomal red in both him and the blue, plus he has some extra melanizers. Your other black doesn't have those, but your blue might. I'd want to keep them all too.

So big rooster generally doesn't care but he'll put him down if he gets in his face? Would big rooster ever start the fight at all?

Gamefowl are more aggressive, of course we all know that. My suggestion would be to put him in jail again, overnight, and stay out there with them the next time. Watch carefully for signs of just being pissed he's in the cage vs. a pure hatred for you and big rooster as he paces back and forth. Is he dancing at you at all when you pen him up?

If he's not getting with the program after that or he's holding a grudge against you or the flock after being arrested, then he may need to go. If you want to use him for breeding, you can go ahead and build his bachelor pen now.

Once I saw a rooster tube, I don't really know if it works, basically a crocheted tube that was slipped over the body to prevent the wings from opening. Like a chicken burrito with feet, he can run around playing big man all he wants but can't do a flying strike. My opinion is that the first thing they'd do is wiggle out of it, or spend all their time trying to, so I thought about maybe a drawstring bag with a hole cut in the bottom for the head.

The second big rooster realizes he's not going to let up, he will kill him. If there's a pullet, or hen preferably, that doesn't already belong to big roo, you can try housing them together and he might calm down past maturity if he's got his own girl, and you can try again in a few months?

Otherwise he lives the life of a gigolo, or the death of a usurper.

 

[JadeFarms]

They are bred for strength and stamina, it is not ingrained in their DNA to kill at all costs, that is trained.

That behavior is NOT trained. It’s their nature.

 

[JadeFarms]

Gamefowl are going to fight. It’s their nature. If you weren’t prepared to separate them, you shouldn’t have got them. Games can fight to the death and/or seriously injure each other.

 

[Tankueray]

That behavior is NOT trained. It’s their nature.

Then everyone who has chickens should be terrified of them because they are all the same species. And everyone who owns a Pit Bull should be forced to put it down, right?

At this point they are far removed from the environmental stressors that caused that behavior in their ancestors, or even the contemporary Jungle Fowl. As an animal that has been domesticated for thousands of years, nurture has way more to do with their behavior than, again let me state my original point because everyone seems to have missed it, their DNA. Training is as easily the lack of direction as it is an active reward-result system.

I know nature. I've known trainers killed or hurt by their animals at top zoological parks. I've been chased by an alligator, pinned by a big cat, and nearly suffocated by a python, that's nature. Stopping a predator from doing it's thing or a mother from defending her young is pretty much impossible, but modifying alpha behavior can be done, even in Silverback Gorillas. It takes work and an actual understanding of "their nature." Sometimes there is no option but to euthanize, but that is generally the last option for anyone who has ever worked with endangered species, and it's certainly not my first option when working with my own birds, especially before they're even fully mature.

Gamefowl are going to fight. It’s their nature. If you weren’t prepared to separate them, you shouldn’t have got them. Games can fight to the death and/or seriously injure each other.

No crap. I'm fairly certain he knew they weren't silkies. And I'm also pretty sure he isn't a child and doesn't deserve to be spoken to like one.

He came here asking whether there was anything he could do or try to curb the behavior, knowing that it might not work. I offered some suggestions and support, also with heavy caution that it might not work.

Anyone else have any useful suggestions?
Bueller?
Bueller?

It amazes me how people here will enable someone with a terminally ill and infectious animal with willful ignorance and all sorts of lifesaving instructions and empathy, but if it's a gamecock, kill it before it grows. No one would've batted an eye at giving advice if they didn't know it was that breed. That is why meat and egg chickens even exist, they've been around to support human life for a much, much shorter time than they've been around to entertain them. That is one of the most, if not the most, significant event in the relationship of the chicken and humankind. We can't just ignore the things we don't like, doing awful things is our nature.

(@Nashv755 I apologize for fighting your battle, you are clearly more than capable of doing it yourself.)

