How to prevent an aggressive cockerel

[chicksurreal]

Hi,

Some of you may remember my old thread about my aggressive cockerel Asparagus? (you can see here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/786119/aggressive-cockerel) After reading it yous will see how stressful it all was for me. It was such a big decision to get a new boy, but I decided to get one and I really regret it because I'm scared of what he might do. He is a Jersey Giant and was bullied in his old home. This is what I have posted on another group:

So new boy is ok so far. He started mating some of the hens in front of me so I walked over and he got off and walked away. I'm desperate for him not to turn aggressive and he is about the same age asparagus was when he turned. Was it right of me to stop him mating or will that make him worse? He also moved out of my way when I walked directly towards him. I was giving the girls some hand fed corn and he came over. Not sure if it was to eat out from the hand, to attack me or he just wanted some. Either way I didn't risk it because when asparagus did that he flapped at me and I was kneeling down so was close to my face.

You have a beautiful flock! I hope your new roo works out for you.

I have to say, I never try to interfere when our cockerel tries to mate, I think that might make him feel like he has to compete with you.

 

[PimentoPlymouth]

I think alot of it has to do with mother nature. I have had 5 roos so my expierence is limited compared to most. I have been lucky that most of them have been tame enough to the point they wouldnt flog me. Except for my BR Roo he was a pistol. He was my first roo and my wife and I handle them alot when they were chicks hand fed them growing up and carried them around alot. He was good until he hit maturity and then out of nowhere one day he flogged me. So I picked him up and carried him around the yard and while carrying him he pecked my ear. My wife was terrified of him and would carry around a leaf rack to defend herself . Needless to say he didnt last long and was dinner one night. We then hatched 7 Barnyard mix eggs and 3 of course were roos. They all did really well with humans when they hit maturity but we just needed to them some out I felt it was to much stress on the hens with the ratios being so low. Last but not least right now I have a GLW roo and hes not much on me picking him up but he was raised by a broody hen but he isnt aggresive at all. He will eat out of my hand and is very good with the hens. He plays referree alot when the girls arent playing nice but has never been mean to any chicken or human. The only time I seen him aggresive was when a stray cat thought it would be a good idea to snoop around when they were free ranging. The roo didnt like it and chased it off and I never seen the cat again haha. So i think you can influence a roos behavior but some breeds are different than others. My friend has a BLRW roo and he will jump up in his lap when he sits down and just hang out.

 

[chicksurreal]

I think alot of it has to do with mother nature. I have had 5 roos so my expierence is limited compared to most. I have been lucky that most of them have been tame enough to the point they wouldnt flog me. Except for my BR Roo he was a pistol. He was my first roo and my wife and I handle them alot when they were chicks hand fed them growing up and carried them around alot. He was good until he hit maturity and then out of nowhere one day he flogged me. So I picked him up and carried him around the yard and while carrying him he pecked my ear. My wife was terrified of him and would carry around a leaf rack to defend herself

. Needless to say he didnt last long and was dinner one night. We then hatched 7 Barnyard mix eggs and 3 of course were roos. They all did really well with humans when they hit maturity but we just needed to them some out I felt it was to much stress on the hens with the ratios being so low. Last but not least right now I have a GLW roo and hes not much on me picking him up but he was raised by a broody hen but he isnt aggresive at all. He will eat out of my hand and is very good with the hens. He plays referree alot when the girls arent playing nice but has never been mean to any chicken or human. The only time I seen him aggresive was when a stray cat thought it would be a good idea to snoop around when they were free ranging. The roo didnt like it and chased it off and I never seen the cat again haha. So i think you can influence a roos behavior but some breeds are different than others. My friend has a BLRW roo and he will jump up in his lap when he sits down and just hang out.

I agree with you about much of it having to do with Mother Nature. I believe that chickens are like anything (anyone) else, some of their behavior is genetic, some is species related and some is just personality. They are individuals too! I've noticed that our remaining roo has a distinctive personality. I believe that each chicken, regardless of gender, has their own distinctive traits that makes them unique. They are flock animals, but that doesn't prevent them from having a personality and individuality.

I admit, when our cockerel flogged me (slight as it was), I wondered if we would be able to keep him. I had read quite a few posts here that stated if a roo flogged you he was beyond hope and should be condemned to the stew pot. I won't judge people who decide to do that, but I'm so glad we gave ours a bit of time to grow up. He's still not a mature rooster at 24 weeks old, but he's made such huge leaps in that direction that I am very glad we didn't immediately cull him.

 

[PimentoPlymouth]

I didnt just put him on the table after the first time sorry for the confusion. I let him go about 8 months before it was time to go. It got to the point where the wife wouldnt go to the coop and our 3 yr old couldnt be around them because the roo was aggresive. He didnt bother me to much as I mostly wore jeans but still couldnt take the chance with the little one. No one wanted to take him due to the fact of him being aggresive. He was good with the hens just not a human person. It was hard because I knew he seen us as a threat and was just doing what nature taught him to do which was protect his flock. Just a wild roo that had to go due to safety issues.

