HELP!!!!! Mean Rooster

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You know when a hen wants to be bred they will squat for the rooster. I was standing outside today watching the chickens and he would slowly get behind the hens and try to get on top of them as fast as possible. Only one of the hens actually squatted for him.

That is a poor rooster, those I always cull, no hen needs to live in fear.

 

[Klay]

I figured it wouldn't have been like this since they all grew up together since day 1

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Growing up together doesn't make a rooster good or bad, sometimes a bad rooster as far as his interactions with the hens can change if he's separated and allowed to mature and calm down a bit, I always recommend waiting on a rooster if he's only being poor to the hens. I wait until they are about a year old before judging mine. The troublemakers get pulled and penned. I would recommend it for your boy but he's also nasty to humans, which can sometimes be straightened out but most times doesn't work out for folks.

 

[tlee1956]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed here, but between taking care of gkids, elderly parents, and livestock -dogs, chickens, fish and a frog - I am hard pressed to get much else done. I can usually find pretty cut and dry answers to this type of thing online rather quickly, but I'm in a quandary at this point.
I got my first 5 chooks last spring (2015) at the feed store and one (Quincy, my Sussex) turned out to be a roo. Up til now, he's been a sweet boy, good protector to the girls, not shown any aggression to humans. Last week when the flock was out ranging in our yard, my 3 year old gson Draven was out playing while I puttered around. Quincy trotted up behind him very close (inches), but didn't flog or spur him. Draven turned around and laughed and I walked quickly over to shoo Quincy away. Five minutes later Quincy displayed the same behavior, but this time grandma had been following just a few feet away from Draven and smacked his little rooster butt - open handed - with enough force to knock him off his feet and yelled NO at him. Draven was still unfazed, thank goodness.
I have intentionally followed the gkids around the yard with my 'equalizer' - a nice big walking stick- the last couple days watching Quincy's every move. Mr Roo has completely ignored the children, even when they run right past his hens. Am I foolish to give him the benefit of the doubt? I love this big boy to death, but if there's a general consensus from the folks on this forum who have had lots of experience with roos to get rid of him I will process him myself. I've done it to other birds before, and I might shed a couple of tears while I do it, but I can't chance any harm to my babies.
Thanks in advance. I've gained sooo much knowledge from this forum to help me with my little flock - growing larger this year

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed here, but between taking care of gkids, elderly parents, and livestock -dogs, chickens, fish and a frog - I am hard pressed to get much else done. I can usually find pretty cut and dry answers to this type of thing online rather quickly, but I'm in a quandary at this point.
I got my first 5 chooks last spring (2015) at the feed store and one (Quincy, my Sussex) turned out to be a roo. Up til now, he's been a sweet boy, good protector to the girls, not shown any aggression to humans. Last week when the flock was out ranging in our yard, my 3 year old gson Draven was out playing while I puttered around. Quincy trotted up behind him very close (inches), but didn't flog or spur him. Draven turned around and laughed and I walked quickly over to shoo Quincy away. Five minutes later Quincy displayed the same behavior, but this time grandma had been following just a few feet away from Draven and smacked his little rooster butt - open handed - with enough force to knock him off his feet and yelled NO at him. Draven was still unfazed, thank goodness.
I have intentionally followed the gkids around the yard with my 'equalizer' - a nice big walking stick- the last couple days watching Quincy's every move. Mr Roo has completely ignored the children, even when they run right past his hens. Am I foolish to give him the benefit of the doubt? I love this big boy to death, but if there's a general consensus from the folks on this forum who have had lots of experience with roos to get rid of him I will process him myself. I've done it to other birds before, and I might shed a couple of tears while I do it, but I can't chance any harm to my babies.
Thanks in advance. I've gained sooo much knowledge from this forum to help me with my little flock - growing larger this year

Quite often even the best rooster becomes aggressive to children, they move erratically, prone to various vocalizations, and are so much smaller. I never recommend mixing the two, either keep the rooster penned when kids are around or don't keep a rooster.

 

[CrazyTalk]

I figured it wouldn't have been like this since they all grew up together since day 1

IMO, growing up hens and roosters together has a low success probability. The reason for this is that the roosters are sexually mature (and bigger than the hens will ever be) at about 3-4 months, and the hens won't even start to sexually mature for another two months.

So you've got all these horny cockerels chasing around unreceptive pullets, beating them up trying to mate with them, etc. There's no way for them to interact correctly, so they learn all sorts of bad habits.

I've had much better luck with roosters raised in flocks of adult hens - they get put in their place until the hens can't do it anymore, and then the hens happily submit.

 

[bubra007]

I just killed my first rooster yesterday and also used the broomstick method. It was quick, but like the other poster, I was wanting a quick painless death too, and nearly popped the head off in my enthusiasm!

I've had roosters before that I would rehome free to a good stockpot..lol...I knew this time around I didn't want to go through that again so I decided it was time to learn.I have 4 other roos that will be meeting my freezer soon, but I am going to try to fatten them up a little first.

 

[Klay]

So when I go into my chickens run I always try to hand feed all of the chickens even my big rooster (peanut). The only time he has tried to flog me was when it got dark and I picked up a hen she started to make a noise like she was hurt. So he was going to try and hurt whatever was doing it. So I guess he's starting to warm up to me and see me as a food supplier rather than a competitor.

 

[lilpuppet]

I have the same thing sadly im scared to let my kids out dogs out ect. He is very accepting of new birds we got 20 chicks and 4 ducks this yr buthe has bucked up at a few ppl and he trys to get me every chance he gets. I have poped my head out a window he tried to attack me. He has attacked the lawn mower i was on and more he loves my husband though. Eats out his hand lets him hold and pet him. Dislikes everyone else and absolutely hates me.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have the same thing sadly im scared to let my kids out dogs out ect. He is very accepting of new birds we got 20 chicks and 4 ducks this yr buthe has bucked up at a few ppl and he trys to get me every chance he gets. I have poped my head out a window he tried to attack me. He has attacked the lawn mower i was on and more he loves my husband though. Eats out his hand lets him hold and pet him. Dislikes everyone else and absolutely hates me.

He wouldn't last long around here, I'm not going to be terrorized by my poultry, that's no way to live.