How do I tame my killer rooster??

[microchick]

I love roosters. I guess God knows that because all of my hatches are 80% male and I'm stuck with the little "Bleepers"

What has worked for me dealing with their teenage, I'm the boss and I will kill you if I have to attitude is that I catch the bird, dangle him upside down until he relaxes, then tuck him under my arm like a football and carry him around for a few minutes. Then I set them on the ground and push them down so their breasts are on the ground. If they fight me, I repeat #1 and #2 until they relent and allow me to put them in a 'mating' position.

I seldom have to do this more than twice before the rooster learns to stay away from me. If he doesn't change his ways, it's freezer camp for him. They don't have to be my buddy. They just have to behave themselves.

As to doing the football kick. I do not advocate cruelty to animals but just google rooster spur injuries. These guys can inflict some pretty horrendous wounds to legs. I've even read articles on line about roosters killing people by digging a spur in and hitting the femoral artery on their owner killing them.

You don't want to mess with a mean bird around kids.

I had a rooster early on that was a nice bird until I entered the run then he would come at me feet first. Trust me. They can hit with amazing force. I told my husband what he was doing and showed him a spur wound in the back of my leg (this rooster would attack when my back was turned) and he went out to the run. Sure enough, when he entered the rooster came at him also and was met with the side of his shoe. Rooster went flying without his wings. Bounced off the chain link fence and landed on his feet like 'what the H just happened to me?' and walked off never to be a problem again.

Sometimes you do what you have to do to protect yourself. No cruelty in intended. You are simply protecting yourself and others.

I read someplace that roosters rank high in the listing of 'dangerous' animals. I believe it and now breed for gentleness. I have about 20 roosters and each one is a sweetheart.

Work with your rooster but know when to give up and NEVER trust him around your kids even if he behaves himself around you. Kids look too much like threats to some birds and they will attack.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Chop House.

"When the need arises - and it does - you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out - that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse." - Robert A. Heinlein

I don't expect a chicken to act like a human, but i DO expect it to know its place in the flock. It is no kindness to allow an aggressor to live and continue abusing the innocent (or yourself) for reasons of emotion. Nor do I think it appropriate to "rehome" a rooster to someone unaware of his aggressive behaviors. As an NPIP certified breeder, I take flock security very seriously - poultry leaves my property, it doesn't re-enter.

Aggressive Roosters become meals for myself and my family.

I take no joy in it, but neither do I shirk from the duty. The bird has chosen its place in the culling line by its behaviors, I merely give motive force to its election.

You can try to rehabilitate - there are suggestions above for doing so. Maybe it works. Usually not. With children on property, I would not take the risk.

Both my wife and I have been flogged by aggressive roosters. Wounds from their spurs are deep, bleed profusely, tend to be "deep tissue" types concentrated near the vulnerable joints (around the ankle, under the knee, back of the calf, etc), and we all know where those chicken feet have been - there is an unusually high risk of infection from these wounds. A rooster gets to challenge me once. Anyone else, or a second time, it goes to freezer camp that day.

 

[microchick]

Chop House.

"When the need arises - and it does - you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out - that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse." - Robert A. Heinlein

I don't expect a chicken to act like a human, but i DO expect it to know its place in the flock. It is no kindness to allow an aggressor to live and continue abusing the innocent (or yourself) for reasons of emotion. Nor do I think it appropriate to "rehome" a rooster to someone unaware of his aggressive behaviors. As an NPIP certified breeder, I take flock security very seriously - poultry leaves my property, it doesn't re-enter.

Aggressive Roosters become meals for myself and my family.

I take no joy in it, but neither do I shirk from the duty. The bird has chosen its place in the culling line by its behaviors, I merely give motive force to its election.

You can try to rehabilitate - there are suggestions above for doing so. Maybe it works. Usually not. With children on property, I would not take the risk.

