i think my cockerel is trying to mate with me

[jpalmatier83]

Just chiming in to say dominance theory is a very human-centric approach to explaining the actions of chickens, especially roosters, and modern studies disprove it. Please do not assume this has anything to do with aggression or trying to “dominate” you or “make you his hen”.



Sounds to me like he’s a good boy that has a very strong bond with you and is doing what he knows is the best way to take care of you - and that’s considering you part of the flock and enjoying your company (in all the ways a rooster might enjoy the company of another chicken).

The issue of his reluctance to accept new people into his “flock” can be addressed you would with a pet dog - slowly and gradually introduce people with lots of positivity and treat. Make people FUN!

Our feathered friends respond to positive reinforcement just as well as canines. And, similar to canines, responding to temperament issues with aversive and aggressive behaviors creates MORE problems and side effects you definitely don’t want.

Google a positive reinforcement based program for dogs that’s for people-reactivity and do your best to modify for your rooster while still keeping the PR principles. It’ll take time and patience but it’s an opportunity to grow your flock AND your family and potentially create some very awesome bonds. ^

Personally speaking, a dog that has attacked every member of my family is not one I would attempt to rehabilitate with positive reinforcement.

There are plenty of roosters out there that need homes. I wouldnt take the risk of one with a history of violence around my family.

 

[McChooky]

Just chiming in to say dominance theory is a very human-centric approach to explaining the actions of chickens, especially roosters, and modern studies disprove it. Please do not assume this has anything to do with aggression or trying to “dominate” you or “make you his hen”.



Sounds to me like he’s a good boy that has a very strong bond with you and is doing what he knows is the best way to take care of you - and that’s considering you part of the flock and enjoying your company (in all the ways a rooster might enjoy the company of another chicken).

The issue of his reluctance to accept new people into his “flock” can be addressed you would with a pet dog - slowly and gradually introduce people with lots of positivity and treat. Make people FUN!

Our feathered friends respond to positive reinforcement just as well as canines. And, similar to canines, responding to temperament issues with aversive and aggressive behaviors creates MORE problems and side effects you definitely don’t want.

Google a positive reinforcement based program for dogs that’s for people-reactivity and do your best to modify for your rooster while still keeping the PR principles. It’ll take time and patience but it’s an opportunity to grow your flock AND your family and potentially create some very awesome bonds. ^

I rescued and treated a rooster for mites and bumblefoot .He lived in a run with other chickens and pigs(it was filthy) He rewarded my kindness by kicking his feet up in the air and spreading his wings to flog me( he never made contact) When I'd try to catch him he'd run like hell.All I can say is he took all the fun out of raising chickens so I culled him then waited a year to order 2 cockerels to raise myself. Read a post by someone here who had a rooster that acted just like the ops.It ended up flogging her after it started attacking other people.She couldn't believe he'd turned on her.

 

[BawksAndRecreation]

Heartbreaking responses like these are unfortuante and why I haven't been active in communicating on this forum. I was hoping for better but, hey, at least I said my peace.

Consider that the way y'all are talking about roosters with temperment and socialization issues is how our parents' and grandparents' generations talked about their pet dogs. I'd like to think we've come a long way since those times and that we can recognize and do the same for our feathered friends and livestock as a whole - they deserve more from us.

 

[jpalmatier83]

Heartbreaking responses like these are unfortuante and why I haven't been active in communicating on this forum. I was hoping for better but, hey, at least I said my peace.

Consider that the way y'all are talking about roosters with temperment and socialization issues is how our parents' and grandparents' generations talked about their pet dogs. I'd like to think we've come a long way since those times and that we can recognize and do the same for our feathered friends and livestock as a whole - they deserve more from us.

If you want to rehab an aggressive rooster, more power to you. I hope everything goes perfectly.

I wold feel terrible and irresponsible if I recommended to someone on this forum that they try that. Then a week later I hear that a kid lost an eye to a rooster attack.

I understand your point. And I think there are diverse opinions on roosters on this forum. Some are lax and some are draconian. But, a flogging without a spurring is equivalent to a dog attempting to bite and missing.

Perhaps it’s better for a single person with the time and motivation, and eyes wide open, to try to rehab that animal.

