My Beloved Roo Is Becoming A Problem...despite all attempts to turn him around.

[guernsi]

I have read many threads on this issue, and I guess I hope someone can suggest something else I haven't yet tried.

I have a black australorp rooster, about 1.5 years old now, who I am very attached to. However, he doesn't feel the same about me. I raised him in the house from a chick (we were supposed to have three hens, but got one roo and two hens). He began showing signs of aggression by 5-6 months. I held him all the time, and this seemed to help. I was astounded to find out he attacked my dad who was being their caretaker for the weekend, and he had to defend himself with the old christmas tree.

At about 1 year old, I had to separate him from his two girls because he was too hard on them, and he seemed to get more aggitated at this point. He flies at me with his spurs, bites me, and actually got me on the face while I was holding him the other day when I got distracted and let my guard down. At first, I tried defending myself with fists, boots, and sticks because this was all frightening. After this seemed only to exacerbate the situation, I have tried dodging and picking him up at every attack. This is very time consuming and he is still very unpredictable, but he did seem to make a lot of progress. He often will walk away from me after I put him down.

We visited a farm this week that he could be rehomed at, but I just couldn't leave him there...with no grass, hundreds of scraggley chickens, and unclean conditions. I am determined to try again. He is now living with my 8 hens and I am hoping this will be a better ratio so he can stay with the hens in the tractor. This is his last chance.

I am now scared of him, and I think he knows this. He doesn't try to attack my husband, who has offered to "take care of him" literally thousands of times. I continue to pick him up every time he attacks, and he seems to calm down after a few minutes. But when I put him down he gets aggitated again. He even senses when I am about to put him down and turns to bite at me. I hand feed him treats because this seems to make his aggression dissolve temporarily. I am at a loss, and don't know what else can be done. I am covered with bite marks and bruises from his blundted spurs. I want to be responsible for this animal I raised, and to kill him or pawn him off on someone else doesn't seem right, and then there's the fact that I really care about him too. Keeping a dangerous animal long term is not a workable situation for us.

Is there any hope at all for this rooster to be a nice bird?

What can I do? Thoughts? I'll try anything ! ...

 

[Roxannemc]

Sorry about spelling my cell wont co operate well onBYC replys......
Ok here is what i foundI have a mop and a broom mop is better as the end sort of flys like feathers if my Meanie comes at me or even comes near me i swing it he runs but i chase him a few feet so he knows if he starts ill finish it.zcant just defend yourself amd leave it alone.and cant let him know your afraid .If he walks within 5 feet of me when
ifeed i do itHe will watch you srr cartying it too do dont forget.Gotta show him you are boss rooster.My zMeanie has gotten pretty good that is to say i can go in the yard for eerks at a time now without the mop but he fid make a quick try at a bite once and he hot chaded and things thtown at him like water smsll feedrr.Cant let them do it once.Watch roosters with each other.. the alpha will chase the others not just bite and turn their back.I had used kicking sticks etc too but the mop really scares em a lot more and they run but you really have to chase them a few steps to let them know your serious they better stay away.

 

[Muffinburgler]

The way I've always dealt with aggressive roosters is I carry a stick or a broom. Whenever he charges at me or does something I don't like, like mounting a hen, I give him a good hard smack to the butt with the stick. It usually only takes a few times to see me with the stick and realize me=pain in the butt, and the rooster will stay out of my way.

 

[guernsi]

Re: Roxannemc and Muffinburgler

I have tried this approach with him in the past - I actually chased him around the yard with a shovel several times because he made me so angry. And then there was the rooster stick, that I would take into the run with me for defense. After several weeks of this it just seemed to make him meaner. However, when he attacked me, I would full on bat him across the yard in defense.

I am thinking I might try the broom idea just to get him to keep his distance from me and regain that respect. More of a chase, and less of any kind of physical harm. It does make sense to chase him around as the dominant rooster. And having a stick in hand also dissolves my fear and I'm sure changes my body language as I appear to him.

I had given up on this (what I will refer to as "fear-based" philosophy) after doing some reading, and discovering two very different trains of thought on aggressive roosters. As I understand it, the so called "fear-based" philosophy requires lots of chasing, and physical harm to intimidate the rooster. For example, booting him across the yard when he flies at you. I have read that the rooster will come to fear you, and will not attack unless you are in a very vulnerable position, or he will attack other people, given the chance. This is why I stopped fighting back in the first place, because I don't want to own an unpredictable bird that may attack me or my family when we are vulnerable. The other train of thought seems to center around gentle but dominant behavior. The "gentle-dominant" philosophy requires you to dodge his attacks and EVERY time this happens, you must pick him up and carry him around until he calms down. It helps to do this in front of the hens and make it as embarrassing as possible, supposedly. This is what I have been trying for more than a month now. At first he seemed to learn very quickly after being held that the best option was to walk away. Now he is acting more aggressive than ever when I put him down and he comes at me instantly.

We'll do a little chasing and see what happens.

