I've heard it both ways, Is Aggressiveness in chickens Hereditary?

[ChickenWisperer]

Yes, as RHRanch said, traits like aggressiveness are passed on to offspring, even in reptiles. Nurture will play a part, but I believe at it's core, it's almost completely genetic. Why else are almost all faverolles the sweetest, most picked on birds in the flock - while almost all RIR in circulation are sweet with humans but highly aggressive toward other birds? Can't be a coincidence or that they were all raised the same way.

Now, I'm sure nurture plays a role, as I've said. I'm fairly certain I ruined my first chicken - a Buff orp rooster - by keeping him alone from the age of 4 months to about 9 months old. I was young, I was new to chickens, I was ignorant. I'm pretty sure that's why one day he attacked while I had my back turned and every hen I ever bought him screamed/ran when he looked in their general direction. But I've met some really nice buff orp roos and hens; in fact, I've never met another mean one.

Always breed for the best. Besides, why take a chance with temperament when breeding? And isn't it nicer to have birds that love you and get along well?

 

[RHRanch]

Quote:
Good post. This reminds me of something I heard and I think this is true and can be applied to chickens or humans - and it applies to health, mental health, etc.

"Genetics loads the gun - habits (or conditioning) presses the trigger"

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
There may forms of aggressive when it comes to a Rooster.
Is he aggressive to other birds, if so is it only other roosters or is he aggressive to hen also?
Is he aggressive to people?
Is he aggressive all the time or only when he is with his hens?

Chris

 

[1muttsfan]

Quote:
X2, really great quote. Why take the chance of breeding an individual that is subpar in any way when there are plenty of good quality, nice roosters to be had that will probably otherwise just end up served with dumplings?

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
There may forms of aggressive when it comes to a Rooster.
Is he aggressive to other birds?
Is he aggressive to people?
Is he aggressive all the time or only when he is with his hens?

Chris

I don't have an aggressive Rooster, I did have one a while ago and he was nasty in all ways an allround. He never had a good day.

How ever, I read that Aggression could be inheritated, Then I read on here the other day someone said that it doesn't work that way in chickens like it does in most other animals.

I mean I'm not talking a protective bird, or normal Rooster things, I mean a really, really mean bird. I'm not even talking fear Aggression, I'm mean "Just down right mean for no apparent reason" I know these birds are out there.

Take the pitbull, a breed that I love, but bred wrong you can get a really aggressive dog. And they are bred that way by people wanting fighting dogs. (sad but it happens)

So would you breed a really beautiful showbird if it was a very hateful nasty bird? Or would you not?

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

In my experience I say a definite YES to it being genetic. Like humans and dogs, and someone also mentioned reptiles....personality traits can be passed on just like physical attributes.

With roosters you can have a bunch of factors that also play into the Mean or nice scenario.

you have genetics, nuture/up bringing, how they view humans, and hormones.

genetics - a nasty rooster can potentially create nasty cockerels.

Nurture/upbringing - broody raised or incubated and human raised? single chick vs large brood... was the cockerel raised under an older 'top' rooster or not? Sometimes the nastiest roosters seem to be only chicks or from a small handful brood raised without an older rooster to teach them their place...

if a rooster fears a person at a young age, they seem to be see them as a threat when they get older...And sometimes coddled roosters don't respect the human and go after them later on...I had a brown leghorn rooster, beautiful roo - my daughter's favorite chicken and she tortured the hell out of him BUT he was never threatened by her (she was 2-3 yrs old at the time we had him) she could mess with him, his hens, etc... and he didn't care...ME on the other hand he DESPISED. I pick up a hen? NO, he'd go after me every chance he got and ripped up quite a few pairs of my pants, but he'd NEVER touch my daughter who was a toddler at the time.

Hormones...I don't know if its true, but I would think it holds true with roosters just like it does humans, horses, and dogs...That hormone spike of testosterone, I think roosters that suddenly 'go bad' and turn nasty - seems they start to do it around a year or so of age...I always wondered if it was from a testosterone spike and some roosters either can't adjust to it and go berserk or some just start producing way too much testosterone and again just go nuts. Think of a woman PMS'ing or pregnant...We don't MEAN to be EVIL, but hormones blind our 'sensible' self, and the hormone fueled attitude strikes out...I would think hormone imbalance would be potentially hereditary between rooster and offspring as well, it can be in other animals (including humans)

Also, think of a stallion horse, if they aren't trained well and if they don't respect their humans they are known for being extremely dangerous even killing people, especially a horse who was bottle raised and didn't learn how to be a horse - also not learning boundaries and respect from another horse (say the mare)...and they make the most dangerous stallions to other horses as well as people.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
There may forms of aggressive when it comes to a Rooster.
Is he aggressive to other birds?
Is he aggressive to people?
Is he aggressive all the time or only when he is with his hens?

