How to deal with aggressive Silkie rooster?

[Bulcaoma]

Soup him. In general once a roo starts being human aggressive it's not fixable. Not only that but he'll pass on his bad attitude to any chicks he fathers

This only works to prolong a previous method, like carrying him around. When it appears he's reverting back, it's facing him squarely and loudly yell at him to back off. It's the body language you give when you're mad and scolding (yelling at them while pointing finger or shaking fist). They don't know we're mad nor understand barely anything we ever say, but your body language is telling them you're not a force to be reckoned with right now.

Remember, it's his age right now. As others have said, he could be like this forever, but he also could be just fine. He needs a chance.

Thank you Debbie292d. I'm hoping, like with a human teenager, we'll get through this on the other side of the hormone surge

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Please excuse that this is long to avoid unnecessary questions ahead of time. This is my first flock.

One of my black Silkie roosters started attacking me occasionally 3 weeks ago. Pic is of him 2 months ago. I have 16 hens (of 8 different breeds) and 2 black Silkie roosters all 6 months old that I raised together since chicks. At about 4 months the 2 roosters figured out their pecking order. The hens are all laying and both roosters are contently mating with them.

Their coop is 100 square ft, run is 75x150 ft with lots of grass, bushes, covered areas, compost bin, etc. I don't think they're stressed due to space.

All was well until 3 weeks ago when 1 rooster (top guy) flogged my leg from behind. Seemed silly at first because when i turned around he pretended nothing happened and was happily pecking at the ground. It started only from behind but now he'll also randomly run at me from the front grabbing my pant leg and trying to attack with his feet. Wonder if I was not paying attention initial time, that gave him a taste of dominance or it's just his age. Sometimes he just pecks at ground like nothing happened, other times he keeps looking at me walking around.

Since then I've changed my behavior. I give him space. Walk slowly, making sure he knows I'm around. I praise him when he's showing the hens food or is crowing. Try always facing him. If he eyes me or runs at me i don't stop making eye contact and I yell "hey, stop" and get big, also have something in my hand just in case. I have flung him a few times when he grabbed my pant leg from the front. I only wear pants now in the coop. He's actually never come at me in shorts, but I'm not risking it.

Since he's a Silkie, he's less capable of damage than other roosters, so yelling "stop it, you little shit!" while getting him off my leg with a fling works, but hasn't stopped the behavior.

I have read advice to let roosters be/ignore, attack back, give them food first or cuddle them . Any advice on particular breed? Or age /situation specific? I'm not interested in rooster soup if I can avoid it. So, please advice other than to just cull him. He's good to the hens and we don't have children under 17. Plus being a Silkie, his feet barely scratch, he can can't fly, and he's small.

Thank you for all your expertise.


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not exactly a silkie, but I recently had an issue with an aggressive Plymouth Rock. he was a good boy, and a gentleman to the hens. however, he became human aggressive, and being over a year old, was not likely to calm down. it got worse when my Rhode Island Red boy matured, and after a few errant kicks (self defense, I'm a small woman and Buddy the Barred Rock was like 2 feet tall, what else do you do when a modern velociraptor nearly half your size comes sprinting at you), he started attacking all the time. he was my first roo, and I really didn't want to kill him, so I found a local farm that was taking in unwanted birds for their hatchery business. maybe not the best idea, as violent tendencies can be inherited, but he was special to me and I hope he went back to being a good boy when he had a larger amount of hens and less competition.