Mean Dutch Bantam Rooster.

[Kennyog]

I raised a Dutch bantam rooster from hatching till now(9 months). He was always friendly and i handled him daily.Now,as soon as he sees me,he attacks me like a little fighting rooster. What the h@%# happened? Thank you for your replies.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

If you've been letting him play a lot of violent video games you could blame his behavior on that.

You say that you've been handling him daily, are you sure nothing happened to make him grow fearful? That could make him defensive & wary, therefore aggressive & mean. Otherwise, it's probably just him growing into his itty bitty manhood.

I know how these little guys can hurt when they flog! We had a Silver Sebright roo that was so awful & annoying that I gave him away. I don't know if the usual methods of behavior modification would work with such a small bird, but you could try. Or just try to win back his affections by bringing him treats when you visit his yard.

If that doesn't work you'll have to either keep him caged or send him away. There wouldn't be more than a few mouthfuls of meat on him if you butchered him, but you could cook him like a quail.

 

[Kennyog]

i have always been nice to him, i have never scared him. Maybe he needs some female companionship.Ha!

 

[Crunchie]

@ Sunny_Side_Up:

I dunno, but it seems the more I handle roos, the meaner they are.

I just gave up my very first Cuckoo Marans roo

because he was just plain evil. I'd kept him for years anyway, because he was special (and nice quality). But he was huge, and he spurred my husband seriously, through thick denim jeans, and my husband still has scars from it. I couldn't ever let him free range, he could never be trusted. I finally talked myself into giving him away for the stew pot. I had handled him a lot as a youngster, as I didn't have half so many chickens back then. The first time he came after me he had just been eating treats out of my hand. Now, on the other hand, I have several Ameraucana and Marans roos (including some directly related to the aforementioned evil one) that I never handled, and they are wonderful. They have no desire to be lap chickens, but I can catch them if I need to, and they've never shown any aggressiveness. I let my toddler son into the barnyard with a bucket of scratch to throw to the flock with no problems.

As for the Dutch, well, the roos are feisty little guys. But even though my Dutch roo acts up, he's still quite easy to handle. Once I've caught him he seems to enjoy the attention (or at least, he relaxes completely), but until I get my hands on him he acts pretty testy. It's actually quite hysterical when I let him out of his pen...he immediately goes to the nearest cage, which holds my largest roo--a huge black copper Marans--and proceeds to try to bait him into a duel through the wire.

Poor guy, the other roos don't seem to pay him any more attention than they would a gnat!

Anyway, my opinion is that your little roo is just reaching maturity and doing what roos do. I have never had any luck changing the behavior of a mean roo, and in my experience extra attention/treats never did any good...but it might be worth a try. I would probably just keep doing what you are doing--handling when you need/want to like it's no big deal. He might chill after awhile.

 

[Kennyog]

i don't know what his problem is,but he seems to have just changed alot in the past couple of weeks.i couldn't believe he attacks me the way he does.Oh well, i'll just stop treating him like a pet.i have several other rooster that i never handled and they act fine.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I think rooster behavior is part nature & part nurture. And there are tendencies among certain breeds to be more/less friendly, but individual results can vary. And I think it's easier to cause a calm rooster to become fearful, defensive & wary than it is to change an aggressive rooster's behavior. With such a surplus of roosters in the world I don't put up with much misbehavior from any one unless they personally rescued more than one of my children from a burning building. The roosters I keep are mannerly towards people and gentlemen towards the hens. The rest answer invitations to dinner with the family. There's nothing like a long soak in simmering broth to calm down even the most aggressive rooster.

 

[elizabethsbrood]

Hi,
I had a dutch bantam that did the same thing. His name was Ward and I loved him so much, but he was a total *******. I know you posted this years ago but this method worked for me...
Everytime he (or whatever ******* rooster you may have now) approaches you, pick him up, put him on his back and pat him and cuddle him etc until he settles down (I will love you and hug you and call you george!). I did this for about a week and after that he didnt mess with me (he still attacked everyone but me); I think he was infuriated by the attention and felt extremely vulnerable on his back. He was like something out of hell until I did this to him.
I hope you resolved your rooster's problem, or have a nicer one now!