Got Flogged by A rooster tonight

[Chris09]

Quote:
As I said before 9 time out of 10 when you pull a rooster like him from the breeding pen they will calm down with in the week.
If he don't then he is a true Man Fighter and in then made into a good Sunday dinner.

As I also said, "Man Fighting is hereditary".

No chicken whisperer technique.

Chris

 

[al6517]

Quote:
As I said before 9 time out of 10 when you pull a rooster like him from the breeding pen they will calm down with in the week.
If he don't then he is a true Man Fighter and in then made into a good Sunday dinner.

As I also said, "Man Fighting is hereditary".

No chicken whisperer technique.

Chris

So Ok he calms down when you pull him from the flock, well sure he does any 5th grader will tell you that. but then where does that leave you in regards to the roo and now what to do with the roo ??. when he returns to the flock he will just assume his aggressive behavior shortly. or do you think a chicken is smart enough to say to himself............. OOOHHHH shoot here he comes to put me in a time out again I better chill out. Please !!!! you had better come up with something a little better than that, if you plan to make a blanket statement so blaitantly Obtuse. The roosters in most folks flocks can be valuable for breeding or flock protection or whatever and by implementing your sit in the corner till I say you can come out type disipline, does nothing to help both the rooster and the flock and the owner. And you never did say what magic method you use to work with him and earn his trust

WTS by instituting a more direct and meaningfull approach to an aggresive rooster, IE A little scaring his pant's off and a swat in the caboose will do many other things. he will be better in the flock, he won't even come close to flogging you or another human, he get's to stay with the flock and do his job, and the owner can go about his choring without anymore issues. All of this is done in a matter of minutes with no disruption to any of the above operations.

This thread was written and concieved for folks who want to keep their roosters and make them the part of their programs they hoped they would be, quickly, efficiently, and humanely without injury and without any further incidents in the future, and in such a manner where as the cutesy tootsey, huggy pie kissey pooo approach just ain't working for them.

AL

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Chris and al6517,

I will take a poke at this. Your man-fighting / man-aggressive roosters do not attack the feeder, waterier, wall or other inanimate objects. They usually do not attack hens in manner associated with attacking the keeper. This I think is because bird is not affected by such stimuli in a manner than elicits aggression. To attack, the bird must become excited to some minimal level and having hens in close proximity especially when conditions are proper for breeding increases rooster’s basal excitement level. The keeper, being a change in the environment, can be the final straw that riles rooster to next level and into attack mode. The logic behind handling rooster in isolation is that it gets him acclimated to you so that he does not become excited enough to next level to become aggressive. My man-fighter control regimen also employs not giving any rapid responses that might give rooster idea he is manipulating your behavior. If he thinks he is getting a rise out of you, then he will either perceive weakness (you recoil) or aggression (you fight back) which he must suppress to keep his rank. Al6517, you methodology operates on second logic track and you effectively kick his butt showing him you are boss. Some birds you can whip, but games that are quality games you cannot whip without risking serious harm to bird. As indicated by Chris, if birds propensity to man-fight is genetic, then keeper is going to rile bird up regardless of efforts at conditioning to desensitize or at least require much greater effort on your part.

 

[al6517]

Yes game birds whether they be Moderns or OEG's do tend to have that ingrained or hard wired into them, and direct combat may not solve those issues with that particular breed. I do however think that most folks don't have the time nor the inclination to delve into the inner workings of their roosters frontal lobes just to get them to behave. the K.I.S.S. method works pretty good for most.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
My preference is birds that do not fear you nor consider you a flock member to play head games with. That enables better estimates of what how he and flock is doing based on behavior and also reduces stress on bird when he is to be handled. I handle to see how muscling and fat is doing. A big part of the acclimation process of confined individually confined birds is that you make it so they do not rile themselves up further by struggling when you handle them. The benefits of handling can be realized in first few seconds of each handling bout. This enables treating several birds in short order as part of the daily conditioning process. Several can be more roosters than anyone has in a breeding flock excepting for commerical breeders.