Both my wife and I have been flogged by aggressive roosters. Wounds from their spurs are deep, bleed profusely, tend to be "deep tissue" types concentrated near the vulnerable joints (around the ankle, under the knee, back of the calf, etc), and we all know where those chicken feet have been - there is an unusually high risk of infection from these wounds. A rooster gets to challenge me once. Anyone else, or a second time, it goes to freezer camp that day.

Ahhh A Life and Loves of Lazarus Long fan!

 

[Chickassan]

Aggression is one of those things that has its proper place when it comes to cockerels.
There may come a time when he'd have no choice but to try to defend his ladies but a good fella will only resort to this if there are no other options as it may mean death for him.
You and your family are not threats unless you are loud and move quickly seemingly without purpose around the flock.
If you are doing that he is perceiving you and yours as threats and he's doing his job.

If you are not he isn't living up to what most people would consider to be a proper flock leader.
Remember he's a chicken, there are things he's ingrained to do.
1.Protect the flock to keep his genetics going.
2.Find food so #1 can happen successfully

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Ahhh A Life and Loves of Lazarus Long fan!

I'm full of useful quotes, they tend to be more succinct than I.

'Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock.'

'The dosage is the Poison'

and of course, shooting the dog. It seems to come up a lot around here, while the top most quote was NEVER popular in business meetings reviewing metrics. The middle quote comes up a bit here, too. Usually in feed discussions.

 

[Outta Here]

Cuddling won't work. Recently I raised the male chick the same as I raise my pullets, with hours and hours of holding and petting. He became my sweetest lap baby, and he never thought of me as a threat to his pullets because they were unafraid lap babies, too.....
Then he hit puberty and one day when I was sitting on the grass in the midst of the relaxed flock, he attacked me viciously, for no reason whatsoever. He was not "doing his job" because none of the girls were upset. Most were dozing!
First I talked kindly to him and invited him into my lap and petted him a bit, but he repeated the attack. Then I reacted swiftly with a mighty smack that sent him backwards. Over the next couple weeks I tried ignoring him, but he just started attacking behind my back. See my post about my most recent monster cockerel and the advice everyone kindly gave: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/alas-my-rooster-and-i-broke-up.1477198/ I was lucky that my hermit neighbor wanted him to join his huge flock, fully aware he was aggressive and fully ready to eat him if necessary.
I've never rehabilitated a truly mean rooster with discipline either. Besides, booting him across the barnyard or fending him off with a rake every day leaves an unpleasant feel to your egg-gathering morning. Your chickens are supposed to be relaxing and fun for you--why have to go to war with an aggressive rooster day in and day out?
More importantly, if you have children, a mean rooster can cause permanent physical and mental scarring. Don't chance it.
I've killed several mean roosters, mostly for attacking my children or grandchildren. The first rooster I ever killed 44 years ago attacked and spurred my toddler on the ground. I kicked him flying, but he flew back up to attack the crying child in my arms! Mother instinct raged and that rooster was dead in seconds. Still holding my baby, I grabbed his neck with my free hand, and grabbed his head with the hand that held the child. An impassioned and angry yank did the job quickly. (By the way, without adrenaline giving extra strength and speed, I wouldn't recommend this method.)
Another time a RIR attacked a grandchild, slicing her leg. My husband got his gun and shot it while she watched with approval, restoring her confidence that her grandparents would never intentionally keep a dangerous animal where she was allowed to play.
LizzyJo said, "Making "rooster revenge chicken noodle soup" is the easiest first dispatch of a chicken" and she's right.
I have two roosters now that are wonderful. The year-old Bielefelder I bought to replace my cuddled but mean RIR is the best guardian of the flock ever and super sweet to me and them. And the 14-week Barred Rock that I also raised with cuddling did not turn mean. Life is too short to live with a mean rooster.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

Culling humanely is more kind than kicking an animal in the face as a way to train it.

Well I don't mean actually in the face, and this really only works if their just puffing up at you and following you around. But yes, the best thing to do would really be to cull it.

 

[Outta Here]

Culling humanely is more kind than kicking an animal in the face as a way to train it.

