INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

Hey y'all. I've been absent for a while, but I'm still around stalking from time to time. Just wondered if anyone had any tips on keeping a cockerel from becoming aggressive as a roo? I just lost my roo, Carl, this week. To say I'm devastated is a bit of an understatement. He was an extremely aggressive roo, but I loved him anyway. His favorite was to try and sneak attack you from behind when you weren't paying attention. I have another 12 week old cockerel (hatched from a broody) that I was trying to rehome, but seeing as we no longer have our rooster, we've decided to keep him. I'm happy that we are keeping him as I've grown really attached to the little snot. He's a barnyard mix, but he's beautiful. He's solid blue with some barring starting to show up. All this to say, it would be really nice if he wasn't as aggressive as Carl. Carl's aggressive nature was his downfall and I really don't want Lil Gray to end up the same way. Is it possible to temper them or is having a friendly rooster just a pipe dream?

Quinstar/Erin ~ Great surprise to hear from you!!

I was going to PM you about Chickenfest even though barb s PMd an announcement to all members. You were such a great volunteer with our member list and helpful with your posts. Hope your current job is easing a little. As far as roos, I can't help, but I know that there has been discussion about whether to coddle your cockerel or not touch it. As is typical with any ideas in raising chickens, there are strong opinions on both sides!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

My parents are staying at my place, and I just got a panicked call from my mother that there are new baby turkeys running in and out of the turkey pen, and she is afraid they will get trampled.
I told her there was no way I had new baby turkeys. I've been collecting all eggs and all adults are present and accounted for. So I was wracking my brain, thinking maybe a hen got out and made a nest somewhere, but I haven't noticed any missing. And there are no chickens running around panicking that their babies are missing.
So my mom sent me this:


????? I don't even have ducks.

But they are following the turkeys around. I guess I'll have to wait until I get home from work to figure this out

If you decide they need to go, let me know. We love duck eggs around here.
Based on the coloring they look like google images of wood ducklings and mallard ducklings. Both breeds have really pretty drakes.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

One thing that people don't tend to take into account with roosters is the breed. Breed is everything, breed even has a say in how the hens will act. The best boy I have ever had was my little Cochin guy Po, and I didn't pick him up at all once I was sure he was a boy. I treated him like a rooster would treat another rooster, and he returned my efforts by keeping a respectful distance. I was unable to handle him in the daytime, but I also never had to warn anyone that there was a rooster around. He knew not to attack humans and he never did.

On the flip side, an Easter-egger boy raised at the same time as Po was INSANE. He would freak out if I got to close, and he was mean to the pullets, and he was just unpredictable. I tried to keep him in the same way as I kept Po, but then I had 'help' from my brothers city-slicker ex-girlfriend, who thought this guy was the cutest thing and was always wanting to hold him. I might be a bit bitter about the whole thing, but I'm relatively sure she's the reason he turned out as evil as he was.

Not a single Easter-egger rooster I have owned has been docile. All of them were either mean toward me or toward their hens. Obviously, other people have had other experiences, but many of the people I've read about with Easter-egger boys have had the same experience that I have had with them. I do not recommend Easter-egger roosters unless you want the colored eggs in the offspring.

Cochins, on the other hand, I would recommend to anyone. All of the people I've known through BYC that have had Cochin roosters as their flock guardians have had good experiences with them. My Po was a good example of this. I sure do miss that little guy.

One other breed whose roosters have been insane in my experience, all of which I tried to coddle and all of which returned that action with aggression, were production Rhode Island reds. About everywhere I have read has said that production reds are aggressive. I've even heard that there are some songs about mean red roosters that were based after production red boys! Heritage Rhodies are another story, though, and should not be confused with their hatchery-bred cousins.

Another thing to note, along the same lines as what Leahs mom was saying, is I had a production red raise two chicks, a Rhodie-mixed breed pullet and an Easter-egger cockerel, and they both turned out INSANE and evil (yes, even the pullet). The mother arrived here as an adult, was a bit human shy, and reacted strongly whenever we tried to hold the chicks. I imagine that does have some effect on how a rooster will behave as well. Apparently, it also has an effect on the pullets.

The point is, both genetics and how they are raised have an effect on their personalities. While there will be experiences both ways with handle vs. don't touch, you have to take everything into account and do what YOU think is best in how you raise your boys. My best experience was not handling them, and my best rooster was a Cochin, a breed known to be docile and calm. But everyone has their own thoughts, like M2H says, and it seems to be a very polarizing topic. I'm not gonna go any further than this because I know I lost my temper last time and I feel like I didn't make my point as strongly as I could have as a result, but take from it what you will, and in the end do what you think is best.


