How to RAISE a good rooster.

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So do you also raise your hens with hands off approach? and if not, I guess my biggest question is how do you tell who's the boys & who's the girls?

I do not over handle any of my chicks. I pick them up and move them outside and back in daily. I don't pet them. They all run from me when younger if I'm trying to catch them, but they learn quickly to run to me because of a daily helping of scrambled eggs which they love. I find food tames them quicker than handling.

When I order chicks I know which breeds are my roosters. Generally by 3-4 weeks I can start to tell which are the boys by comb development and behaviors if I have pullets in those breeds.

I don't generally start moving boys away from me until they start to sexually mature and they start harassing the pullet. That's when I start to teach them to stay back a respectful distance, and I make sure they move off when I come forward.

Occasionally a younger male chick is too forward so I will start teach them to stay back younger by catching them if they come up and restraining them for a bit.

 

[squat]

We have a Blue Copper Maran rooster that is wonderful with his 15 hens. He always warns them of danger and calls them to come when he sees a treat. We've had him from hatch and decided to keep him because he was so beautiful. My husband use to crow at him when he was young, but we learned that this was not a good practice. It would make him feel a threat and it caused him to be more aggressive. We decided to get him use to being held, so each evening we'd pick him up after he had gone in to roost and then hold him, pet him, and feed him scratch. At first his hackles would come up, but after he got use to being held, he stopped being so nervous. He still tries to run when you go to pet him or try to pick him up in the field, but once he's in your arms, he becomes very docile and seems to enjoy it. Because he's so big, it's fun to take a look close-up. The grandkids and neighbors love to see him and pet him, as long as I'm holding him. I don't let the smaller grandkids in the field with him because he will run after them to protect his hens. He never bothers adults.

 

[featherhead007]

Iim

I raise all my roosters with a hands off approach. They grow up weary of me and they keep their distance. When I approach they go the other way. A young rooster shouldn't be too forward or invade your personal space. I make sure as they mature they run from me. When they are mature, after 2 years, I don't care as much, and they usually become more friendly with age. After 2 years my roosters can do as they please. They remain respectful to me.

I raise multiple roosters a year. They are all different breeds. None are aggressive with me. So either my technique works 100% of the time, or it's me.

im pretty sure it's you!

 

[calamtykel]

We've been hatching eggs to maintain our flock for about 10 years. Because I can't tell a chick's gender they all get raised the same: I don't coddle them but I do try to handle them occasionally and keep them familiar with me. I've heard of aggressive roosters but never had one until last year. My wife and kids all mentioned that they were afraid because there was a rooster that would run at them when it saw them. I thought my family was just being skittish as none of my roosters were ever aggressive to me, including the one they pointed out. Yet that rooster suddenly started to get aggressive towards me too. Never before and never since, but that one rooster became aggressive. My flock is basically all descended from the same original birds, and as I noted, I treat them all the same from hatching. So my experience is that an aggressive rooster is going to be an aggressive rooster no matter how you breed it or raise it.

 

[Egg-alitarian]

So I've seen a lot of threads where people are asking for help with already adult, aggressive roosters. I have an approximately 7 1/2 week cockerel, and I really want him to turn out well-behaved. So, rather than wait till he's aggressive, is there a way to keep him from being aggressive ever in the first place? Thanks.

Look, I may be crazy, but I have a different approach... I adopted a roo from a friend because he was crazy, aggressive etc. She was throwing things at him and screaming when trying to pick him up to give me. I said "Can I just grab him?" So I scooped down, picked him up and carried him home. Every time he behaved aggressively in any way toward me, I would pick him up and we would walk around the yard, and I would tell him how it is... He would be kind of embarrassed really, esp. in front of the girls lol. I would feed him little treats. He became a very sweet boy. When he would occasionally get out of line, we would have another chat and walk about. He dutifully would find food treats in the yard for girls- would call them over to feed them, and would let out a holler when a predator is around- they all take off to get cover. He was the only problem child I ever had. But he became probably the sweetest, friendliest of them all. P.S. My neighbors would make up dialogues about what we were talking about as they watched us on our walks lol...