Yes, sadly, it does finally come down to that. Though most "boots" a rooster receives is a startled, instinctive human reaction of self-defense, daily fighting a mean rooster just arouses his battle lust. When the rooster doesn't give in (remember, the deplorable "sport" of cock fighting is based on their refusal to give in), we have to make a decision. But the decision is not for the rooster's sake; it's for our sake.
The rooster certainly wouldn't consider the ax kinder--he would prefer to live and fight us daily. But to allow him to live with us, we will constantly have to act aggressively at some level to protect ourselves from him. What does performing that aggression daily do to us? It makes us angry, upset, vengeful, and (hopefully) repelled by having to do it. None of those emotions should be continually self-inflicted just to save the life of a dangerous bird. The ax is kinder and more humane. To us.

 

[Chickassan]

Ugh, I hate you got a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I've always stood by that the personality is there no matter how you raise one.
If he's bad, he's bad and nothing you did caused it and nothing you can do will fix it.
You just learn it's a battle that isn't winnable or explainable.

Cuddling won't work. Recently I raised the male chick the same as I raise my pullets, with hours and hours of holding and petting. He became my sweetest lap baby, and he never thought of me as a threat to his pullets because they were unafraid lap babies, too.....
Then he hit puberty and one day when I was sitting on the grass in the midst of the relaxed flock, he attacked me viciously, for no reason whatsoever. He was not "doing his job" because none of the girls were upset. Most were dozing!
First I talked kindly to him and invited him into my lap and petted him a bit, but he repeated the attack. Then I reacted swiftly with a mighty smack that sent him backwards. Over the next couple weeks I tried ignoring him, but he just started attacking behind my back. See my post about my most recent monster cockerel and the advice everyone kindly gave: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/alas-my-rooster-and-i-broke-up.1477198/ I was lucky that my hermit neighbor wanted him to join his huge flock, fully aware he was aggressive and fully ready to eat him if necessary.
I've never rehabilitated a truly mean rooster with discipline either. Besides, booting him across the barnyard or fending him off with a rake every day leaves an unpleasant feel to your egg-gathering morning. Your chickens are supposed to be relaxing and fun for you--why have to go to war with an aggressive rooster day in and day out?
More importantly, if you have children, a mean rooster can cause permanent physical and mental scarring. Don't chance it.
I've killed several mean roosters, mostly for attacking my children or grandchildren. The first rooster I ever killed 44 years ago attacked and spurred my toddler on the ground. I kicked him flying, but he flew back up to attack the crying child in my arms! Mother instinct raged and that rooster was dead in seconds. Still holding my baby, I grabbed his neck with my free hand, and grabbed his head with the hand that held the child. An impassioned and angry yank did the job quickly. (By the way, without adrenaline giving extra strength and speed, I wouldn't recommend this method.)
Another time a RIR attacked a grandchild, slicing her leg. My husband got his gun and shot it while she watched with approval, restoring her confidence that her grandparents would never intentionally keep a dangerous animal where she was allowed to play.
LizzyJo said, "Making "rooster revenge chicken noodle soup" is the easiest first dispatch of a chicken" and she's right.
I have two roosters now that are wonderful. The year-old Bielefelder I bought to replace my cuddled but mean RIR is the best guardian of the flock ever and super sweet to me and them. And the 14-week Barred Rock that I also raised with cuddling did not turn mean. Life is too short to live with a mean rooster.

 

[microchick]

Sometime ago, either here or on another forum I read a story about a mean rooster who would attack anyone who step out of a car or on the poster's mothers property. Just a mean thing with feathers. One day the son came over to visit and sure enough the rooster came at him and he gave it the boot.

Years later he said, he was talking to his mother and she asked him if he remembered that mean rooster she had back when and he said yes he did. Well seems that he mysteriously turned up dead and she never figured out what happened to him.

The son confessed that he had attacked him one time too many and he, not meaning to kill the bird gave him the toe end of his boot and ended his reign of terror.

I agree. If something is attacking you, instinct kicks in.....literally.