(Obviously this was toward Quinstar. Forgot to quote.)

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Pipd's is right about breeds too. You don't hear very often of a mean Cochin. They are just such a docile breed. Doesn't mean it couldn't happen. But when looking for a nice rooster it is always good to research breeds. A Cochin, brahma, or Plymouth Rock would all make great "family" roosters. Other breeds would too- those just come to mind.


I have had nice EE roosters. Though I would have to say they are more a luck of the draw breed.

I also notice a difference between hatchery and breeder birds. My rocks from a hatchery are mean. (I don't have any anymore). My rocks from different breeders - sweet as pie.


Eta: I forgot stuff I wanted to say and just remembered

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I have not had a nice EE rooster either. I have only raised a few to the 8 month mark and only 1 beyond that. I'm not a fan of the EE breed. Even the hens can be mean.
I used to have 2 production RIR roosters. They were mean but on the big side. It is the smaller EE rooster that spooks me more. Almost as if they can hide and bam out to get me. Then every roo I have had runs just like the dinos in the movies. That got me the first few times when I was feeding them.

My heritage RIR roosters are sweet and decently easy to catch just by cornering then or even just grabbing them. I have not had to use my net to get any of them. My heritage BLRW is not mean but there is no catching him on my own. Although DH can do it without the net.

My Cream legbar rooster is starting to show meanness. The thread for the crested cream legbars does not really have a consensus on the meanness of their roosters. Some say they are nice like my heritage RIR while others compare them to the production RIR roos. From my understanding the CCL breed is still somewhat a work in progress. I have a younger CCL roo so my oldest roo might not make the breeding cut. But he is of a different blood line so he has that going for him.

 

[flyladyrocks]

My parents are staying at my place, and I just got a panicked call from my mother that there are new baby turkeys running in and out of the turkey pen, and she is afraid they will get trampled.
I told her there was no way I had new baby turkeys. I've been collecting all eggs and all adults are present and accounted for. So I was wracking my brain, thinking maybe a hen got out and made a nest somewhere, but I haven't noticed any missing. And there are no chickens running around panicking that their babies are missing.
So my mom sent me this:


????? I don't even have ducks.

But they are following the turkeys around. I guess I'll have to wait until I get home from work to figure this out

 

[Aquamarine]

I just found out that I have two Australorp roosters, about 7 weeks old. They were supposed to be pullets....you know how it goes. I'm going to let them free range eventually, but not if they're aggressive toward my kids. My kids are outside constantly.
Anyone think I'll have a problem? I have 8 pullets and now 2 roos. Funny story about the baby ducks.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I just found out that I have two Australorp roosters, about 7 weeks old. They were supposed to be pullets....you know how it goes. I'm going to let them free range eventually, but not if they're aggressive toward my kids. My kids are outside constantly.
Anyone think I'll have a problem? I have 8 pullets and now 2 roos. Funny story about the baby ducks.

I dot have experience with australorps, but you will have to wait and see how there temperaments turn out. But you will probably have to get rid of at least one. With a ratio of 1 rooster to 4 hens, they will probably get over mated

 

[Quinstar]

Thanks everyone. Carl was an EE. He was supposed to be a pullet. My two EE hens are sweet as can be. So, Lil Gray is definitely an EE mix of some sort. I guess I'll just let him do his thing and see how it goes. I've never really given much thought to the temperament of rooster before so every one's replies have been extremely helpful....

Sadly on another note... To make a long story short, my neighbor shot Carl because he had been going into their yard pretty regularly (and he was a jerk, but he was my jerk ). Just found out today that they also shot one of our guineas because he was picking on their turkey. (Another guinea went missing about a month ago so now I'm starting to wonder about her as well) I'm a bit frustrated because they didn't say a thing to us that indicated that our birds were bothering them. (They have chickens as well). It's taken us a week to figure out where our birds went. All that being said... I need to figure out how to keep our birds out of their yard. We free range and I really don't want to take that away from them, but the last thing I want is more dead birds. They said our birds being over there is not a problem, but it obviously is so we need to remedy it. I was thinking of putting up a 4 foot welded wire fence between our yards and running an electric string across the top. Do you think this would do the trick. We live on 20 acres, but whoever owned our property before us put the house right next to the only other house even remotely close. Our neighbors are off of our front yard and our backyard is about 3 acres so I want to make sure the birds still have plenty of room. The idea of keeping them contained to the run kills me...

Thanks for any advice.

 

[number9]

My grandson has a banty barred cochen roo that killed his millie flure roo. He doesn't show any fear to the bigger roos had has to be kept separate. So far he has showed aggressiveness to people but he sometimes acts like he wants to. If he ever got in with the phoenix there would be some feathers flying.