 

[Johnn]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Mine is 6 month old (so 24 weeks too!). One thing that triggered me to get him is that on all the pages about his breed it said "the roosters are rarely aggressive and are labelled as 'gentle giants'". I hope he does stay good. I picked up one of the girls to give her medicine yesterday and he didn't react when I picked her up and he didnt react when she started screaming, so I guess thats good? They were in the feeding pen yesterday and I walked through to go get the eggs and he moved out of my path to the other side of the feeder when I walked through.

Also, My first cockerel, Rocky was about 4 when I got him and lived till 9. He was honestly the most nice cockerel ever. What I found weird is that he would never eat out of my hand but then when it came to his last year, he started! He never showed me any aggression at all. He let me pick the girls up and I could let him mate infront of me. When Asparagus came, he sometimes used to defend me when I was getting attacked by him. He sadly died a couple of months after Asparagus's aggression and thats when Asparagus got worse. I tried letting Asparagus eat out my hand but he just saw it as an opportunity to get me in the face.

 

[Johnn]

Also, one thing I find really weird is that I have been attacked by 3 cockerels in my life (2 not mine, 1 Asparagus) and all 3 were Cuckoo Marans...

 

[chicksurreal]

I didnt just put him on the table after the first time sorry for the confusion. I let him go about 8 months before it was time to go. It got to the point where the wife wouldnt go to the coop and our 3 yr old couldnt be around them because the roo was aggresive. He didnt bother me to much as I mostly wore jeans but still couldnt take the chance with the little one. No one wanted to take him due to the fact of him being aggresive. He was good with the hens just not a human person. It was hard because I knew he seen us as a threat and was just doing what nature taught him to do which was protect his flock. Just a wild roo that had to go due to safety issues.

Oh, I wasn't talking about your post.

I have just read on here many times that people only give their roos one chance and if they ever once show any signs of aggression, they're gone. I agree that when children are present there can be no chances taken.

 

[Johnn]

I'm thinking hes going to be aggressive now. Today when I went to see them he stuff at the side of my path and it looked like he was holding his wings out a bit. I didnt want to walk past him so I threw some food on the ground for the girls and then walked over to the feeding pen and put it in their feeders.

 

[chicksurreal]

I'm thinking hes going to be aggressive now. Today when I went to see them he stuff at the side of my path and it looked like he was holding his wings out a bit. I didnt want to walk past him so I threw some food on the ground for the girls and then walked over to the feeding pen and put it in their feeders.

I'm not sure how long you've had him, but maybe he's still trying to settle in? I know that when my SS Hamburg cockerel started his little dance around me, putting his wing out and trying to intimidate me, I backed him up and made him leave the area. He was young, 18 weeks, just getting his hormonal craziness.

He hit me on the back of leg with his wing one other time and I put a stop to it right then, not letting him think he even had a chance of being the "boss" of me. I do think some roos will try to show dominance if they can with their people, it doesn't necessarily mean they will be mean, but just being a rooster. If you let him get away with showing dominance to you, he will most likely continue the behavior though, at least that's what I've read.

I'm not going to let a 6 pound bird scare me ( it looks like your roo is bigger than that). I used to be afraid of roosters because my grandfather had game roosters when I was a child and I got attacked by one. I finally got over it and one way of doing that was to get chickens and prove to myself that I could handle it.

Edited to add - Not sure where you're at, but we got pretty warm here yesterday, about 80 degrees, and a few of my chickens, cockerel included, were holding their wings out a bit away from their bodies to cool off. Are you sure he was trying to be aggressive?

 

[Johnn]

I'm not sure how long you've had him, but maybe he's still trying to settle in? I know that when my SS Hamburg cockerel started his little dance around me, putting his wing out and trying to intimidate me, I backed him up and made him leave the area. He was young, 18 weeks, just getting his hormonal craziness.

He hit me on the back of leg with his wing one other time and I put a stop to it right then, not letting him think he even had a chance of being the "boss" of me. I do think some roos will try to show dominance if they can with their people, it doesn't necessarily mean they will be mean, but just being a rooster. If you let him get away with showing dominance to you, he will most likely continue the behavior though, at least that's what I've read.

I'm not going to let a 6 pound bird scare me ( it looks like your roo is bigger than that). I used to be afraid of roosters because my grandfather had game roosters when I was a child and I got attacked by one. I finally got over it and one way of doing that was to get chickens and prove to myself that I could handle it.

Edited to add - Not sure where you're at, but we got pretty warm here yesterday, about 80 degrees, and a few of my chickens, cockerel included, were holding their wings out a bit away from their bodies to cool off. Are you sure he was trying to be aggressive?

It's 0 degrees here in the UK. Having watched Asparagus build up to attacking me I know the signs and the new boy is definitely thinking about it. I have a thread on here saying "is my cockerel going to attack me?" a couple of days before he did. I guess the only way I'm going to know for sure is if I just walk past him and see what he does. I would rather he attacked me now then later when I'm attached to him. I don't know why I'm scared of being attacked, Asparagus never hurt me but I just don't like it. I'm not sure how to react if he does. I usually hold my boot up and kick back at him if he goes too far but some people say that is bad but I'm not letting him attack me. His owners agreed to have him back if he became aggressive but i think they will think im making it up because I mentioned aggression all the time.