How To Raise A Rooster

[HighStreetCoop]

Hi Again All! Reporting back on my rooster, Big Red. He is a gentleman. We really enjoy him. I am fortunate to be home often so I can observe my chicken's behaviors.
Some days he crows more than others, but overall its not that bad. I am lucky my neighbors do not mind.
None of the 5 girls wanted to mate with him at first but eventually one by one (week after week) they learned to tolerate him more (and hence the screaming has mostly stopped!). The first one to "accept" him was the runt (or last in pecking order) Ruby, who is also a RIR, like him. She is now the Queen! Big Red gives her treats all the time. I didn't believe my ears and eyes at first when I saw he would take a morsel, keep it in his mouth while calling her over with a funny trill noise, then give it to her. She was also the first to lay an egg at 18 weeks. About 2 weeks later, our buff orpington Buffy accepted him and so he started to give her treats. She turned out to be the 2nd one to lay.
They all free range and stick together. Believe it or not, we have seen Big Red on more than one occasion lead Ruby or Buffy back to the coop so they could lay an egg, and lead the other girls away from the coop so they can have their privacy. It is quite amazing to watch! And I'm so lucky the two are using 1 nest box and not laying in the woods (I'm keeping an eye on it thought still). He often sings the egg song with them, mostly so he can greet the girl and tell her "Good job! Now come, we're over here!"
Lately he is giving treats to the 2 Black Australorps and mating with them. No eggs from them yet that I know of, and I'm hoping any day since the group is about 22-23 weeks old at this point.
The Golden Laced Wyandotte has become last of the pecking order, and she avoids Big Red when he tries to go for her. Because of the behavior patterns, we are guessing she might be last to lay.

So far, I have to say, my experience with these chickens has been amazing and very rewarding. Thanks for all the encouragement and advice about raising roosters!

This is pretty much my experience, too. My boy behaves just like that with this girls and was super adorable with them when they went broody and had chicks. I had a bit of drama when he suddenly flogged me from out of the blue, but I quickly figured out that he simply doesn't like trousers! I guess I didn't wear them enough when they were small (I vastly prefer maxi dresses to any other clothing option), LOL! So I just keep a long wrap skirt by the back door for days when I'm wearing jeans and we haven't had a repeat of that behavior.

 

[microchick]

Welcome to the club. Only, one of our roosters doesn't like bright colored shoes. One day out of the blue, one of our Welsummer roosters flew at one of my feet. He's never had a cross word to any human so it was quite a surprise. Looking down it dawned on me that I had on bright pink clogs and his aggression was centered at the 'pink' part of the clog and not the black sole. Two days ago, I forgot and wore those clogs outside and stopped by the hen house to look for eggs. Once again, I felt a hard 'peck' on my foot, hard enough to make me jump, and looked down to see Rooster giving my pink clog the stink eye and getting ready to peck it again. Then yesterday, he let out a loud 'danger' call and came at my foot from behind. I had on Nike running shoes which have bright yellow soles on them along with bright yellow laces.

This boy does not like loud colored foot wear. A fashion diva he isn't. I changed my shoes and suddenly our Buff O rooster was giving the laces the stink eye and trying to grab one of them. I think he thought they were a worm or snake. This rooster is so much like the OP's. He loves the ladies and guards them ferociously, even though he and Rooster are constantly fighting over the Alpha position and sometimes he looses for a few days. He always has four or 5 hens following around him and these ladies get extra treats from him. Yesterday, though, I saw him actually get mad at one of his hens. I had given them a few grasshoppers. Two he had killed and passed to his girls. The third, you could tell, he wanted for himself but one of the hens reached in and swiped it from him. Man did he cut loose on her. She couldn't mistake the fact that he was PO'ed at her.

The amazing thing about young roosters is that they are constantly changing and their personalities emerging. I have to admit that the girls are sweet, but I have always been partial to the roosters with their blustering, chest puffing, wing flapping, hackle raising personas. When you get a good one that takes care of the hens, is fun to watch and 95% respectful to the humans, they are fun to have around. When you get a bad one, you enjoy roasting him to a golden brown and biting into one of his crispy skinned legs.

Glad to hear that your boy turned out to be one of those birds.

 

[MeepMeeps]

Thanks all. I hope he stays nice, I know he's still young. Those are funny stories about the roos being picky about clothing and colors. Right now I have 2 black aussies that have been practicing laying for the past 3 days, and he follows them to the coop or he shouts the egg song with them, and gives them treats. They both laid their first eggs yesterday, but soft shell. (I think one broke when she laid it?) so I've been worried and reading up on that lately

Hope its nothing serious....there's always something new, being a newbie....

