handling roosters?

[7L Farm]

I have the same probably that you do as well. We actually just had to put down our oldest rooster, he had attacked my husband. He had come after me a couple times and I started to carry a stick with me as well. Our younger rooster, that we got on accident, is very tame, it follows me everywhere and it makes me nervous. I don't know what to do with him. I don't want him to end up attacking anyone either.

If he's just following you around thats cool. If he attacks you I would get rid of him.

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

I agree that it just depends on the rooster. I have already culled one because he attacked me and my kids. Now I have another one, same breed, that has all of a sudden started to attack. Course it sucks because he's my 11 year old daughters chicken. At first I thought it might be his age but we have another rooster thats the same age that you can pick up and he just settles in and closes his eyes and relaxes. My kids won't even go in the run to play with the other chickens. He's good with his girls but not with us.

 

[iFairyx]

I did read somewhere about showing the rooster that you are in charge, I think it had something to do with holding its beak and slowly lowering it to the floor in-front of the other birds (I haven't tried this, I think I did a search on 'aggressive cockerels' on google) this is supposed to make them lose face and whatnot. There was other methods/techniques people swore by if a cockerel became aggressive, so it might be worth while having a rummage around on google and seeing what you can find.
If he becomes aggressive then it might be nice to have a few things you can try before you cull/rehome etc, but at the end of the day if they are going to become nasty then I don't think it makes much difference if they were handled or not (the nasty legbar I mentioned had not been handled much and was probably the nastiest rooster I've seen).

How is it going?

 

[janinepeters]

This kind of gets at the nature vs. nurture question. Is rooster behavior towards people genetically determined, or does it depend on how he is cared for? I've seen others posting on other threads that they think it's his innate nature: the way the rooster is "wired". But I think it's both nature and nurture.

I had one rooster that was extremely aggressive towards people from a very young age (only several months old). No one was roughing him up or trying to show our dominance over him in any way. In his case, he was so aggressive by nature, it was not possible even to attempt taming him. No one could go out in the yard without him charging and jumping. I felt it was dangerous to keep him, and he got the ax.

But the only other one I had that was aggressive towards people was one that suddenly became aggressive, especially towards children, immediately after a very active/aggressive 10 year old boy chased the chickens in the coop, grabbing the hens. I was horrified, as was the poor rooster. That kid was never allowed near my chickens again, but unfortunately, from then on, this rooster would jump at any other kids who came around. I think in that roo's mind, children had become potential predators, and I don't blame him. That's a nurture (environmental), not a nature (genetic) issue.

 

[VA Susan]

George our young rooster is now about four and a half months. I have hopes that he'll be my sweet rooster.

We had a mean Buff Orpington several years ago that would come running across the yard to flog me. He was never a pet. He was raised with our other day old chicks but was always more wild than the pullets. We handled them every day when we cleaned out their box. He never caused any problems until he was about a year old. Then I was afraid to go outside because if he saw me, he came after me. He never bothered my husband. He also attacked one of our hens and bloodied the top of her head. That was it for him.

Our present RIR Rooster Elvis was never handled much. Most of the time Elvis minds his own business. He's very good to the hens but he has threatened me at times so I always carry a big stick with me if he's loose. He came after my husband one time and he knocked him out with a big stick. He thought he had killed him but he got up after a little while. He's afraid of the stick now but he still acts like he wants to get me.

 

[VA Susan]

Janine,
Your poor rooster. He was just trying to protect his girls. There's no way he could know that all children aren't a threat to the hens and to himself. That was very sad. I hope that someone taught that boy a lesson so he wouldn't ever do it again.