Mean Rooster

[PrettyChickens]

I have a silkie rooster that is about six months old. He is fully mature, mating and crowing. He is pretty small. When i let my chickens out in the morning to free range he is the first one out. As i stand there greeting the chickens, he walks close to my boots with his head down pretending to be eating stuff off the ground, but then he will suddenly attack my boot pecking and clawing it. This morning he made my sister bleed a little from his beak. I am not getting rid of him and I do not cook my chickens. Is there any thing I can do to break him of this bad habit????????????

 

[TalkALittle]

I have a silkie rooster that is about six months old. He is fully mature, mating and crowing. He is pretty small. When i let my chickens out in the morning to free range he is the first one out. As i stand there greeting the chickens, he walks close to my boots with his head down pretending to be eating stuff off the ground, but then he will suddenly attack my boot pecking and clawing it. This morning he made my sister bleed a little from his beak. I am not getting rid of him and I do not cook my chickens. Is there any thing I can do to break him of this bad habit????????????

Firstly, it's not a "habit", it's a cockerel being a cockerel.

If you don't like him protecting his flock and asserting his dominance over you then don't give him reason to. Don't greet or fuss over the girls. Don't move quickly or bend over them. Don't pet or pick up the girls. If the cockerel moves toward you, move away. Basically, be submissive to him in all situations. Is this practical or even possible to do while still tending to the hens? Not likely.

So, the other option is condition him to consider you the dominant one. Give him a bunch of reasons to respect and even fear you a bit. Chase him away from the girls when you are around, and don't let him go out the coop first. Back him off the feed, if your giving out treats don't let him approach. Grab him and carry him around every once in a while. Claim an area and don't let him walk through it, stomp at him and don't back down if he challenges you. You might have to beat the tar out of him with a feed bag if he's persistent. Occasionally challenge him first and spook the bejesus out of him. Frankly, that's too much bother for me so I'd just get rid of him if it got to that but since he's young you might have luck.

Or you could rehome or cull him. As unpleasant as it might sound to you, it might be the most responsible and practical thing to do.

 

[bobbi-j]

I would not submit to a rooster in any way. I walk through mine whenever I feel like it. I will handle my hens when my roosters are there because they I know I am the top bird. This fall, I caught one of the pullets in front of the dominant cockerel of the flock. He looked at me, started toward me, then caught my look at him and backed off. It's been years since I've had a cockerel or rooster physically attack me. I believe part of that is because from the time they are young I am confident around them and don't take any guff. I would not keep a rooster that attacks me, (and I especially will not keep a rooster that attacks a child.) He's not "protecting his flock" from me, he's disrespecting me. He knows I am not a threat.

 

[Ridgerunner]

At six months he is not mature. Adolescent human boys can mate and crow but that doesn’t mean he is ready to settle down and raise a family. Just ask the father or grandfather of any teenaged girl.

Some cockerels and roosters are human aggressive. There is always the debate about how much is inherited and how much is learned behavior, I feel it is a bit of both. Unlike you I do eat my chickens. If one shows undue human aggressiveness they are not allowed to breed. I haven’t had that problem in years so I do think the tendency can be inherited. But I also think some of it is learned.

That said, what you are seeing isn’t all that unusual in a cockerel. He’s trying to find his limits, especially if he is the only cockerel you have or happens to be the dominant one. I do occasionally see that behavior when there is no adult rooster in the flock.

You’ve let it go on longer than I would. The first time I see any hint of aggression in a cockerel I walk toward him. I don’t run or move quickly, just slowly walk toward him. They are basically cowards and really like to sneak attack. Usually they will walk away. I keep walking toward him until he does walk away. When I stop and turn around to go about my business, if he starts trying to sneak up behind me I walk him down again. I keep doing that until he just walks away when I turn around. That is usually all it takes.

I’ll allow a cockerel to attack me once. When that happens I catch him, carry him around awhile, force him flat on the ground and rub his back with vigor, and peck at his head with my fingers. Let him know very clearly that attacking you is not an option. When I finally let him go I may walk him down as described above if he doesn’t just walk away. This usually works but if he attacks a second time he has run out of chances.

Sometimes this teaches him to respect all humans, but often it teaches him to respect you. It’s very possible you can teach him to respect you but he will still attack any other human that comes in range. I don’t accept this behavior either. Your sister may need to go through this process with him herself but any other people could still be in danger. Kids are especially vulnerable, partly because they don’t know how to behave calmly around a rooster and partly because their eyes are so close to his level.

I don’t go out of my way to provoke a rooster or cockerel. If I need to examine the chickens I’ll lock them all in the coop and get the rooster first. After I’ve examined him, I toss him outside before I grab a hen in front of him. To me this is a reasonable precaution. But if I need to handle a hen in front of him, I will. When I do this it’s normal for him to get between his flock and me, that’s fine with me. But it is not normal or acceptable for him to attack.

It may be too late for any of this to work for you. Since you are not getting rid of him and do not cook your chickens, you may just have to put up with him attacking and injuring people or keeping him confined where he cannot get to people. It’s your choice.

 

[Wilebaum]

Not really. He's being himself.

 

[bobbi-j]

I personally will not tolerate a human aggressive rooster - especially one that attacks children. But if you're determined to keep him, there are many threads on how to "tame"
a rooster. Any of the methods may or may not work, or it may work to teach your rooster to respect you, but not necessarily anyone else.

 

[chickens really]

If your determined to keep the Cockerel.....Lock him up......He will only get more aggressive as he matures....Confine him so he never has a chance to attack anyone...If for breeding? Put him with the hens a few hours a day........


Cheers!

 

[birdwrangler057]

give him a shove, slightly kick him when he goes at you, hold him upside down by his feet, show him who's boss.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I saw another post where the chicken keeper would carry them by the feet, not let them mate when he was around, show them who is boss. Good luck I have no idea!

Gary from Idyllwild Ca here

 

[birdwrangler057]

I would not submit to a rooster in any way. I walk through mine whenever I feel like it. I will handle my hens when my roosters are there because they I know I am the top bird. This fall, I caught one of the pullets in front of the dominant cockerel of the flock. He looked at me, started toward me, then caught my look at him and backed off. It's been years since I've had a cockerel or rooster physically attack me. I believe part of that is because from the time they are young I am confident around them and don't take any guff. I would not keep a rooster that attacks me, (and I especially will not keep a rooster that attacks a child.) He's not "protecting his flock" from me, he's disrespecting me. He knows I am not a threat.

Same, the animal kingdom is not about being nice, if you don't enflict superiority over a rooster he'll do it to you, and that doesn't go well.