 

[Pork Pie]

Thanks all. I hope he stays nice, I know he's still young. Those are funny stories about the roos being picky about clothing and colors. Right now I have 2 black aussies that have been practicing laying for the past 3 days, and he follows them to the coop or he shouts the egg song with them, and gives them treats. They both laid their first eggs yesterday, but soft shell. (I think one broke when she laid it?) so I've been worried and reading up on that lately

Hope its nothing serious....there's always something new, being a newbie....

Don't worry too much about it - their bodies are just getting used to laying, so there is bound to be the odd hiccup along the way. If they are on layers feed and you put some optional oyster shell for them, i would not worry in the least!

CT

 

[chickendreams24]

Okay all I hope you can help. We are new to chickens and have a large mixed flock chicken math is real and got the better of us lol
We had some problems with a mixed hatchery stock cockeral this spring and he was put down. He was supposed to be a bantam but was mixed with something. He was the sweetest chick but when puberty hit he became hyper aggressive. He would stalk us and take any chance he could. He would separate us from our chicken stick, if we set it down(say to feed the birds), used only in emergencies and only after he clawed and cut up my thighs and shins did we come to the point where it was do or die. We had a porcelain d'uccle roo of the same age who was as good natured as that crazy one was bad sadly we lost him when he tried to make a jump missed and broke his neck. The d'uccle actually protected me from the mean roo.

So here is our current position and problem: we have a mixed flock 4 Isa browns and a golden Laced sebright pullet(all 21 almost 22 weeks) and a little oegb roo(at least that's what I think he is same age as the Isa browns), 4 silver Laced wyandotte pullets and one silver Laced wyandotte roo who is our current problem child(almost 21 weeks), 2 buff Orpingtons and 4 Easter eggers (almost 20 weeks) and silkies/bantams that I hatched(they sleep separately but free range with the flock although they stay mostly separate almost 18 weeks)
The silver Laced wyandotte roo, Twitch, never cared for being handled so he was handled less as a chick and less once we knew he was a roo. We hadn't planned on keeping roos this year but we like the idea of being able to breed our own flock to keep it going. Okay so Twitch has never shown any aggression towards us u til about a week or maybe two ago. He did go through the clumsy adolescent stage where he wasn't real nice to our girls but has become much more of a gentleman with them. He has been breeding them now for weeks. He has always trusted us when we picked them up even when we had a girl put a deep deep slice in her toe several weeks ago him and the other roo, the whole flock in fact, watched as we cleaned and bandaged her toe. Never made a move towards us.

So back to what is currently happening, sorry, he pecks my mother and I. He doesn't flare or jump just runs and quickly pecks and then he walks away. He doesn't leave a mark except maybe a faint white mark that disappears almost instantly. If I see him running usually I can say "No" and he stops. I don't run from him and I don't back down but he does make my hear race, I can't help it, I'm working on it but after the roo we put down flogged me repeatedly(over 6-8 times) before my DH2B heard my screams, got to me and chased him off. Which left me standing there shaking and bleeding and crying because no matter how hard and how many times I kicked him he just came back. He even went after my DH2B 4-5 times before giving up the roo was literally insane.

Anyway sorry refocusing just wanted to explain why it affects me so. I've been around animals my whole life, I've worked with aggressive dogs and feral cats and I've never been afraid of an animal like that rooster. I just don't want that for Twitch and its worse because idk what he's doing. Like I said he doesn't flare his hackles or ruffle his feathers. I want to stop this before it escalates but I don't know how. Yesterday I tried walking through him to show dominance but he challenged me I didn't back down but I couldn't push him away either.(he's like 16 lbs huge for a wyandotte I know.) He did turn and walk away but I know I need to claim that respect. I don't know what changed I'm not wearing anything different clothes are the same hair is the same. I don't think I can catch him and put him in a face down submission he isn't tame enough to catch and I fear if I try it will make things worse. I feeling nervous about going outside again. I haven't felt that way since the other roo was put down. If it comes to it he will be put down but I don't want him to be.

Please help any advice would be so appreciated we have young nieces and nephews and cousins I can't have an roo I can't trust.
I have been wondering what he would so if he charged me and I was holding a bucket/glass/bowl of water and dumped it on him. He's familiar with rain. Would it help or hurt? He acts suspicious and more cocky if I pick up a stick. He starting to get spurs I feel like now is a critical time. Again if anyone has any advice or a different view or thoughts on all of this please help. I'm desperate.

 

[owlflights]

We have a white leghorn cockerel. About a week ago I scared him by accident and the next day he started following me, chasing me, flying at me, trying to spur me, all the good rooster stuff. I've been dealing with it in a few different ways, and he has done great since. Shown zero signs of aggression or dominance over me.

