Need advice about our "sort of aggresive" roo

[peepjoy]

Hi all...

We have a Welsummer roo and nine hens that are about 5 1/2 mos. old. The roo, his name is King, used to love to be held when he was little, but.......not anymore....lol!

He seems to be a little aggressive towards me. He seems fine with our daughter (she's 18) I have been reading on the forums about roo behavior and had an idea that this morning I would hold him before letting him out. Well, that really ticked him off.

When I let him go he followed me and tried to spur me. No harm done, but I obviously can't let him keep this behavior going. He is a great roo in terms of keeping his flock in order and he is my daughters pet, so we really want to keep him.

Tips, tricks or ideas anyone? Thanks sooooo much!!

kim

 

[kyrose]

well im fairly new to chickens but i had the same problem with my silky roo.i can give you the same advice some people on here gave to me.continue to pick him up everytime he tries to flock you.if you can,every time you see him mounting a hen,knock him off.its all about letting him no that you are the boss...good luck.

 

[peepjoy]

Thanks, did it work with your roo?

 

[amarook]

My aggressive rooster is currently in the fridge in the form of soup.

I babied him when he was little. I learned the hard way that's not a good thing to do.

We tried carrying him around, keeping him separate from the flock for a week. It didn't do any good. He tried to attack my nieces, and he went after me.

 

[peepjoy]

Thanks for the response Jen. It's beginning to sound like maybe it's just a personality thing?!? Has anyone out there been successful in getting over aggressive behavior with roos?

 

[Uzuri]

There'll be a lot of people along with a lot of advice here in a minute, but here's the little bit I know... as soon as he came after you after you annoyed him, you should have snatched him back up. And you've got to keep doing that until he calms down and doesn't turn on you. When I'm working with Rooster (creative name, I know), I don't even set him down again until he's cooled off -- if he even starts to wiggle when his feet hit the ground, he's gets scooped up again (I'll admit that's a feat; he weighs a ton ). He's about the same age as your roo and is the same breed, and I'm spending most of my time with one eye on him and one eye on whatever I'm doing, because this is when they're starting to realize what a roo's for.

 

[CTChick]

I have only read about this and my three roos are very sweet (so far) but what about removing the spurs? "Supposed" to be easy to twist them off - wouldn't this fix the problem???

Laura

 

[SheeReno]

Yea I've heard from a few people that babying a roo can lead to the roo thinkin he'll dominate you later...

Rather soul-crushing, I'd say...

 

[17roses]

Mean roos at our house go to "freezer camp". There are so many great roos out there I wouldnt waste my time on an aggressive one.

If you are determined to work with it... Show no fear, kick if necessary and never let aggressive action be tolerated. More than likely it is aware you are afraid of it and takes advantage of that. I have found holding them upsidedown by the feet for just a minute or two to be a very calming and dominating move. Really though I find that my attitude is more important than my actions. Just my two cents worth.

Good Luck

 

[PortageGirl]

Look at Rooster-red's page, https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior and take what you can from that. Some pretty sound advice in there.

I agree, handling them too much when they're tiny seems to cause more trouble than it solves IMO. Honestly, I think it makes them lose respect/fear of you. I never handle mine much, just enough so they aren't totally terrified, but still worried. In all but one case ( a NHR boy) mine have been very decent to be around, though not cuddly.

In the case of the NHR that was nasty, I unknowingly did a lot of what Rooster-red suggests. I was a kid at the time and had no idea what I was doing, I just knew that kicking him actually seemed to make him more determined, almost like it was a game to him, but picking him up made him feel very uneasy because he had no traction or leverage, or any way to 'get' me. I was more determined than he was I guess. He did try to bite me, but that really isn't all that scary to me I guess. It got he knew if he got close enough to me to attack me, I could grab him up and then he had to submit to being petted and carried around a while. (I think it was self preservation on my part, if I was holding him like a football, I knew where he was!)