 

[PertyGertie]

None of that is raising a friendly rooster. That’s raising a rooster you never touch and when you do it’s with a net.

The OP asked how to raise a good rooster. The word “good” has different meanings to everyone. A bad rooster typically means one that attacks without provocation. Sounds like these people have a method and it works for them.

 

[helene15]

So I've seen a lot of threads where people are asking for help with already adult, aggressive roosters. I have an approximately 7 1/2 week cockerel, and I really want him to turn out well-behaved. So, rather than wait till he's aggressive, is there a way to keep him from being aggressive ever in the first place? Thanks.

hello i have had chickens and roosters for a good 6+years one of my boys who was a 10 pound .4 ounce white barred rock rooster all along he was great then all of a suden he became aggressive and even attacked me. since i had two roos a black whyandotte ducan and murphy i devided the run area in half using cage sections and chicken wire. the top is netted. for protection in NJ. i put duncan on one side with the black the other had the white hens. that worked out quitewell for years. all the flock had been handled since they were a day old. still friction developed the division worked out well and at night for protection of all i crated the roos. in hte morning they went out to the run and i seperated each when murphy got some kind of breathing problem which caused him to need medication. since i had to dispense it and it helped him well. his aggression disapated. greatly i recall a time when he jumped at me with his feet forward. sure i gave out a scream to stop NO it did not help but when he needed medical care he changed his dispositon quickly i wish you well. now the hens are 6+ yo luckily the roos are getting along well barron and goldy one is a coo coo maron the other i do not recall bye helene

 

[roosterhavoc]

The OP asked how to raise a good rooster. The word “good” has different meanings to everyone. A bad rooster typically means one that attacks without provocation. Sounds like these people have a method and it works for them.

I know what the OP asked. If a rooster is only touched with a net and moved from pen to pen how can you call it a “good rooster”? You could keep the meanest roosters alive in a pen 24/7 and still consider it non aggressive because you’re never giving them an opportunity to show whether or not they will act aggressively toward you.

 

[texas75563]

I keep about a dozen roosters at all times. I handle all my chicks regularly for about 2 weeks. Between 6 to 8 weeks they get moved to the chicken pen. I have 4 pens together separated by chicken wire. Between 4 to 6 months they get integrated in with the other hens and roosters.
I occasionally take a chair out to pens with treats. Majority of times I will just squat down or kneel to give them treats. When I go into the pens, I have hens and roosters all around me. Most of the time when I go inside the pens they are getting something: treat or putting feed in the feeders. They get fooled every now then when I go in to replace a water nipple.
Spending time with them works for me. I don't have any mean roosters. If you have read the posts up to this 1, everyone has their own way of doing things. It is up to you to choose what you want to do.
I agree with what some others have said, some breeds of chickens have more aggressive roosters than other breeds.

 

[danceswithronin]

I raised a White Plymouth Rock rooster that was completely gentle, I could just reach down and pick him up, never tried to flog me or anything like that despite being over four hens. I could take eggs out of the coop around him or move a hen, no problem.

Part of me thinks it is the breed, but I also think it is due to the fact that any time he got even a little assertive when he was younger, I'd shoot him down. He'd try to crowd the other chickens out during treat time, I'd turn my back on him and hand-feed the others. He'd come running up to me when I came in the run like "What are YOU doing here?! (without mealworms)" and I would just kind of move into his space with a real dominant energy/body language and make him back up until I could reach down and just pick him up, and then I would pet on him and gently talk to him about freezer camp and what happens to roosters who don't act nice.

So by the time he was like eight months old, he never came up to me with an attitude anymore, much less took after me. But his crowing started to get really obnoxious about that age so I rehomed him because I have suburban chickens.