First of all, don't let down your guard. This is an all time thing. Now, you have to BE the alpha. He isn't just going to respect you because you feed him.
You've got to treat him like he would treat a lesser rooster. Do not allow him to eat before the hens. Do not allow him to mount the hens when you are near. Those are YOUR hens and how dare he mate with YOUR hen. Depending on the situation, either run at him or take a swipe at him. Don't hurt him, just enough to knock him off of her and let him know that you won't tolerate that behavior. Do not allow him to crow when you are near. Take a run at him. Maybe yell a little. You are better than he is. If you feel like he has too much attitude with you, corner him and pin him to the ground for a good minute. Or pick him up and hold him at your side. Don't ever let him feel to comfortable with you.

It might seem cruel, but its just the way. Its the life of a rooster.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I use one of two tools, one is my plastic coffee can scoop which I can use to correct a rooster who's away from me by throwing it towards him, hardly ever hit anything but it corrects behavior from afar. The other tool which I think you need for a bit is a net, I use an old big fishing net I took from my husband, I use it to catch a chicken occasionally, you can use it to block, catch and chase that rooster, sometimes they just need a reminder, if something like that doesn't work and it has worked on all but one rooster, if it doesn't work I get rid of the rooster, there will never be peace, I refuse to be terrorized by my poultry. I currently have ten roosters of various ages and sizes and no one messes with me. I'm a female with arthritis and I'm 5 foot tall, it's all about your attitude, and the way you carry yourself, I understand your past experiences and they probably make you a bit hesitant which the rooster will pick up on.

I ignore my roosters when they are young and only correct behaviors as they occur, I really don't have roosters challenging me, wish I could bottle whatever it is and hand it out here, so many nasty roosters.

 

[chickendreams24]

@owlflights
@oldhenlikesdogs
Thank you both for your responses I appreciate them so much. Well we've been working with him since Thursday or Friday and he hasn't come at me in two or three days(knock on wood) I know he wasn't acting at all like Coco had as he went from asking for attention to full blown kill-you-and-eat-your-liver over night. Twitch's dominance has I believe at most been an after thought of his, but I want it to remain something that never crosses his mind. At a loss and very upset by what I thought would escalate DH2B and I marched out to give him a lesson I believe on Friday night trying to use owlflights techniques. We're trying to teach him to move away(as by Friday he was trying to to even move away from me) but of course not provoking him or scaring him; something I'm sure would up the chance of aggressive behavior. So anyway we started by throwing out scratch(as he's only about 21 weeks he's still learning the fine art of ladies aka he does not yet stand back and let them eat first... Correction not always) and any time he tried to come get some we simply move toward him quickly but smoothly making a firm "shhht" sound(this is a noise I use with all of my animals in training I basically use it to signal that's not what I want and to get their attention- I love it for my cats and dogs) if he didn't move we would touch him with our foot and make the sound again or reach a hand towards him. If he glares at me I glare him down while making the sound and stepping forward to make him move away until he does not look back at me and usually trots off. We have not been allowing him to breed the girls in front of us or crow using the same methods and been trying to stop all other dominant behavior as well. I have found DH2B is my courage in this and tomorrow will be another work week, everyone please wish me luck as I try these techniques alone for the first time. I don't deny I am a bit nervous but I now know I can demand his respect. We have tried not to use loud voices or objects that could frighten him but obviously if he came at me the first stick I found her be whacked with. I hope the last couple of days are a good sign of respect and mellow to come. Any clue if this is the case? Now tomorrow sometime my mother will be coming home after being gone all weekend and she needs to learn the techniques and rules and use them or I don't think they'll work. Or he'll just attack her. If he acts up again a fishing net and a face plant in the ground and perhaps some solitary will be in order as his last chance.

I don't think anyone ever said anything about my water idea if this works obviously I don't need it but I'm dieing to know what they would think if you did that lol I suppose it matters if it startled him or not. Will keep you posted on Twitch thank you all again for your help.

Also we sold three buff Orpingtons this last weekend and I am curious because I heard from the family today and they think one is a roo and its starting to get spurs but they're almost 20 weeks old(tomorrow/err today) and we saw no signs. What are the odds? No saddle no hackles no mounting no crowing no fighting and no comb development until 2-3 weeks ago. Mistaken identity or not? I haven't seen pics yet I know some hens get spurs but I'm not even sure they've layed yet. Thanks again all and don't forget to wish me luck with Twitch.

 

[Pork Pie]

I personally use a water spray for plants to keep my cockerel in line. He used to run a mile if he saw me with it! A couple of squirts and he'd be off! Seemed to work for me.

Good luck

 

[chickendreams24]

Cool like a cat lol although my cats like water so useless for them but its supposed to work lol perhaps I'll add it to a list of things to try. What if you don't have the bottle?