I would feel culpable if I recommended that course to someone with a family and something went wrong.

 

[McChooky]

I hope your cockerel is an exception to the rule but cockerels raised by the flock make the best roosters (and the way its done in nature) My cockerels will be left in the flock long enough for my hens to raise a good cockerel themselves.I wish you the best!

 

[BawksAndRecreation]

If you want to rehab an aggressive rooster, more power to you. I hope everything goes perfectly.

I wold feel terrible and irresponsible if I recommended to someone on this forum that they try that. Then a week later I hear that a kid lost an eye to a rooster attack.

I understand your point. And I think there are diverse opinions on roosters on this forum. Some are lax and some are draconian. But, a flogging without a spurring is equivalent to a dog attempting to bite and missing.

Perhaps it’s better for a single person with the time and motivation, and eyes wide open, to try to rehab that animal.

I would feel culpable if I recommended that course to someone with a family and something went wrong.

Considering we're all adults here, I think we can and should totally suggest humane alternatives to aversively responding to a PERCIEVED aggressive behavior and let the person asking for advice make their own decision. Nobody is holding their hand telling them to put themselves in danger. The only danger being proposed without much consideration here is danger to the animals we're charged for keeping safe. We're not their mom, we're their peers. Therefore, I think we can give the OP the benefit of the doubt here that they're capable of seeing an array of advice and choosing the one that best suits them and their situation.

People here are asking for opinions. Plural. ITT, I just gave an alternative -- Lord knows there's plenty of advice on the other side of that opinon "fence". Witholding the suggestion to follow a more, frankly, humane route (should they be willing and able to safely take it) would be pretty terrible. I had to speak up. I hope others will too.

 

[BawksAndRecreation]

Dominance theory, the idea that a creature is dominating, that there's such thing as an "alpha" is all from a study in the 1940's that's been so profoundly debunked that the most likely reason it's still being mentioned is a reflection on how we project our own toxic human traits on lesser creatures.

https://www.jessicabeck.ca/blog/10-...t, recent research has,is more myth than fact.
https://www.theacademyofpetcareers.com/blog/pack-theory-debunked/

The study that "coined" the term "pecking order" came out around a similar time and studied a small group of chickens living closely together, unsocialized, and in a high-stress environment.

Please, let's give them more credit than being such seemingly simple-minded lesser-creatures. They're more complex, their temperments are dynamic and their drives are more than just food and sex.

They deserve, at the very least, our attempts at better understanding them.

 

[McChooky]

so my cockerel has been trying to mount me for a while. every time i go outside, usually the first time i go out for the day or after it's been a while, he rushes over to dance and tries grab my hand. he's grabbed my legs/hands before and i thought it was aggression but after some thought on how he behaves i don't think it is.

i've raised him when he was 2 weeks old to now and have interacted with him the most. hes flogged and chased everyone in my family EXCEPT me. hes been raised with another chicken (one died when he was a month old from raccoons and the other when he was 3 months old from illness, he's been around a hen since 3 months old to now). he has 3 hens now and dances/mates with them. he follows me around (with my grandma's hen, Chito, who he's been with the longest out of the 3), always wanting to see what i'm doing, perching on the top of the rocking chair when i sit on it or even standing on my lap, and only eats from my hands. If i try to pick up one of his flightly hens and they scream, he does nothing but watch. but when my brother was petting our newest hen who was perching, he ran over and tried to flog him. why is he doing this to ME and not any of my family members he was raised around?

also the newest hens don't trust me yet and don't like getting picked up. i only pick them up to check them for things before putting them back down and they walk off like nothing happened.
also attached a pic of Menace perching next to me, they're all mutts

Here is an excellent thread on roosters

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

 

[Sussex19]

Considering we're all adults here,

Actually, you only have to be 13 to be a member, so don't forget you could be talking to someone that doesn't have the experience necessary to deal with aggression.

The thing with aggressive roosters, is there are so many polite, safe and injoyable cockerels and roosters around, that are killed just because no one wants them.
Why not give one of those guys a home, instead of putting up with one that could send a child to hospital with life changing injuries?

Edit, I did not mean at all that you can not have your own opinion, and the OP can choose which options they want to take on board.
This is just my opinion