Getting over Rooster fear

[HippieAtHeart]

So I have an amazing rooster we just got this week with a flock of chickens we were gifted by a family member, his name is Stumpy (see if you can see why!). He is so sweet and has not tried to spur me or my husband. Today I bathed the 5 hens (turns out they have mites...welcome to chicken hood I suppose) because I didn’t want to do the permethrin tomorrow without having their butts being at least somewhat clean first (they were bad...). Needless to say he wasn’t happy I took his girls but he did not try and spur me just vocalized his unhappiness. I Do not think of myself as a scared person, but man is he big...and so are his spurs. Does anyone have suggestions to getting over my fraidy-cat-ness with him?
I know the worst to happen is he spurs me, and all he is is a male chicken, but I need some helpful experiences to learn from lol.

 

[Chickassan]

Hi! Just think of him like a male anything, at the core he is a simple guy who would rather enjoy the good stuff than start trouble.
As long as he doesn't think you're hurting the girls and knows you bring nice things you will be just fine.
Stumpy is handsome, his spurs could do with a tip nipping though for the girls comfort...they are quite not stumpy lol.

 

[azygous]

Like dogs, roosters sense your fear and some will take advantage of it to try to intimidate you. Spurring is about the most drastic and dangerous act a rooster can perpetrate on you. It often sends his victims to the ER for stitches. Bad dogs have nothing over a bad roo as far as being dangerous.

It's amazingly intuitive of you to realize your fear could be a problem with your relationship to your rooster. More often than not, a rooster turns bad because of the way their human relates to them. If you are afraid and do not take your role as alpha flock keeper seriously, he can get mixed signals, just as a dog when no boundaries are set. This causes anxiety and confusion, and many roosters will act out when they feel anxious.

Your objective is to convince yourself that you are the flock care taker and your rooster must show you respect. In return, you must show him you trust him to protect his flock and not interfere with his job. He will be more inclined not to interfere with your job.

If you are very lucky, his genes will make him a gentleman and he will require no discipline, but you need to be ready if he does. Many actions, seemingly benign, can lead up to spurring. It usually begins with him "courting" you by doing a dance in your direction. This is not acceptable, and make no mistake, it's not "cute". You are not a hen. You are the flock care taker. You correct this by reaching down and swiftly immobilizing him and holding him in place until he quits struggling. You aren't hurting him, but make no mistake, he will get the message loud and clear.

The respectful behavior of a rooster in your presence will be to move gracefully out of your way. If he doesn't, do not walk around him. Keep walking right at him until he moves to the side. You in turn will mostly ignore him. This will show that you trust him to do his job.

Some folks think, mistakenly, that you must not permit a rooster to mate a hen in your presence. This being one of his main jobs, by interfering with his mating, you are setting up a situation where he will feel you're trying to compete with him. Ignore him unless he's hurting a hen or trying to mate an older hen who wants no part of his attentions. This should be rare.

So, to summarize, get confident in your role as flock care taker, and that will conquer your fear. Ignore your rooster unless he misbehaves. Trust him to fulfill his role as flock protector.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Don't know about chickens specifically, but many animals can sense if you fear them, so if you're really uncertain about handling him, leave any hands on handling to your hubby if he's available to help out. Maybe spend some time around Stumpy and just get to know him for now, with minimal direct interaction, until you're more familiar with just being around him.

 

[Chickassan]

Oh they definitely can, and roosters are a little extra jumpy by default anyway so they can see right through you.

Don't know about chickens specifically, but many animals can sense if you fear them, so if you're really uncertain about handling him, leave any hands on handling to your hubby if he's available to help out. Maybe spend some time around Stumpy and just get to know him for now, with minimal direct interaction, until you're more familiar with just being around him.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

Like dogs, roosters sense your fear and some will take advantage of it to try to intimidate you. Spurring is about the most drastic and dangerous act a rooster can perpetrate on you. It often sends his victims to the ER for stitches. Bad dogs have nothing over a bad roo as far as being dangerous.

