Is my rooster aggressive?

[JacinLarkwell]

Oh great, good to know. Thank you! I assume crowing directly at me/in my face is different than just crowing around me, correct?

It could be different, I don't really know. Some of mine do it to announce when they see me, but they don't generally crow in my face unless I'm holding them

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Thank you!! Learning...

Me too. I finally get to keep a rooster but he is being raised by two hens who don’t take any sass. So far he acts just like the pullets but he isn’t hormonal yet. I might just name all my roosters Westley as in “Good work, Westley. Sleep well. Most likely kill you in the morning.”

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

Some people handle their boys a lot, some turn human aggressive and some don't. Some never handle their boys, some turn human aggressive and some don't. Many are somewhere in between, some turn human aggressive, some don't. Sometimes older hens beat up on the boys, some turn human aggressive, some don't.

Is yours a reasonable plan? I think so but I can't give you guarantees one way or another with living animals.

Is 16 weeks enough time to let the boys grow up and see who is nicest? I want to give them enough time to develop their personalities, but I also don't want to be overrun with teenage hormonal roosters...

They are still immature cockerels. They will still have a lot of maturing to do. Sometimes teenage hormonal cockerels are a pain in the butt. Sometimes they are not that bad. My suggestion is to observe what actually happens with yours and make your decisions based on what you actually see.

The way I manage this is to set goals for what I want. When one shows he does not meet my goals, whether behavioral or physical, I eliminate him. That makes it easier to judge the ones remaining. By the time I get down to the end I may have a few good choices or I may decide none are that great.

Also, currently we are really enjoying letting them free range as we have a farm and there's lots of room for them to forage. But I'm assuming once I have five roosters it's not going to be the best idea to let them all roam around in case some of them get aggressive as my previous one has done. So I'd love thoughts on that as well!

Go by what you see as opposed to letting your imagination rule.

 

[Wildheartsfarm]

Some people handle their boys a lot, some turn human aggressive and some don't. Some never handle their boys, some turn human aggressive and some don't. Many are somewhere in between, some turn human aggressive, some don't. Sometimes older hens beat up on the boys, some turn human aggressive, some don't.

Is yours a reasonable plan? I think so but I can't give you guarantees one way or another with living animals.


They are still immature cockerels. They will still have a lot of maturing to do. Sometimes teenage hormonal cockerels are a pain in the butt. Sometimes they are not that bad. My suggestion is to observe what actually happens with yours and make your decisions based on what you actually see.

The way I manage this is to set goals for what I want. When one shows he does not meet my goals, whether behavioral or physical, I eliminate him. That makes it easier to judge the ones remaining. By the time I get down to the end I may have a few good choices or I may decide none are that great.


Go by what you see as opposed to letting your imagination rule.

This is so helpful! I like the idea of just eliminating them when I see bad behavior as opposed to giving them all a set amount of time and then choosing the 'best' one. (I did know in my heart that as much as I want a rooster I would rather have no rooster than one that isn't kind to humans and hens... hence why the current guy is on the way out.)

I do have a question though: I was under the impression that you don't really want more than one rooster unless you have a lot of hens as they will start to fight. Is that not really true? Like if I end up with 3 roosters that are causing no trouble and only 5 hens, should I really let all 3 boys stick around?

 

[Appalachickens]

You are convincing me that I want to avoid roosters until I can get my forest chicken flock going!

 

[Wildheartsfarm]

You are convincing me that I want to avoid roosters until I can get my forest chicken flock going!

Oops haha! I haven't given up on them yet...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do have a question though: I was under the impression that you don't really want more than one rooster unless you have a lot of hens as they will start to fight. Is that not really true? Like if I end up with 3 roosters that are causing no trouble and only 5 hens, should I really let all 3 boys stick around?

If you have two roosters and 1 hen, they might not fight. If you have 2 roosters and 30 hens they might fight. I do not believe in hen to rooster ratios as far as fighting goes. If you have one rooster and 30 hens some hens may be over-mated or barebacked from mating. If you have 2 roosters and 1 hen she might not be over-mated or barebacked. With living animals anything can happen.

The more roosters you have the more likely you are to have problems, regardless of how many hens you have. My suggestion is to keep as few as you can and still meet your goals. Having more roosters does not guarantee that you will have problems but the more you have the more likely you are to have problems.

 

[Wildheartsfarm]

Makes sense, thanks!

 

[berlyannpotter]

I started with two chicks, and they both turned out to be cockerels. The younger one was a bully, and finally, flew at my husband. They weren't even at the 3 month mark. I returned the youngest to the Breeder seeing that he stated he would take the roosters back. My older one, now Bekaham- not a hen- is a wonderful rooster, and he never really steps out of line. Recently, his hormones have gotten the best of him, and I have to ensure he has space from our pullets so he doesn't get over stimulated. Point being, its a hard decision to make, parting with a chicken you raised from a chick and handled a lot, but at the end of the day- it's about the flock. That being said, if Bekaham becomes aggressive, I won't get rid of him. Just build a separate coop. My first chicken. The attachment is deep. So, I would rather keep him then keep the hens if I had to choose. I wish you the best, and I really hope your straight runs are mostly pullets. Bantam Roos are great. When I need a new Roo, I will go with that breed.

 

[berlyannpotter]

If you have two roosters and 1 hen, they might not fight. If you have 2 roosters and 30 hens they might fight. I do not believe in hen to rooster ratios as far as fighting goes. If you have one rooster and 30 hens some hens may be over-mated or barebacked from mating. If you have 2 roosters and 1 hen she might not be over-mated or barebacked. With living animals anything can happen.

The more roosters you have the more likely you are to have problems, regardless of how many hens you have. My suggestion is to keep as few as you can and still meet your goals. Having more roosters does not guarantee that you will have problems but the more you have the more likely you are to have problems.

There are people who have all rooster flocks, and they do fine. Its all about the roosters and genetics. We have-fingers crossed- 10 hens, 1 rooster. Bekaham doesn't care for having 10 hens. He prefers 7. So, currently we have two flocks. I am hoping he will mature, and stop rejecting the smaller breeds.