Chris

I don't have an aggressive Rooster, I did have one a while ago and he was nasty in all ways an allround. He never had a good day.

How ever, I read that Aggression could be inheritated, Then I read on here the other day someone said that it doesn't work that way in chickens like it does in most other animals.

I mean I'm not talking a protective bird, or normal Rooster things, I mean a really, really mean bird. I'm not even talking fear Aggression, I'm mean "Just down right mean for no apparent reason" I know these birds are out there.

Take the pitbull, a breed that I love, but bred wrong you can get a really aggressive dog. And they are bred that way by people wanting fighting dogs. (sad but it happens)

So would you breed a really beautiful showbird if it was a very hateful nasty bird? Or would you not?

In most cases aggression is passed on to the offspring.
I am a firm believer that if you have a rooster that is aggressive to human with or with out hens he should be culled out and made into a good Sunday dinner.
The last thing you want to do is breed more bird like him.

Chris

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Quote:
There may forms of aggressive when it comes to a Rooster.
Is he aggressive to other birds?
Is he aggressive to people?
Is he aggressive all the time or only when he is with his hens?

Chris

I don't have an aggressive Rooster, I did have one a while ago and he was nasty in all ways an allround. He never had a good day.

How ever, I read that Aggression could be inheritated, Then I read on here the other day someone said that it doesn't work that way in chickens like it does in most other animals.

I mean I'm not talking a protective bird, or normal Rooster things, I mean a really, really mean bird. I'm not even talking fear Aggression, I'm mean "Just down right mean for no apparent reason" I know these birds are out there.

Take the pitbull, a breed that I love, but bred wrong you can get a really aggressive dog. And they are bred that way by people wanting fighting dogs. (sad but it happens)

So would you breed a really beautiful showbird if it was a very hateful nasty bird? Or would you not?

I know quite a few breeders who use hateful nasty roosters in their breeding programs, unless/until they start seeing it pop up in the offspring. Some roosters its just nurture and not nature that triggers the behavior, or its just disrespect of humans that cause it. However I won't tolerate a mean rooster and won't use one to breed - if it doesn't stop quick (when I try to fix the issue behaviorally) then he is gone - usually by becoming dinner.

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
I don't have an aggressive Rooster, I did have one a while ago and he was nasty in all ways an allround. He never had a good day.

How ever, I read that Aggression could be inheritated, Then I read on here the other day someone said that it doesn't work that way in chickens like it does in most other animals.

I mean I'm not talking a protective bird, or normal Rooster things, I mean a really, really mean bird. I'm not even talking fear Aggression, I'm mean "Just down right mean for no apparent reason" I know these birds are out there.

Take the pitbull, a breed that I love, but bred wrong you can get a really aggressive dog. And they are bred that way by people wanting fighting dogs. (sad but it happens)

So would you breed a really beautiful showbird if it was a very hateful nasty bird? Or would you not?

I know quite a few breeders who use hateful nasty roosters in their breeding programs, unless/until they start seeing it pop up in the offspring. Some roosters its just nurture and not nature that triggers the behavior, or its just disrespect of humans that cause it. However I won't tolerate a mean rooster and won't use one to breed - if it doesn't stop quick (when I try to fix the issue behaviorally) then he is gone - usually by becoming dinner.

I have an older 3+ yr old Rooster and he has never been aggressive and all the chicks that he has fathered Roos and Hens have all been very friendly if not cuddley, but for a lack of a better term balanced, Yes he got to the top of the pecking order by fighting for and winning it,
but he is never overly aggressive with the young roos, he bosses them around but just enough to let them know he is king, always been gentle with the hens and pullets and always been respectful of people. (also a very good lookout and protector)


On the flip side of that, the one Rooster that I had was just plain mean at all times, with hens, with the chicks , with people. He has fathered several hens which all turned out pretty nice, not super friendly but nice, the Roosters that he fathered (though they were raised the exact same way as all of the other chicks) are not friendly or Docile by no means, They are not nice to the hens, and certainly not to the chicks and they don't particularly like people. They have attacked at me but backed down at the last minute. They are young yet only about 7/8 months old so the finished product remains to be seen. Based on just that tidbit of personal info, I think that aggression could very well be inherited.

So I was wondering what the general concensus was, so far it seems pretty split down the middle.

 

[Beekissed]

It always has been split down the middle...simply because it is. Science has never been able to determine if nature is more important than nurture and have done extensive studies for many years~still arguing this as far as I know.

It's probably wise to view these things on a case by case basis and trust your gut. If you have a nasty roo but he's pretty and his offspring will be fit for showing, do you breed him? Depends on if you have already done so and found his offspring have inherited his nasty streak.