It's amazingly intuitive of you to realize your fear could be a problem with your relationship to your rooster. More often than not, a rooster turns bad because of the way their human relates to them. If you are afraid and do not take your role as alpha flock keeper seriously, he can get mixed signals, just as a dog when no boundaries are set. This causes anxiety and confusion, and many roosters will act out when they feel anxious.

Your objective is to convince yourself that you are the flock care taker and your rooster must show you respect. In return, you must show him you trust him to protect his flock and not interfere with his job. He will be more inclined not to interfere with your job.

If you are very lucky, his genes will make him a gentleman and he will require no discipline, but you need to be ready if he does. Many actions, seemingly benign, can lead up to spurring. It usually begins with him "courting" you by doing a dance in your direction. This is not acceptable, and make no mistake, it's not "cute". You are not a hen. You are the flock care taker. You correct this by reaching down and swiftly immobilizing him and holding him in place until he quits struggling. You aren't hurting him, but make no mistake, he will get the message loud and clear.

The respectful behavior of a rooster in your presence will be to move gracefully out of your way. If he doesn't, do not walk around him. Keep walking right at him until he moves to the side. You in turn will mostly ignore him. This will show that you trust him to do his job.

Some folks think, mistakenly, that you must not permit a rooster to mate a hen in your presence. This being one of his main jobs, by interfering with his mating, you are setting up a situation where he will feel you're trying to compete with him. Ignore him unless he's hurting a hen or trying to mate an older hen who wants no part of his attentions. This should be rare.

So, to summarize, get confident in your role as flock care taker, and that will conquer your fear. Ignore your rooster unless he misbehaves. Trust him to fulfill his role as flock protector.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Yesterday morning I woke up with a sense of bravery and went to my coop (to treat for mites...ugh) and scooped him right up to treat first. I put him outside the run to free range and then did the hens one by one. He wasn’t happy because he didn’t know what was happening but overall I think it went well.
He hasn’t done his courting dance to me but will puff up his neck feathers and flap his wings when we get near, I assume this is to say “they are mine”?
Also I did do a lot of just walking straight where he was (doing gardening) and he would move out of my way no problem.
You mention ignoring him, does this mean when we give them treats too? Should we not really acknowledge him?

 

[HippieAtHeart]

Don't know about chickens specifically, but many animals can sense if you fear them, so if you're really uncertain about handling him, leave any hands on handling to your hubby if he's available to help out. Maybe spend some time around Stumpy and just get to know him for now, with minimal direct interaction, until you're more familiar with just being around him.

I definitely was feeling he could sense it so I wanted to stop that. Once an animal thinks they are dominant I know it’s hard to break.
As far as my husband he’s not really the chicken handling type lol.
I had to treat for mites so I did have to handle him directly which I wanted to wait until there was more trust, but at least we had a week and a good amount of mealworms and worms. I went out yesterday and just picked him up first, not as scary as I thought. It went well enough as treating mites can go and I feel as though I gained courage from it.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

Hi! Just think of him like a male anything, at the core he is a simple guy who would rather enjoy the good stuff than start trouble.
As long as he doesn't think you're hurting the girls and knows you bring nice things you will be just fine.
Stumpy is handsome, his spurs could do with a tip nipping though for the girls comfort...they are quite not stumpy lol.

I had to treat for mites so I know he thought I was doing something not fun to them as he was pacing around the run. I hope he doesn’t think I’m terrible now because of that. I think it went okay though all things considered.

 

[aart]

You mention ignoring him, does this mean when we give them treats too? Should we not really acknowledge him?

He can have treats.....just most the time walk thru and/or ignore him.
Frequent visits with no treating or treatments or doing anything can help him get used to your presence.
You did good treating him first for mites then the girls....
....they all learned that 'the human can touch us and we won't die'.

 

[azygous]

Yes, what @aart said. It's sort of the difference between how you would treat an adult and a child. That's the difference between how we treat a rooster and our hens. We mainly ignore the roo except on the rare instances when we need to handle him. On the other hand, we feel free to scoop up our hens for frequent cuddles.

When giving treats, you can give him a treat, but he will likely turn around and give it to a hen. This is chain of command.

You're doing great!