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The breed I have supposedly has a lot of the "game" bread out of them in the US because they aren't a recognized breed in the US with a limited gene pool. My original 2yo roo for the same breed from a different breeder is an example of that.

Your welcome, and you do have my apologies as well. They are handsome.

You mention that you have a breed that is supposed have a lot of the "game" bred out of them and now I think I see where you're coming from. Reading back over your initial post, as well as, glancing quickly at your posting history, I see what you mean and realize that I made a mistake. I was quite confused when you were disappointed that your "game birds" were fighting. Now I understand a bit more, I think.
You're wanting "non game" game birds. I'm going to go out on a limb here make the assumption you are referring to the Liege Fighters you have. So, if you are finding that one is too aggressive for your liking, then culling would be warranted. A funny thing is they taste like chicken, cull young and have a nice meal. Let the others grow out and see how they do. Colors are pretty, but it sounds like your main focus is on behavioral traits. I think we can agree, they are handsome birds, but if handsome doesn't meet your criteria, then cull and focus on the next 2-3 birds until you see what you are wanting.

Many folks keep a mix of breeds in a flock, quite a few here on BYC keep multiple roosters together, but I know of no one that keeps Game Gamefowl roosters together. It just doesn't pan out. Birds will kill one another, that's a fact.

Again. I will say it again - No, I personally know of no measures that would curb "Gameness" except for penning or culling.

And if the "kill it before it grows" remark it directed at me, then fair enough, but I would like to know why you think that?

if it's a gamecock, kill it before it grows. No one would've batted an eye at giving advice if they didn't know it was that breed.

 

[Nashv755]

Wow, they are beautiful. Mugs? I'm not sure if there's mahogany (mh) in there, but I see autosomal red in both him and the blue, plus he has some extra melanizers. Your other black doesn't have those, but your blue might. I'd want to keep them all too.

So big rooster generally doesn't care but he'll put him down if he gets in his face? Would big rooster ever start the fight at all?

Gamefowl are more aggressive, of course we all know that. My suggestion would be to put him in jail again, overnight, and stay out there with them the next time. Watch carefully for signs of just being pissed he's in the cage vs. a pure hatred for you and big rooster as he paces back and forth. Is he dancing at you at all when you pen him up?

If he's not getting with the program after that or he's holding a grudge against you or the flock after being arrested, then he may need to go. If you want to use him for breeding, you can go ahead and build his bachelor pen now.

Once I saw a rooster tube, I don't really know if it works, basically a crocheted tube that was slipped over the body to prevent the wings from opening. Like a chicken burrito with feet, he can run around playing big man all he wants but can't do a flying strike. My opinion is that the first thing they'd do is wiggle out of it, or spend all their time trying to, so I thought about maybe a drawstring bag with a hole cut in the bottom for the head.

The second big rooster realizes he's not going to let up, he will kill him. If there's a pullet, or hen preferably, that doesn't already belong to big roo, you can try housing them together and he might calm down past maturity if he's got his own girl, and you can try again in a few months?

Otherwise he lives the life of a gigolo, or the death of a usurper.

Their name translated is Liege fighters. Liege is the city in Belgium they are from. Big roo doesn't fight unless challenged that I've ever seen, actually today was the 1st time I've ever seen him fight. Everytime he's been challenged he sends them running and the fight is over. Friendly to humans and usually takes a seat beside me when I sit outside. Part of the reason I got them was an Asian breed was originally used to create them so they are friendlier to humans than usual game (supposedly). Everything I've read about the breed seems to be true with him.

The "problem child" from the new batch is a different story as of today where other roosters are concerned. I'm pretty sure he's going to be dinner but he can sit a few days in the side coop and see what happens. It just struck me weird the all of a sudden change to attack, send them running, chase them down, tackle and repeat and as soon as I stepped between them he immediately turned and run full steam to attack another rooster 30ft away. Idk maybe he was just pissed we got like 5" of rain this morning and the whole yard was standing water