 

[flocksalot]

I've got a rooster story for you. First I'll give you a bit of back history. We got our last batch of chicks the end of June. In the batch was a tiny little chick that's head was about three times the size of it's body. If they weren't packed in there so tight it would have fallen over. As it was as soon as I took it out it kept falling. I guess it was forced hatched as happens sometimes in big hatcheries and the little twerp didn't get to absorb it's yolk. It still had a moist looking cord attached. They put it in for an extra knowing I wouldn't get too upset if it died. Big ol softie me took it home and stayed up with it giving it drinks of sugar water. The next day the chick could stand on it's own although it was always rocking up on it's "tippy toes" if you will. Well the weeks went by and my pretty little chick turned into a beautiful Auracana roo that we named cocoa bean and hoped he stayed a good little boy. One of his siblings spent 6 weeks in the soup coop learning that those big girls were not bucking broncs and he wasn't no cowboy. CB has just started to take an interest in the girls and has started to growl at me when I am in the coop counting to make sure everyone made it home. We free range and have now 146 chickens in 5 year round coops. When CB does the growling I yank him off the perch and toss him on the floor. No other discipline needed at this time. He crawls into a corner and hides until I'm gone. Now for the story.


Ok. Yesterday I overslept and ended up taking my son to school then going home to take a shower, so I was late getting out to the farm (can't wait until the house is built and I can just go outside). For some reason I decided to open up the large coop first. I let the girls out and watched them come boiling out their door carrying along the three roos that reside with them. CB stopped next to one of the older (by a few months) girls and flicked his wing down and kicked his leg. When she ran off he followed. Proud Momma that I am I smiled all the while hoping he wouldn't be overly hormonal. Then I saw him jump high into the air as if something scared the dickens out of the little chicken. While I went around to the other coops letting them out and feeding the broodies and their babies I kept an eye on CB. If he was going to get rough with the girls he would end up in the soup coop otherwise known as man-jail like his sibling had been. CB kept jumping and attacking something out in the trees. I looked as close as I could while I got some hay for the horses, so I knew he wasn't fighting another roo or hurting a hen. Still he kept going nuts after something. When I got ready to head up to take care of the turkeys, ducks and geese I took a detour to see what had him so riled. It was my maroon stocking hat that I had lost the night before. CB was really killing it and protecting the girls. He was so proud of himself! I grabbed my hat, shook my head and went about my day all the while wearing my blue hat. So today I went out to the farm wearing my maroon hat. If chickens could spit CB would have. He saw the hat and went crazy growling, cackling like a mad hen, and pacing back and forth. I took it off and stuffed it in my pocket he was fine. Took it out and put it on the patio table. CB saw it and jumped up there to kill it! Finally I put it up in the tree where he couldn't get to it. He may have gotten over it. We'll see tomorrow when I put it out for him to see. I'm a little worried about wearing it around him for right now. I can't imagine he would attack me, but if he does he will find out that hat packs quit a punch when it's on the big hen. The only other roo I've had that would attack was Smokey our late Lackenvelder. He learnt to avoid me, but had a thing for my boots and my husbands too. He would attack them when ever he came across them just sitting there. Of course when they were on me he didn't try anything after I tagged his little rump with the horse whip when he stuck his spurs through my rubber boots while I was wearing them. Doubt it hurt anything more than his pride as I'm pretty slick with the whip, but he didn't mess with me again. Guess I'll get the whip back out just in case I need to teach a young un a lesson. I'm still trying to fiigure out what it is that he doesn't like about my hat. I thought it was pretty sexy looking myself.

 

[Blue]

I don't have any what I'd consider truly aggressive roosters at the moment; I do have some young cockerels that like to bite every once in a while, and so far I've been rapping them on the head with a knuckle (i.e. pecking them back) and/or forcing them to squat down on the floor for a couple minutes (until they quit making a fuss). Since they haven't really done any actual attacks, I haven't had to give them the boot (or sneaker in my case

). I may not end up even keeping the roosters with the biting habits, but just in case, I've been trying to head off any real aggression before it starts. I don't think these young roosters are just testing the waters so to speak, but are there any better ways I could show them I'm the big boss in town, or should these methods work well enough. The biters are standard cochins if it makes a difference.

