Well I am caught up. This is a most entertaining thread.
My introduction to chickens was in my pre-teens. I have always been an animal lover and was fascinated by a neighbors pretty game chickens. The neighbor had me pegged easy as he talked me into taking home what appeared to be a beautiful game rooster with a couple of hens. My folks were ok with this as they liked the idea of fresh eggs.
That rooster was free for a reason! It turned out that he was pyschotic, meaner n spite, and just ornery as all heck. My sisters n I had to use a heavy stick or piece of handy lumber to get into the coop to collect eggs. You did not dare go in without rubber boots! That crazy rooster had really long spurs and would just keep coming. You could knock him out, he would bounce up, and come for more! The only good thing I got from that group was a really cool game hen named Mrs. T that loved to be carried around and cuddled. She would come when I called her name for attention. Ofcourse, she never stayed in the coop but preferred roosting in the trees.
We had predators but none messed with pyscho rooster. Not the stray dogs, pet dogs, raccoons even gave him wide berth. Well mom wanted more laying hens and put an order in for some EEs. 2 of which turned out to be boys. Those poor boys were bullied something aweful by the pyscho rooster until they grew up. The EE boys grew to be big n beautiful. They were people friendly too. One day they got their revenge and that was the end of that old pyscho rooster! The flock back then had peace under those boys.
I got some property that made it easy to get back to having chickens and have started my own flock. I have dual purpose chickens for meat n eggs and some fancy "foo foo" chickens.
As far as correcting goes I use a combination of techniques based on the personality of the bird. Some are more sensitive and only need light correction, some fall into the middle, and some are just too hard headed for their own good. One thing I won't tolerate is a people aggressive bird. Now that I know what to do with the stinkers I have no problem butchering and processing them myself.
