Joe pecked me today

[cheraboo]

Joe, our faverolle roo, is nearly ten months old. I'm trying to decide if he's turning mean or if this is just normal behavior ... A couple of weeks ago DH messaged me to tell me that Joe had run after Ana (our 10 year old) and pecked her legs after she took him out of his pen in the garage. I laughed but I did tell all of the kids that if Joe did try to "attack" them that they should not run away - even if they really are afraid of him (which is no easy task when Joe is HUGE compared to our banties). I usually sit outside and watch the chickens for a bit when Joe comes out. A couple of times in the past week or so he has kind of walked sideways toward me and then just passed me by. He's done it to Jacob, too. Well, today I went out and Joe pecked my arm two times. I always keep an eye on him cuz he's my baby. He kind of danced around a little and then pecked me. I was just blaming this behavior on his being "frustrated". The poor guy started chasing the girls around and they all ran away from him. How can you tell the difference between agression and something else?

 

[thebritt]

Hi.
There's a recent post in this section "How to calm a potential bully" that's gotten some good responses.

 

[cheraboo]

So here we are a week later ... I thought Joe was getting better. He hasn't challenged me for a couple of days. He really nailed Ana tonight though

. I'm talking pinching with his beak, trying to hurt her. I really hate the thought of getting rid of Joe but now I'm beginning to wonder if he has to go. One week isn't a lot of time though. I guess I'm wondering what is a reasonable amount of time to work with a roo to break him of aggressive behavior?

Here's my Joe:

 

[Lucky Ducky]

I have a 4 month old Roo that I hatched out of some designer eggs and he has ALWAYS had a pecking problem. Even as a day old chick he would peck at my hand. When he was small this wasn't a problem but as he has gotten bigger it has. After reading several posts about what has worked for others, I started grabbing up Beastie (it fits) and holding him in my arms not letting him move or get down. After a few minutes, I put him down and we both go about our business. I had to repeat several times but it seems to have worked for the most part. In our process if he didn't peck me I left him alone but IF he even attempted to peck me I grabbed him. He's gotten the idea.

My son has a Black Frizzle Bantam Cochin roo named Bloody. Well, Bloody only had one girl and she decided to go broody and he wasn't getting any action. He became rather testy and I had to play rooster football and monster chasing the roo around a few times. I hated the idea of getting rid of him because my son had traded his black rosecombs for this roo and a hen. I put up yet another pen and put him in it and swiped 3 girls from another roo who had 10 girls, it's a MIRACLE!!!!! He has totally done an about face. He was just incredibly frustrated and grumpy about it. I could never put him in any of our other pens because he hates any other roos, so he free ranged and was caged at night. I've got a pen that has a OEGB roo and his girls, a GLBC roo and his girls and a Dominque roo and his girls, they have no problems. Each rooster is only the right size for HIS girls, we've had no fights and no crossbreeding (except for the Dom, his girls are Australorps). It has worked out amazingly well for more than a year.


Good luck on your roo Joe. Make sure everyone grabs him and holds him tight. Let us know how it turns out. At 10 months it is likely that his problem is the same as Bloody's, he's frustrated. Give him some girls that can't run away and see what happens.

 

[CoonX]

Herbed Greek Chicken Salad

Tell him this is what happens to mean roosters.