How To Raise A Rooster

[Kleonaptra]

I'm really struggling with myself. I used to be a full on hippie bunny hugger. Now I live on the land and I try as hard as I can to maintain a no kill attitude, but sometimes a swift death really is the kindest thing. I'm confident I can work one roo, one way or the other, but if the second one is one too? I have all these flimsy suggestions in mind, but is it just kinder to break his neck then and there. If one of them goes for the kids or one of the smaller girls I fear my reaction. Realistically, if I end up breeding chooks, its a reality I have to face, roosters get eaten. Sigh. Nobodies crowing yet. I like to think Roo Beast and I have a bond I can work with.

 

[Kleonaptra]

Heres my new thread with pics
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1007880/one-roo-or-two

 

[MeepMeeps]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MeepMeeps

This is a great thread with lots of info and experienced opinions! I am a newbie and have come out of denial that I have a RIR rooster out of what were supposed to be 6 girls. He is 11 weeks and is a good guy (so far). Leads the girls but isn't too rough with them. I have been back and forth contemplating on trying to find him a home for a few reasons, mainly for the crowing and possible aggressive behavior in the future. After reading some of this thread I am now concerned because I have held each chick since they were born, and since then I have pet him, and held him where he is the only bird that would sit on my lap! How can I not enjoy that?! Back to the post about not holding them, petting, them etc... is there a chance that after a certain time to know whether or not he will be aggressive? He has not crowed yet. It was suggested that I wait it out to find him a home until it is a problem, but wouldn't that be harder in the end? ...Thanks for listening!

Hi again! So I am following up on my last post above about my RIR Roo. He is almost 14 wks (~3 months) old now and I heard him crow for the first time: 3 occasions in the past week. Not every day. He has a cute adolescent crow- He flaps his wings and crows 3-4 times in a row, around 10am - just once a day so far?! He just started to pinch the girl's necks and they scream sometimes.

I am surprised when I read that other people's roosters give their hens food; He steals treats away from the girls often, but they all do that to each other. Other than that, I have tried to follow the tips from this thread, i.e., not petting/holding him, feeding treats to him last, not turning my back, and instead walking toward him, respectfully, to show him I'm boss. His behavior has stayed pretty calm and

hoping he remains a good guy! I guess I can't worry about it too much, and just have fun with all of them.
Kleonaptra, any crowing from yours yet? Best to you with your roo(s)....

 

[microchick]

So glad to hear that your roo is behaving himself. I'm parting with our two bad boys. Tonight I was putting cold water in their coop before locking up and Bevis bit me a good one on my hand. He had pecked before, earning chastisement, but tonight he pecked then grabbed hold and twisted. Needless to say, it hurt. I just don't have any desire to be beat up anymore by them, not when I have three roosters that I can go into their pen, hand feed them treats and walk away unscathed...so far.

My boys were around that age when the hormones ramped up and the behaviors began. It's a crap shoot of sorts from now on. I just hope 4 weeks from now you still have a good rooster report to share with us.

 

[Kleonaptra]

No crowing yet. I gotta do something with wry tail and I don't know what. Roo Beast is great. He got uppity the other day and gave me a peck. I grabbed him and held him down and growled at him, as soon as he submitted I let him go. Since then he's been an angel. I feel I was a bit too hard but it seems no harm done at this stage. I really gotta get rid of wry tail before the weather heats up, they are worse together

 

[microchick]

No, Kleonaptra, you weren't harsh at all with him. I'm sorry to say that when Bevis (not his real name) bit me,hung on and started twisting his head (I still have the marks on my hand) I cuffed him a good one.

I've taken care of violent Alzheimers patients before and been to the point where I didn't want to go near them without 6 foot plus tall, 250 pound male CNA standing behind me watching my back and these two roosters almost have me to that point also. All I was doing last night was putting their fresh water in the coop. I wasn't making any attempt to touch them. I gave up on that after the last encounter when I got pecked by one and the other one came at me feet first while I was trying to put the bird that pecked me in a dominate 'down' position. At that point I had no illusions of being able to change their behavior and return them to the flock. My other three roosters keep a respectable distance from me unless I have a treat in my hand. I don't want my roosters to be pets. They have a job to do and that is taking care of the hens and propagating the species.

I remember years ago being in a pet store where they had an Amazon parrot as the store mascot. He was a beautiful male parrot and one day while I was there, the owner was handling him and the bird took a hold of his finger and bit down. He was able to get his finger loose and immediately cuffed the bird up along side his head. He quickly explained that the bird was powerful, young and capable of hurting somebody if he really clamped down on an unsuspecting victim. He had to know that was unacceptable behavior when he 'nipped' him.

I think the same goes with a rooster, so don't feel bad for correcting him. It won't be the last time that you will have to..

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Just got back from a ten day trip out of state. My very gentlemanly rooster was anything but with my chicken sitter. She was a predator out to get his ladies and chicks and no amount of treats was going to convince him otherwise.

So I guess before my next trip in October I'll see if I can get her to come over a LOT and gain his trust and respect. He seemed very glad and relieved to see me when I got home on Sunday. He ran right over and made the tid bitting call even before I put any scratch on the ground.

 

[MeepMeeps]

Thanks Microchick. Will see what the next 4 weeks brings! btw, he crowed a bit more today (just as I said he doesn't crow that much, go figure).

 

[Kleonaptra]

He's trying to crow today. Its very cute. Going"ook ook ak!" And frowning at himself.
I know with a breeding male its better to push a little too hard than let him think he won a point. I just felt bad but maybe he is just very good at the innocent act! My stallion did it to me plenty. It doesn't matter what the intent was, I disagreed with the action. Gotta be cold when they are young!

 

[song of joy]

I really need some advice! I'm new to raising roosters, so I'm hoping someone has expertise with this type of scenario.

I have a mixed-age flock ranging from 5 weeks to 2 years old. There are currently 17 birds, including 4 chicks, 4 pullets (15 to 19 weeks old), 1 cockerel (19 weeks old) and 8 hens. The problem is with the cockerel, of course! He is well-behaved around the chicks, who have a mother hen to protect them. He is also well-behaved around the hens, giving them a wide berth. He occasionally chases and tid-bits for 3 of the pullets, but I have not seen him try to mount them.

The problem is that he relentlessly pursues, grabs and tries to mount ONE of the pullets, which happens to be the one he was with the first 3 months of his life (his brooder buddy and "favorite pullet"). Unfortunately, she is very small and not yet mature enough to be mated. As a result, the constant chasing and mounting attempts left her with a limp.

I isolated the "favorite pullet" for several days and she's now walking OK, but anytime I try to put her back with the flock, the cockerel ambushes her. I'm afraid he's going to cripple her. I don't see a good solution other than isolating this cockerel and pullet from each other, which means isolating the cockerel or pullet from the rest of the flock, either completely or on a rotational basis.

Is it OK to isolate a single cockerel for several weeks within view of the flock, until the pullets are mature enough to accept his advances? If so, what are the pros and cons of doing this?