New Blue Roo

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UPDATE:

Tied a string around his leg. Now if/when he goes for us, we can catch the string and reel him in. He seems incapable of attacking when there is pressure on his leg (me holding the string) and so I just scoop him up and pet and talk to him. Rub his comb and waddle.

I got home from work and he ran 2 yards away and started crowing.... Hope the neighbors aren't too upset by his antics.
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But, the girls brought him back home and he seems to be doing OK. No more attacks since he's gotten his little leash on. I hope he doesn't catch it on anything and hurt himself, but I think ti's necessary if I'm going to be able to keep him in the yard.


Thoughts? Anyone else ever have problems with tying a string around a chickens leg to catch them?
 
I had an large Orpington rooster named Frost that was aggressive to people, but he eventually became a nice bird after some "training". Basically, I followed some advice that I found by searching on BYC and it worked great!

I started picking up the roo every time he acted aggressive, and carried him around with me for a while. If he bit at me, I would even tuck his head under my arm to limit his reach. He was a big bird to hold on to, but it was well worth it. During his handling, I would pet him and stroke his comb and wattles, which I think he grew to like (even if he wouldn't openly admit it).

I would only put him down again when he stopped struggling or squirming to get loose. At first, this took a while because he would tense up when he felt me loosening my grip, but eventually he started giving in to my supremecy. Over time, he grew to trust people and learned that there was no use in fighting because I refused to engage in any sort of combat behavior with him. Before that, fighting back had only seemed to encourage his aggressive tendencies.

This may sound like a lot of work, and maybe it is for some people, but we love all our birds as pets. This rooster was a 4-H project for my son and he even won first place the year after beginning this training program. The year before that, the same roo had to have a warning sign on his cage at the fair so no one got bit by him. People couldn't believe it was the same rooster after he turned out so nice. I hope this story will help people realize that not all "bad" roosters are as evil as they seem. Maybe they just need someone to show them a better way.

We lost Frost over the winter, btw, and I really miss that rascal... He was always the best provider and protector for his hens, too.
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Andy is a wonderful name for him! We also have Blue Andalusians, but none so beautiful as your new boy... I am looking into getting some more BA eggs from someone on BYC, though.

In my experience, andies tend to act tougher than they really are... and none of ours have turned out to be biters. Sometimes, the roos will "dance" toward you in a daring way, but they tend to back down when confronted directly. I find them to be a showy, bragging breed but their relatively light frame takes most of the "bite" out of their bark. They do have the best crowing sounds and they sure do brighten up the yard when they dance around their ladies! For that reason alone, I would miss them if I didn't have any in our flock. Oh, and the BA hens are awesome layers of large white eggs, btw.
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The only real drawback to them is their huge fascination with anything that is shiny (even more than our other breeds) and the danger of frostbite during the winter that could damage their huge combs (even on the girls). All in all, though, this was the very first breed my son and I wanted. Our first BA roo was named Cobalt and he was a real sweetheart.
 

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