HELP, Hard Headed Rooster.

[Lancaster KY]

In my opinion, if an animal is human aggressive, then it needs to be handled. By that, I mean by any means necessary short of abuse. I don't believe in abusing animals. But I can tell you from personal experience and a visit to the doctor to seek medical attention and get a tetanus shot, a full grown rooster can KILL you if you aren't careful. I'd kick or knock the snot out of mine if it attacked me, and that's my final word on it. The rooster that got taken today had to learn that lesson, but we learned to co-exist peacefully. These birds act on instinct and they can be reconditioned if the person is consistent.

I agree !!!! He won't jump on me and get a loving pat on the head. But this thing is really over the top with his aggression. I thought it was just me that he had a problem with but he has squared off against my wife, my 4 year old and 7 year old grand kids too. it was a chain link fence between them the rooster charged jumping on the fence I honestly believe if he could of got at them he would of hurt them both. I have a nice bruise on my leg now from this mornings attack. I can just imagine what he would of done to those kids.

 

[Lancaster KY]

It's a choice. Do you want to do it the easy way or the hard way?

The easy way is to re-home him or eat him.

The hard way is to make the decision to rehabilitate him. It's hard work, you have to be consistent, and it doesn't happen overnight. It can take a year to get noticeable results, and another year before you will be able to relax around your roo. But it can be done. I've done it with all of my roosters, and my first one was just like yours. We had daily boxing matches until I figured out it was more my behavior that was the problem than was his.

There are lots of great rooster training manuals out there. You can come back here for tips and guidance, too. We'll be happy to lend support and help once you've made your decision.

Don't see how his behavior is my fault when i just got him? I should of known something was up when i went to pick him up he was already in a cage and he gave me the cage too. I think now that the last owner couldn't handle him either. I will not put in a year with this rooster as he is now. I will get a few chicks from him and have chicken and dumplins one night before i put in a years worth of work into him. But man if he could be rehabilitated what a nice guard for the flock he would make. He attacked the riding mower yesterday while i was mowing and they were turned out.

 

[Lancaster KY]

Time for the Stew Pot!! If you have that aggressive of a rooster imagine what he would/might do to a child...yikes! JMHO

yeagh i have a 4 year and 7 year old grand kids who love to go to the coop when they come over. For now the coop is off limits unless i go with them. I have no doubt that this bird can knock them both down and once down it would be a trip to the emergency room. I will try a few things that are being suggested but he better show some sign of improvement fast if he wants to live longer than a few more months.

 

[azygous]

In just three days, you've managed to convince your roo that you and he are in competition with each other for the hens and that you and he are on equal footing, and that he needs to fight you tooth and nail with everything he's got or he won't be in charge.

What you need to do is get him to change his mind about all that, but I am pretty sure you've made your decision that he isn't worth the time and trouble.

It's possible to show a roo, without very much force, and with one arm, that you are the top gun and he is subordinate, but that he has nothing to fear or worry about and can trust you to take care of things.

While he's being trained, of course you would need to keep the grandkids out of the pen, as you now are doing. But after a while, he will see that you are dominate over them, too, and he will not view them as a threat.

Roosters that behave with aggression are that way because they are fearful and don't trust the people in their lives. As he sees it, he was hired on to take care of a harem of hens, and he takes that mandate very seriously. As long as he believes you aren't going to cooperate by taking the lead, by continuing to act with aggression yourself, he can't trust you, and he will need to keep trying to put you in your place.

Roosters are very intelligent critters. He's much more than a feisty ball of feathers, probably destined for your stew pot, sad to say.

 

[Lancaster KY]

In just three days, you've managed to convince your roo that you and he are in competition with each other for the hens and that you and he are on equal footing, and that he needs to fight you tooth and nail with everything he's got or he won't be in charge.

What you need to do is get him to change his mind about all that, but I am pretty sure you've made your decision that he isn't worth the time and trouble.

It's possible to show a roo, without very much force, and with one arm, that you are the top gun and he is subordinate, but that he has nothing to fear or worry about and can trust you to take care of things.

