Hey Pete: I'm NOT a chicken!!

[Chickenaddict]

Quote:
Grab him and hold him tight for a good 10 minutes everytime he tries to go after you. Not saying that will always work but some have had success with it. The rule of thumb on roo to hen ratio is for every roo your suppose to have 10-12 hens. If not when they hit that age where they will fight each other and tear up the hens from overmating them. Your best bet is to either get more hens or part with 1 or 2 roos.

 

[karinaspiraling]

Whoa...that's a ratio worth considering. Yep, not getting that many hens!!

I was thinking about grabbing him, and I used to hold him, but with this new behavior I'm pretty scared of him..The first time he did it we went back and forth a few times, with him coming back at me each time and at least once fluffing up and flapping...I'm afraid if I try to grab him it puts my face {eyes} too close to his beak and I could end up pretty hurt. Whatcha think?

 

[trooper]

They will be stuck inside alot during the winter.This leaves alot of time for them to fight and run your hens ragged.If it was me I would keep one and find homes for the others.There ain't much for them to do in the winter when inside because of the weather(Get my drift)When you order this spring then you can get however many roosters you need.Just something to think about.The straw end of the broom doesn't hurt them,you have a better chance of making contact,and they learn.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Quote:
Those foam pool noodles work well for playing baseball with roosters too without hurting the bird. Winter the problem will get worse trust me, I have 5 roos in the house right now because of fighting (no more outbuilding space). Here you can't give roosters away. Birds get really bored over winter with nothing to forage for thats why I say its gonna get worse. I have a flock of 37 birds, 2 are call ducks 35 are banties. out of the 35 chickens I had 8 roos in the flock the rest were hens and pullets close to laying age plus I let them free range in the fenced in backyard that is about half acre or more. Even with the freedom and space the boys got into it.

 

[karinaspiraling]

Worse? Oh crap. Alright, looks like my friends are getting a rooster. I'm in North Carolina, and was thinking it best to wait until spring for more hens, although I am not going to get chicks but will get ones a bit older. Do you think I should consider getting more hens now?

 

[Chickenaddict]

Quote:
What worked well for me to hold them was once you had them, hold the wings close to their body so they can't flap about. Calmly and gently flip that roo on his back in your lap and keep him there for awhile.Once they are on their backs they tend to settle down. Even if you kept one roo and still only had the 2 hens those girls will be put thru the ringer until you get some backup in there. I learned the hard way about hen to roo ratios going into this a few years back. I started out with 52 chicks from a hatchery. We raised them in the heated garage over winter, come spring we lost over half of them the first few weeks from the stress of the shipping and wound up with about 27 when all was said and done. Once they wrre big and feathered out they started killing each other. Most of them were roos but we were so new to chickens we had no idea why they had been killing each other like that. We figured out later it was because of soo many roos in the bunch, A few of the hens had been pecked to death. It quickly turned into a horrible nightmare. We were fortunate to have found an animal swap they have once a month at the feed store, we took the excess roos and a few hens we didn't care for to the swap and sold them as soon as the tailgate of the truck went down. What a relief that was! A few of the roos we kept back were 1 bantam cochin, 1 golden laced wyandotte roo, and 1 cuckooo marans who was a total NUTCASE. Earl the cuckoo marans was the one who attacked me, not only did he attack me everytime I went outside, he stalked me, dodging behind trees trying to creep up behind me. He would wait for me to bend down to fill the feed pan or something before he came in for the attack. He used my back as a ramp to my head, stood on the back of my neck and shredded my head. A pool noodle wouldn't stop him, I had to take the pitch fork to him...So some can be more difficult then others. Earl went to a new home where he became a nice meal for a family in need.

 

[drumstick diva]

I think even with more hens he will still be aggressive to you because he figures you are an easy mark. The broom will deflect him some but, he will be watching for days when you forget to bring it. It really does spoil your enjoyment of your little flock, if you have to have eyes behind your head to watch HIM every minute. Carrying a broom constantly will also get in the way of what you really want to be doing. You don't mention kids but, if you have any or they come to visit, the problem will probably escalate to him attacking them as well. Not fun. If you get more hens NOW, you have tyo go thru the quarantine process and them likely you will be having pecking order problems where they may bully your present hens. You really don't need that AND a Pain in the posterior rooster.

I would rehome him asap. Would you really be getting new hens IF it weren't for him ?

 

[Chickenaddict]

I would get a few more hens for the roo you decide to keep, it will be beneficial to all birds especially in winter, the more birds you have the warmer they will stay

 

[karinaspiraling]

ROTFL...Oh My GOD!!! I'd probably have a heart attack if he jumped on my head. And shredding your head??? I'm envisioning not the pitchfork, but you reaching up behind your own head and grabbing the little jerk by the next and flinging him to the ground. Maybe I'm dreaming. I'm freaked enough with him on my feet! Lol...Your whole description of your chicken stalker is insane. Wow.

So, the part of grabbing him is that he comes at me from in front of me, so I'd have to lean down to grab him...That's where I worry about my face & eyes.

That's crazy really about your whole initial experience. Do you think the distributor was too big to be sending out friendly birds or something?

You are definitely motivating me to get rid of this rooster, and to look into more hens before things get wacky around here...

 

[karinaspiraling]

@Drumstick Diva,
Yes, I need to get more hens anyway, because we're down to two. I was holding off because I was thinking this wasn't a great time of year to get into quarantining and everything, but maybe I need to? And with only two hens, I guess I can't get more than two new ones or they'll gang up my my girls? That means rehoming two roosters. Well, Jon & Maria will happily keep one roo for their girls and invite us to dinner with the other one..