Help with a rooster

[lilofthestars]

Good morning all we adopted a rooster from our neighbor. He’s an Astrolope beautiful black rooster.
They have too many roosters over there cause they hatched them out and this rooster didn’t like it too much so he’s been coming over to my yard for a while now and I seen we’ve had some predator attacks. We kept the chicken safe, but I still got a little concerned, so the neighbor gave us the rooster But the last few days he’s been jumping near my feet. and yesterday I was walking up the stairs and he jumped down. My legs didn’t hurt me, but knocked my shoe off. What is his intentions? Anybody know I looked it up, but I gave many answers. I spoil all my chickens and even the rooster, I don’t know what he’s thinking. Is he trying to be sweet or is he trying to be mean? If I pick up the hen he doesn’t do anything. Any suggestions will be helpful

 

[azygous]

I'm going to assume this rooster is still a cockerel and is trying to establish his dominance. Not just dominance over the flock but also dominance over you.

There are many many good threads here on training a cockerel to behave. Look them up. But basically, you need to establish that you are the dominant one, not him.

When he blocks your way, walk toward him and through him as if he wasn't there. If he physically attacks you, you must reach down quickly and pin him to the ground. Hold him down until he stops struggling and lies there still.

Under no circumstances should you hit or hurt him. Fear and pain will only make him worse.

Be consistent with this training, ignoring him the rest of the time, allowing him to have his relationships with the hens without your interference. This will establish mutual respect and he should become a well behaved roo.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I'm going to assume this rooster is still a cockerel and is trying to establish his dominance. Not just dominance over the flock but also dominance over you.

There are many many good threads here on training a cockerel to behave. Look them up. But basically, you need to establish that you are the dominant one, not him.

When he blocks your way, walk toward him and through him as if he wasn't there. If he physically attacks you, you must reach down quickly and pin him to the ground. Hold him down until he stops struggling and lies there still.

Under no circumstances should you hit or hurt him. Fear and pain will only make him worse.

Be consistent with this training, ignoring him the rest of the time, allowing him to have his relationships with the hens without your interference. This will establish mutual respect and he should become a well behaved roo.

Human aggression, often times cannot be trained out of cockerel, or rooster, especially if it's genetic.
Environmental, & hormonal aggression can be resolved though.

 

[Mrs. K]

This frequently happens, people with multiple roosters will cull an aggressive rooster, and the former mild rooster comes into his 'oats' so to speak and becomes aggressive.Over at the other place, he was not top dog. Because there were so many bigger, more aggressive roosters, he was kept in check.

Now, he is the only rooster, and he is changing. If what Azygous recommends does not work within a short amount of time, and in fact he gets worse, I would cull him. ESPECIALLY if you have children under the age of 6. They can take an attack in the face.

I would expect this behavior to get worse. Inexperienced people tend to vastly underestimate how violent an attack can become. Inexperienced people tend to make excuses for him, as in I was wearing the wrong color, or I startled him, touched his chickens, yada, yada, yada. This forum is filled with posts where the darling becomes the nightmare.

Personally I would cull him from my flock.

Mrs K