Keep or Soup? 🐓

[Feathyr]

It's tough letting them go, especially when you've reared them yourself. I had a similar situation with a bull - I could hug him, brush him, ride on him - but after he nearly charged a family member, I sent him to slaughter. I'd had him for about three years at the point. It hurt, but not as badly as the real pain he could have caused.

I hope you can find a nice, docile roo that respects you and your hens. They're hard to come by, but absolutely worth it!

 

[SueT]

I re-homed a very aggressive roo, after countless attempts to rehabilitate him. It was to an Amish couple who understood the situation, and were fine w butchering him. What a difference it made not only for me, but for for the whole flock. What a relief not to have him around.
I let a hen hatch his offspring and the rooster she raised, now 3, is so polite and gentle. The difference is like night and day. I trust him completely.
The sooner you are free of him, the sooner your life will change for the better.

 

[SueT]

After I wrote the above about getting free of him, the song went thru my head, Paul Simon’s 50 Ways to Leave your Lover.
Change it to There must be 50 ways to get rid of your Rooster....
Just chop off his head, Fred, Sell him at the swap, Pop. Put him in a stew, Sue, and get yourself free....etc.
I hope I’m not being insensitive......

 

[K0k0shka]

Soup. It will clear the gene pool, too. I don't know if people think about that, especially people that hatch from their own flock. If a rooster is human-aggressive, you don't want any of his progeny to survive and perpetuate the problem. A lot of chicken/rooster variation comes down to personality, and personality is genetic, so... you don't want to pass that down to future generations. I've had to rid a friend of aggressive roosters, because she loved their handsome jerk dad, and guess what - most of his sons were handsome jerks, too.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Soup. It will clear the gene pool, too. I don't know if people think about that, especially people that hatch from their own flock. If a rooster is human-aggressive, you don't want any of his progeny to survive and perpetuate the problem. A lot of chicken/rooster variation comes down to personality, and personality is genetic, so... you don't want to pass that down to future generations. I've had to rid a friend of aggressive roosters, because she loved their handsome jerk dad, and guess what - most of his sons were handsome jerks, too.

That makes sense. I just talked to my friend who I hatched eggs from. She said his "father" is a jerk as well and might have to go. She's had him for at least 2 yrs. I'm surprised that she's put up with him for so long.

 

[K0k0shka]

That makes sense. I just talked to my friend who I hatched eggs from. She said his "father" is a jerk as well and might have to go. She's had him for at least 2 yrs. I'm surprised that she's put up with him for so long.

See that's not fair and I don't think it should be happening. People who know they have an aggressive rooster, who hatch eggs from him regardless, or even worse - give eggs to other people to hatch, who then have to deal with his aggressive progeny. There's no guarantee that a nice rooster won't have aggressive sons, as some of this is still random chance, but it's a lot more likely to get an aggressive son out of an already aggressive rooster, who has it in him to pass on, than to just have bad luck from a good rooster. So if the person giving away the eggs isn't paying attention, I guess the person receiving the eggs should keep this in mind and ask about the rooster they are coming from, before committing to hatch them

The friend in my example has given me eggs to hatch for her a couple of times, with the intention of giving them back to her once they feather out. She always asks if I want to keep them first, and tries to convince me to keep them, but I always say no because I know their dad is a jerk. One cockerel from last year's clutch was especially sweet and friendly - total lap chicken, so we thought maybe there was hope, but as soon as the hormones hit, he turned into a monster. I had to butcher him for her because she was always bleeding from some bite or another that he greeted her with. Roosters are already such a crapshoot. It makes no sense to tip the balance even farther against you by starting out from questionable stock...

 

[Crazy Maizie]

See that's not fair and I don't think it should be happening. People who know they have an aggressive rooster, who hatch eggs from him regardless, or even worse - give eggs to other people to hatch, who then have to deal with his aggressive progeny. There's no guarantee that a nice rooster won't have aggressive sons, as some of this is still random chance, but it's a lot more likely to get an aggressive son out of an already aggressive rooster, who has it in him to pass on, than to just have bad luck from a good rooster. So if the person giving away the eggs isn't paying attention, I guess the person receiving the eggs should keep this in mind and ask about the rooster they are coming from, before committing to hatch them

The friend in my example has given me eggs to hatch for her a couple of times, with the intention of giving them back to her once they feather out. She always asks if I want to keep them first, and tries to convince me to keep them, but I always say no because I know their dad is a jerk. One cockerel from last year's clutch was especially sweet and friendly - total lap chicken, so we thought maybe there was hope, but as soon as the hormones hit, he turned into a monster. I had to butcher him for her because she was always bleeding from some bite or another that he greeted her with. Roosters are already such a crapshoot. It makes no sense to tip the balance even farther against you by starting out from questionable stock...

I haven't had any blood shed yet, but a good bruise and swelling. I didn't coddle him either and made him move out of my way. Then when he started to be a bully, I was hoping he was just testing the waters and would outgrow his shenanigans.

 

[samanthaoverton]

He is a lovely soup though..

 

[SueT]

See that's not fair and I don't think it should be happening. People who know they have an aggressive rooster, who hatch eggs from him regardless, or even worse - give eggs to other people to hatch, who then have to deal with his aggressive progeny. There's no guarantee that a nice rooster won't have aggressive sons, as some of this is still random chance, but it's a lot more likely to get an aggressive son out of an already aggressive rooster, who has it in him to pass on, than to just have bad luck from a good rooster. So if the person giving away the eggs isn't paying attention, I guess the person receiving the eggs should keep this in mind and ask about the rooster they are coming from, before committing to hatch them

The friend in my example has given me eggs to hatch for her a couple of times, with the intention of giving them back to her once they feather out. She always asks if I want to keep them first, and tries to convince me to keep them, but I always say no because I know their dad is a jerk. One cockerel from last year's clutch was especially sweet and friendly - total lap chicken, so we thought maybe there was hope, but as soon as the hormones hit, he turned into a monster. I had to butcher him for her because she was always bleeding from some bite or another that he greeted her with. Roosters are already such a crapshoot. It makes no sense to tip the balance even farther against you by starting out from questionable stock...

My wonderful and polite 3 year old Spitzhauben rooster Beldar, is the son of a very aggressive one. Difference is son was raised by a hen, and father raised by me, in a brooder.
He’s a gem. And his son, almost 1 yr old, also raised by a hen, seems to be a good one too, tho it’s early to tell.

 

[K0k0shka]

My wonderful and polite 3 year old Spitzhauben rooster Beldar, is the son of a very aggressive one. Difference is son was raised by a hen, and father raised by me, in a brooder.
He’s a gem. And his son, almost 1 yr old, also raised by a hen, seems to be a good one too, tho it’s early to tell.


View attachment 3052173

My friend's aggressive rooster father was raised by a hen, and her other rooster, who's a total sweetheart, was raised by me (and is a different breed and unrelated to the jerk). So... for every example someone can give a counter-example... We'd need a large proper study to determine if hand-raising produces more aggressive roosters than hen-raising, and if it's nature or nurture that determines a rooster's aggression levels. It's probably both, but why not up your chances by playing on the nature part and starting out with a non-aggressive father? That's how you'd breed for temperament anyway.

Speaking of which, I wonder if anybody has done that. So many people are playing with genetics, breeding different qualities into their chickens and doing fun experiments. I wonder if anybody has cared to breed specifically for non-aggressive roosters. Rooster aggression seems to take a backseat when breeding for various traits, behind things like fancy feather colors, egg colors, etc.