Not to get too far off track, but I've been reading the comments about games for the last few pages, and I thought that games were generally bred to be non-human aggressive. Is that not the case, or does it depend on the breed or specific lines within the breed? I have an OEGB cockerel (6 months old) who occasionally bites (he doesn't get away with it, just like the cochins), but has never shown any other form of aggression so far. In fact, he's the friendliest rooster I have and seeks out attention (flying up on my shoulder or hand or following me around) whenever I go out to the coop. His hen is a lot like him, just a bit less clingy.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Most games are non-human aggresive and it is very much a function of breeding. Some strains are prone to produce man-fighters that do not respond to conditioning and as a result pose a threat to handlers. Like with any breeds, improper handling or other environmental conditions can promote aggression to the keeper.

 

[al6517]

Most Games I encounter from breeders are pretty easy to handle and I think that's in the breeding, and since roosters for the ring have been pretty much forgotten about and we don't see many of those may be a reason. I do handle my birds monthy and some of the breeders more often, but it is mainly for judging them and their growth traits and to get a closer look at them for cull patterns. they do settle quite a bit after they get used to being handled, and they have to be somewhat easy to handle for the show circut and to prevent injury on their part because they are so big and stout and I don't want to break any critical feathers prior to showing.

I do think early correction of habits like hard pecking and ruffling and posturing do help control any future wileyness, but it can be acheived by merely brushing them away and a stern voice and maybe a lite tap or rap on the nogging, that is usually enough. I do think it's important to watch for this at an early age to prevent anything crazy in the future, it just makes sense.

 

[roxysly]

Wow I had no idea that my possible cockerel's ( I think I might have two roosters ), might give me such a hard time. They are truly pets and I think they are all frankly quit confused and might think they are something other than chickens and that I'm the mama big dog. I 've been holding them and coddling them and carrying on about them since they were in the palm of my hand. At that size they spent their time on my lap sleeping while I would referee those awake and squabbling. Is it possible to make them so tame such that they rarely cower or run away when we are near. Sometimes if I'm just about to pick them up they do hunker down in a funny squatting position which i assume they do to brace themselves.

I thought they were all girlies. But now, I'm under the suspicion that two of my girlies may not be, because they stand out in leg size and backend feather size. Of course they have larger waddles and combs, but not overly prominent. One of my leghorns (whom I call Foghorn )and one of my plym rck I call Ronnie are last to get food portions, always meander at the back of the pack and are last in the pecking order at night before close of day. They all jockey for position on a slanted wooden ladder with rungs for them to perch on, and of course they all want the top. It is quit entertaining and I often get involved if it gets too aggressive. I just place my hand on their head and press down gently, after about 3 times of me doing this and some sharp words they all simmer down.

But since I have no experience or history in our family with raising chickens or roosters for that matter, I'm sure I have a rude awakening. I hold touch and kiss them often and clean after them constantly and sit with several on my lap while outside reading magazines. Will they stay this cuddly and interested in me (rather my treats)? I can't imagine Ronnie coming after me. They don't poop on me either (as I mentioned I hold them often ) or try to peck my face at all. There has been no crowing in the the morning(if they should be), to date or yet. If they do get aggressive, is it a behavior I can help them overcome? My mother has been attacked by a rooster that showed up on the property and decided to make it home. But long after the rooster claimed Wilburville as his home his kind behavior turned to bursts of attacking everyone. I think one of the neighbors had had enough and secretly ended his life. So ever since Mother nearly lost an eye, she will have my eye pecking roosters unless they intend to take a nice hot bath in a nice large cauldron, in the blink of.... well an eye..

I guess my main question is, since they are 8 months old, shouldn't it be obvious by now? I spend a great deal of time with them everyday here out in the woods in Oregon. They free range outside. While we all take care of our trees and additional yard work, they love to follow us around in hopes we'll turn up a patch of dirt while weeding,which they immediately zero in on and peck the dickens out of, to retrieve insects I can't even see.

I'm thinking that since I babied them and treat them like cats, that the roosters may be a bit confused. They are not exhibiting behaviors that many of the posts mention here on this forum. In the morning from time to time they do end up with war wounds on their combs. I suppose they engage in after dusk squabbles.