mean rooster

[sundance]

I have a RIR roo who will attack anyone but me, my kids drive the hundred yards to my house rather than pass the chicken run, and if he's outside he will run my pitt back in the house. But since none of my hens want to go broody so I can hatch a new roo I have to keep him.Can't afford an incubator, Tried to attack DH the other morning when he let them out of the coop, got a board up side his head, shook his head a few times and walked off.Since he's bigger than the wild turkeys around here he may be our thanksgiving turkey. marrie

 

[enola]

. . . . it's a long time til Thanksgiving . . . .

 

[Beekissed]

I've never had a roo that showed aggression more than once. If they did, it means they aren't smart enough to understand the rules in the coop. Dumb chickens are not something I desire in flock genetics. Dumb AND mean? Dangerous combo and more of a reason to cull.

Why have dumb and mean when you can have a flock protector with some common sense. Only stands to reason, if he's smarter, he does a better job when the chips are down. There is nothing wrong with an assertive roo. There is, however, something very wrong with an aggressive roo.

Roosters are a dime a dozen. Find a good one, breed his traits into your flock and raise more good ones. Keep a bad one and breed his traits into your flock and you get more bad ones. Simple.

 

[chikenlady]

beekissed,

Very well said...and it makes loads of sense!

 

[bburn]

My chickens are just at the 19-20 week. Ended up with a bunch of roosters....almost half. The Green Mile or Death Row tractor is just about finished. I can see a difference in the behaviors of the entire flock just the last couple of weeks. The big cull is coming soon. I have RIR roo's, a couple of Barred Rock roo's and a couple of I am not quite sure roo's.

Could be me, but I think that so far the more calm and gentle roo's are the idontknows and the Barred Rocks. Just now starting to see a little bit of agressive behavior and every time it is a RIR. So my thought is first the Green Mile and then freezer camp for them. It will be interesting to see the difference in behaviors after that. We have 29 total chickens and plenty of room for all. I just do not want any mean roo's.

I have never been around chickens before so am trying to absorb as much information as I can. My understanding is that the breeding is pretty rough.....so I am trying to decide if I am seeing them trying to establish dominence or if this is the stage right before the breeding starts. Because I have not actually seen 'it'.....will be okay if I don't you know. BUT I don't want a bunch of hens with no feathers on their backs either.

I am such a newbie! But, the chicken tractor is almost done! I can take the troublemakers out and may just end up with all hens! And the freezer full!

All this to ask a question....when the roo grabs a hen by the back of the neck.....is he being domanent or is that the beginning of him trying to breed her? Somewhere I read you should not let them breed in front of you....but I can't see that a chicken would care one way or the other. If that is the norm....ok....if not I was just wondering if that was too much aggression??? There is the question. I would post my own but have not figured it out yet...need to read the instructions.

tks.....

 

[emvickrey]

The grabbing the back of their heads is most likely the beginning of breeding. As far as not breeding in front of you, I neve heard that one. I don't think my chickens have either. If the roo is just tossing the hens around then I would put a stop to it. If you have a bunch of roos in with some hens you will have abused hens. The rule is what I've read is 1 roo per 10 hens.
Before I knew this rule I had 6 hens and 2 roos. And we didn't know what the poor girls where going through till we where adding a run to their coop. It was as if they where being raped. Poor things. If one roo bred one the other had to have his turn then the other would start all over or pick another hen. It was horrible. We also built a bachelor pad for the roos when we discovered this was going on. We took the roos out and they ended up beating each other up so we built a wall so they couldn't get to each other. After a few months the hens would go to the bachelor pen and want his attention. They all picked the same roo. So I gave them what they wanted and rehomed the other. I put aprons on the girls when I took the roos out so heir backs could heal and grow feathers. Poor babies. I learned alot on that adventure. I watch for abuse now and the abuser gets punished. Strange I know but it works for me. I'll remove a hen being abused and put her in another pen and give her special treats to make up for it. Or remove a roo being abused. PUnish the abuser by putting him in a small cage where he can see the others but can't get near anybody while they free range and get treats and all he gets is some water and a little food. If he continues he gets rehomed. The older roos are tough to eat and I'd rather take him to auction and let somebody buy him for their freezer or flock. I have a silkie that will go to auction as soon as I can replace him with an Americauna for my girls in that pen. He is just a stand in. He's fertile and puts out beautiful chicks. He is also very protective of his girls but he will attack us if we don't watch our back. We don't keep mean roosters.

 

[emvickrey]

Quote:
I had a beautiful roo that turned mean. He didn't come after me but he started attacking my grandson, then DH. So since we can't have the kids hurt we told him if he comes after him again shoot him with his BB gun. And he did. First shot to the head and he was done for. My grandson was 6 years old. Good shot for such a young fella. He got the satisfaction of stopping him from attacking anybody else. He was afraid he would hurt his grandma (me). Such a sweetie.

 

[bburn]

Thanks emvickery for the reply.

That is what I thought. My husband will be home tomorrow and I am going to sit him down and talk to him. While he was gone this week my DSS helped me build the tractor that is just about finished. It was my plan to have it ready by now. The roo's will go there for a couple of week until they can be dispatched to freezer camp. They are all still young enough to not be tough yet I think. My DSS says he has no problem with the dispatching....so will let him and I will get them in the freezer.

From all the reading I understood that the flock was going to have to be thinned out. We did not mean to get quite so many roo's but being newbies we were just glad they were all healthy! Now it is time to take control. Cull the roo's so that we can enjoy the hen's.

Thanks again.....

 

[Yazzo]

I wrote a really long, (hopefully) informative thread about this subject: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=390911 If you'd like to check it out. I just checked out RoosterRed's page, and I mostly agree with them, but I provided a bit more info on the subject.
If it doesn't work, I say just find a new home for him. Even the some of the meanest roosters can be turned into great, nice roosters. I've done it countless times.