Thank you all for your input !

 

[lazy gardener]

Have you tried pinning him to the ground? Grab him by the scruff of the neck, and hold his head down to the ground. He'll struggle, and he may loose a few feathers. Hold him there until he stops struggling, then hold him a bit longer. Also, when you're in the run, purposefully cross his path. Do not go around him. When you cross his path and he does not move out of your way, give him the boot, followed by a chase. When you feed the girls, make him wait for his turn. When you give treats, give them to the girls, make him go last. In other words, you become the dominant rooster. When ever you do chicken chores, be fully covered, (long pants and sleeves, sturdy foot gear, glasses, hat, gloves) This will give him less opportunity to get bare skin. It will also boost your confidence as you will be less vulnerable. I'd give him about a week of re-training. If he doesn't mend his ways, send him to the stew pot. You don't deserve abuse from a rooster any more than you would from a domestic partner. Don't put up with it. Take the aggressive role before he gets a chance to. If he starts to give you the "stink-eye" give him a good dose of attitude readjustment. Further... Don't ever let him play in the gene pool! Mean roosters produce mean babies.

Personally, if he were in my flock, I'd have enjoyed a chicken stew a long time ago. forget that you've seen him grow up from a little chicklet. He could cause permanent harm to someone. Unfortunately, even if you rehabilitate him, he's had a taste of being the Alpha roo over people, and he'll look for opportunity to regain that position. Look at what you have now, and deal with it accordingly. I hope my words haven't been too harsh!

 

[cafarmgirl]

Usually roosters who are going to see the light and settle down do so by the time they are about a year old. I give them that long, until the raging-teenage-hormone stage has settled down some. Although when they are as aggressive as yours I do not keep them. Nor do I keep them if they persist in being jerks after their first birthday. I just have no intention of living every day looking over my shoulder and having to defend myself.

Many times it is the roosters who were raised as pets who can be the hardest to handle, they just have no natural fear or respect. Add that to what is normal behavior for a roo and you get a really nasty bird.

When I have young roo's try to come at me, I run them off and I keep them running until they really wish they'd never seen me or approached me! I keep them moving and keep them away from the hens until I decide they can come back. I get the point across that this is MY place and they are MY hens, he comes second to me. I never step around a roo either, I move him out of my way. A rooster who does not attack but is clearly thinking about it gets picked up, patted and carried around, all in full view of the hens. My current RIR roo HATES this and he seems to be clearly embarrassed when he is finally put down. He is good rooster who improved immensely with some work when he was young, he is now 4 1/2 years old, respectful of my space and I can handle him as needed for deworming or general health inspections. But in the end, if this training does not work, and sometimes it doesn't, the rooster is gone.

 

[chynasparks]

I fear that if my roo becomes that difficult he'll have to go. My little flock of 3 hens and a roo are not able to be free ranged. I physically take them to a hoop run on a daily basis. They stay in their coo/run enclosure when not in the other run. So if I can't deal with Bill, he will have to go. He's not aggressive now at 20 weeks. I will tolerate a little during the "teenage" time. He's a surprise roo. I bought 4 pullets and ended up with Wild Bill. He's a nice bird and handsome. I'd like to keep him. I just hope he stays sweet.

 

[199787]

I know you love him, but I honestly don't think I'd put up with it at all. I have 2 adult Roos and 4 teenaged Roos (going to new homes) and another preteen that I am keeping. I don't ever snuggle with any of them, not since they were very tiny. They all quickly clear a path when I walk around. They are all free range but are locked up at night. Every now and again I chase them a few steps for good measure. I only handle them for NPIP testing and medical purposes, but I actually really like them a lot. We just don't cuddle. I am not an expert by any means, but it seems to me that more cuddling and petting leads to more aggressive Roos. I haven't ever had one consider attacking me yet. If they do try to flog they will be eaten. I don't want to worry about getting attacked by any of my animals when I am out doing chores. Now that yours has begun terrorizing you I truly don't know how to fix it so no help there. Next baby roo you get, maybe try the no snuggling approach from the beginning. Good luck with him.

 

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

when i was a kid we had a rooster, and it was attacking me, and would not leave me alone, my dad would come help me, he told me i needed to stand up for my-self and the roster would know i was boss. the rooster liked to guard the barn. ( i was like 6 or 7 at the time)

one day i was coming out of the barn with a broom....... the rooster attack me, and i got so mad i pushed him off, and when he tried to get me again I swung the broom stick has hard as i could. Hit him right the head and he did a flip or two , got up all dased and confused. he ran at me and i punted that chicken foot ball as hard as i could, I think i could have made a feild goal.......


he never bothered me again LOL

these days i'm much more relaxed the chicken will just get eaten lol

 

[carrieb62]

I had to teach my tame rooster, BeeBee, who has indoor privileges too - that I am the "alpha" rooster. It took awhile when he was young and occasionally he forgets, so he will get reminded and then he gets put into his cage for awhile for a "timeout".