While he's being trained, of course you would need to keep the grandkids out of the pen, as you now are doing. But after a while, he will see that you are dominate over them, too, and he will not view them as a threat.

Roosters that behave with aggression are that way because they are fearful and don't trust the people in their lives. As he sees it, he was hired on to take care of a harem of hens, and he takes that mandate very seriously. As long as he believes you aren't going to cooperate by taking the lead, by continuing to act with aggression yourself, he can't trust you, and he will need to keep trying to put you in your place.

Roosters are very intelligent critters. He's much more than a feisty ball of feathers, probably destined for your stew pot, sad to say.

How do I change his mind?

 

[azygous]

For starters, confine him in his own enclosure as Peeps suggested. I think that made a certain logical sense to you, didn't it? By confining him, depriving him of his freedom, you are going to begin to teach him that he is under your control, and that, later on in a few weeks, that you also control his access to the hens.

At first, he will probably be belligerent whenever you go into his pen to feed and do stuff, but this will be the most important time during which you will establish your dominance over him. Try to understand that he will have all sorts of emotional issues, yes, emotional issues. He will be angry, frustrated, impatient, and fearful. Remember he has major trust issues also. He's a stew pot (sorry about the analogy) of emotions. I know this surprises you, but it's precisely why roosters are so darned hard to manage. And remember they're very smart. You need to be consistent and straight forward with him, and very firm.

He will challenge you. When he comes at you take your one arm and push him down onto the ground, holding him down firmly with your hand just behind his head, beak in the dirt. Keep pressure on him until he relaxes. You want to know he's submitted to your control before you release him. If he comes at you again, repeat. You will need to do this for only a few days, maybe even less. A smart roo gets the message fast.

No beating or clobbering him with a 2x2 is necessary. It's far more effective to establish control by humiliating him than by brute force. This is something even a rival rooster can't accomplish. You, as a human, have this advantage over him, and he will be quick to realize it.

I would keep him isolated, but within sight of the hens for at least two weeks before you allow access to the hens, and then do it in controlled measures. He needs to learn the hens are YOURS, and you control his access to them. This will begin to teach him to respect you, while you will, at the same time, be earning his respect.

After that, for the next year, it's reinforcing what you've taught him during the first two weeks.

In your behavior around the flock, make sure it's calm, consistent, no loud yelling, or permitting any other humans to disrupt the tranquility of the run. The grandkids can visit, but they need to be quiet and calm when handling the hens, and they need to stay away from the rooster. He will be learning to trust them, too.

At the end of a year, when you look back on what a hellion your well-mannered roo was when you first brought him home, you'll swear it can't be the same roo.

 

[Lancaster KY]

For starters, confine him in his own enclosure as Peeps suggested. I think that made a certain logical sense to you, didn't it? By confining him, depriving him of his freedom, you are going to begin to teach him that he is under your control, and that, later on in a few weeks, that you also control his access to the hens.

At first, he will probably be belligerent whenever you go into his pen to feed and do stuff, but this will be the most important time during which you will establish your dominance over him. Try to understand that he will have all sorts of emotional issues, yes, emotional issues. He will be angry, frustrated, impatient, and fearful. Remember he has major trust issues also. He's a stew pot (sorry about the analogy) of emotions. I know this surprises you, but it's precisely why roosters are so darned hard to manage. And remember they're very smart. You need to be consistent and straight forward with him, and very firm.

He will challenge you. When he comes at you take your one arm and push him down onto the ground, holding him down firmly with your hand just behind his head, beak in the dirt. Keep pressure on him until he relaxes. You want to know he's submitted to your control before you release him. If he comes at you again, repeat. You will need to do this for only a few days, maybe even less. A smart roo gets the message fast.

No beating or clobbering him with a 2x2 is necessary. It's far more effective to establish control by humiliating him than by brute force. This is something even a rival rooster can't accomplish. You, as a human, have this advantage over him, and he will be quick to realize it.

