How to show my rooster whos boss

[imogene08]

 You seem to know it all already, why ask anything?  That rooster isn't "courting" you. He's testing you now to establish dominance. Keep going the way you are, and you'll find out.
Jack

No he. Is courting he does the little dance sideways and wing down

 

[HomesteadDebi]

You need to think like a chicken....

My boy is still under 3 months and not aggressive to me yet (hopefully never). However, you gave awesome advice that I will keep in mind if I need it. Thanks!

 

[nova022]

Quote:
It may well be that your rooster is courting you, but do you really want him to do that? It means he thinks you belong to him and he does not respect you as the head of the flock. Some roosters never become aggressive and you may never have a problem, but if he does turn out to have an aggressive nature you are telling him he is boss if you allow him to court you.

 

[imogene08]

You guys arnt getting it! I am trying so hard to get him to stop courting me do you think i want him to no! I neet ideas not remarks and statements and some people only to congrat other posts. But dont help

 

[imogene08]

Only come**

 

[Penny Hen]

I had to get into it with one of my cockrels who insisted on jumping a younger cockrel (they both have the red on the shoulder otherwise I would still be guessing). The older one (twice the size of the younger) was unmercifully pecking on him and even when he totally submitted head to the ground butt in the air he continued to beat him. I snatched him up and held him upside down and pecked at his neck with my fingers while yelling at him. I put him back in and it was OK until I was out of site for about 10 minutes. I heard the ruckus and there he was at it again. This time in addition to the yelling and pecking I pulled out an old finch cage and locked him in it until the next morning. He has modified his behavior and now ignores the young cockrel. Had he failed to do so he would be dinner soon.

I forget who on BYC told me about using a time out cage for rowdy cockrels but I really appreciate it. It worked like a charm. He has a really unique color pattern and I would hate to have to off him before I can explore it.

 

[DWClay]

You need to think like a chicken.

1. In the chicken world, the alpha rooster gets the highest perch. Don't let him roost above your head height, and NEVER let him on your shoulder.

2. In the chicken world, the subordinate hens groom the alpha rooster. Don't pet and cuddle your rooster, that is telling him directly that he's the boss.

3. In the chicken world, the subordinate roosters don't mate the alpha's hens while the alpha can see them. If you see him mounting a hen, go kick him off. You don't need to be nasty about it, but put a toe under the tail feathers and gently kick him off every time until he stops. Those are YOUR hens, not his.

4. In the chicken world, if the subordinate rooster puts a feather out of line, they get disciplined. Have you ever seen a rooster discipline a hen? He'll squawk and chase her all over the place and peck her on the head. So if he does anything aggressive towards you, like sneaking up behind you or coming towards you with his head low and his neck feathers fluffed up, think chicken! Squawk and stomp your feet and flap your arms and chase him all over the place. If you can catch him, either hold him down in the dirt until he stops struggling, or pick him up and carry him upside down until he stops struggling.

I usually do this while telling him something along the lines of "Do you really want to get into this with me, Buster? Because I OWN your little fluffy butt, and I can do this all day long. I'm the biggest, baddest chicken you've ever seen and we can be friends, or I will be your worst nightmare. See that killing cone over there? You could go from the coop to the crock pot in five minutes, Buddy."

5. Don't keep an aggressive rooster. With any young rooster, they may try to dominate you once, and that's OK as long as he learns his lesson after you chase him around. But some roosters simply are very aggressive and don't learn, and they can be very dangerous animals. We have a Two Strikes and You're Dinner policy around here. Once, I'll chase you around and see if you learn, twice, and you're history by nightfall.

There are thousands upon thousands of very sweet, non-aggressive roosters in the world, and many of them are culled every day simply because the people can't keep them all. So if this bird turns out to be aggressive, you can probably try again with another rooster for free, as long as you're not looking for a show quality bird. For example, I only breed from non-aggressive roosters because aggression is partly genetic, and I don't want to breed aggression into my flock. But that means that half of every hatch are lovely young cockerels. I will put them on Craigslist for a week, but if no one wants them, they are culled. I am always thrilled when someone wants one of my boys for a flock rooster instead of their being killed, and I know many, many other people feel the same way.

Hope that's helpful! One last piece of advice--in the future, don't make friends with your rooster. Mostly ignore them. Make friends with your hens if you wish, but treat your rooster like the potentially dangerous animal he is.

Love this! I am dealing with the same thing right now and I admit I have babied him and now I’m regretting it. I just started the stomping and chasing him today. I’m going to try the catching him tomorrow if he does it again. I can’t even pet my hens without him coming at me! So far he’s broken the skin on my shins and bruised me!
I hate to make the call but I refuse to be attacked every time I’m just trying to feed them!
He’ll be a year old in may….is it too late or can he still learn?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Love this! I am dealing with the same thing right now and I admit I have babied him and now I’m regretting it. I just started the stomping and chasing him today. I’m going to try the catching him tomorrow if he does it again. I can’t even pet my hens without him coming at me! So far he’s broken the skin on my shins and bruised me!
I hate to make the call but I refuse to be attacked every time I’m just trying to feed them!
He’ll be a year old in may….is it too late or can he still learn?

So he's 9 months old give or take. Has broken skin and caused bruises.
Yeah I'm going to vote it's too late.

 

[Mrs. K]

They really don't learn, not a lot of brain to work with. Chickens tend to equate a bit of healthy fear as respect. They show respect with space. When a cockerel starts to invade that space he is saying, you need to give space to me.

Some do not ever become aggressive, some become a little aggressive, and people either learn to work around it, or he settles down for some unknown reason - personally I don't think it is what the human did or did not do.

Some become more and more aggressive.

Time will tell you what you have, and I really don't think there is any trick that you can do that will change the outcome. Their behavior is not really dependent on human interaction, it is more instinctive and genetic.

Mrs K

 

[CalgaryFarmer]

I agree with the others. He is not courting you. He making a display of dominance and/or trying to engage you to determine dominance. If you do not respond to this it reaffirms his dominance in his mind. i.e. he gave you an opportunity to respond to his dominance display and you acquiesced to his dominance.

I think a good option is to grab the rooster and pin him to the ground with his beak touching the dirt until he relaxes. Do this each time.

If you want to keep him you should spend a bit of time researching this and try some of the suggestions.

There are lots of good content on this site in dealing with aggressive roosters. e.g. Dealing with and Taming Aggressive Roosters