My rooster is all of the sudden aggressive...

[Momsays]

HI! I have a Golden Laced Wyandotte rooster about 8 months old. He has been with my flock (4 hens) for a couple months, and up until about a week ago he was very nonaggressive. Now he is attacking me and my 3 children and our dog daily! I do love him and want to keep him. Why the sudden change, and is there any way to get him to mellow out?

 

[ChixAddict]

This thread has some good suggestions.....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/621806/aggressive-rooster

 

[Momsays]

Thank you! Do you think his aggression will affect the hens? Since his aggressive behavior, they're not laying as many eggs and they seem stressed.

 

[cafarmgirl]

A young rooster going through the raging hormone, teenage stage of life, will often settle down, become less of a jerk and behave better with the hens as he matures. This is the age at which I keep an eye on them. I will tolerate a certain amount of young rooster boorish behavior but they usually start settling down after 12 months of age or so. If not, if I see things like attacking the hens to the point of drawing blood or running hens off from food, that type of thing... I don't keep those roos.

And do work on him as far as his behaviour towards you. Most of them go through this uppity stage and many of them can learn to be decent, not all of them do but many can. My current roo, a big RIR, tried my patience severely when he was a dumb teenager! But he was very good to his hens so I kept working with him and he turned out to be quite a decent bird to be around. He's 3 1/2 years old now and he's no pet and I don't expect him to be but he's respectful of my space and we get along just fine.