I would keep him isolated, but within sight of the hens for at least two weeks before you allow access to the hens, and then do it in controlled measures. He needs to learn the hens are YOURS, and you control his access to them. This will begin to teach him to respect you, while you will, at the same time, be earning his respect.

After that, for the next year, it's reinforcing what you've taught him during the first two weeks.

In your behavior around the flock, make sure it's calm, consistent, no loud yelling, or permitting any other humans to disrupt the tranquility of the run. The grandkids can visit, but they need to be quiet and calm when handling the hens, and they need to stay away from the rooster. He will be learning to trust them, too.

At the end of a year, when you look back on what a hellion your well-mannered roo was when you first brought him home, you'll swear it can't be the same roo.

You touched on one thing that has got me to thinking. When the kids go to the coop there is a lot of running and exciement going on. This bird is new and not use to this possibly.

This morning i went in without the stick fully expecting to be flogged but I was able to section off half the yard and cut the hens back into their section without any problem from him what so ever. I even had my back turned to him part of the time. So I am very encouraged by him today. Tonight the kids came down and we went to the coop and again no charging the fence or any aggression at all. I didn't let the kids in with him or the hens though. He wasn't acting timid either and i'm glad to see that.

I absolutly will follow these isolation tips and you are right, it makes since to me. I do have a question though, My habit is to sit outside the yard and watch the flock for a few minutes before entering the coop. I like to look for any problems with leg bands / health issues etc and this is the time I sometimes feed them corn.during my sit down. The Morning I got flogged I had feed them corn just before that. This Morning I did not feed them corn. Could the simple act of sitting thus lowering my height have any effect on him as being dominant? Jealously over the hens running to me even though the fence seperated us?

 

[heartsizedfarm]

You touched on one thing that has got me to thinking. When the kids go to the coop there is a lot of running and exciement going on. This bird is new and not use to this possibly.

This morning i went in without the stick fully expecting to be flogged but I was able to section off half the yard and cut the hens back into their section without any problem from him what so ever. I even had my back turned to him part of the time. So I am very encouraged by him today. Tonight the kids came down and we went to the coop and again no charging the fence or any aggression at all. I didn't let the kids in with him or the hens though. He wasn't acting timid either and i'm glad to see that. 

I absolutly will follow these isolation tips and you are right, it makes since to me. I do have a question though, My habit is to sit outside the yard and watch the flock for a few minutes before entering the coop. I like to look for any problems with leg bands / health issues etc and this is the time I sometimes feed them corn.during my sit down. The Morning I got flogged I had feed them corn just before that. This Morning I did not feed them corn. Could the simple act of sitting thus lowering my height have any effect on him as being dominant? Jealously over the hens running to me even though the fence seperated us?  

 

[heartsizedfarm]

I really like this last post because you're starting to see things from his perspective, which will really help with training! True about the kids and excitability. Roosters like things slow and calm.

I also wonder about the treat factor. My bad rooster has been quite good recently, no problems, but I found a June bug while gardening and I thought he would like it so I walked over to treat him with it, and, well, he didn't get it because he made that looky here noise and a hen ran off with it, but shortly after that he took a run at me, first in several weeks. So treating might be a mistake.

 

[azygous]

Anything's possible regarding treats and roosters and whether you appear more dominant standing than squatting or sitting. You'll know after a fashion if you see a pattern of behavior following your actions.

I hope you've schooled the grandkids about being calm and respectful around the chickens. After a while, if the rooster comes to trust the kids won't be disruptive, he won't be a threat to them, and they will grow fast and present a more dominant profile, as you've suggested you do by standing up. This is one reason why roosters are more apt to attack small children. They're almost as small as a rooster, and their behavior is usually boisterous, upsetting a rooster.

But beware he may have good days and bad days, and until you establish that you are alpha, in both yours and the rooster's minds, you won't be able to really trust each other's behavior.

Since you are beginning to see the sense in this tactic of establishing dominance, I strongly suggest you follow through and be consistent with a program of "hand-on" training.