New Polish Rooster-complete jerk need help?!

[head chicken in charge]

I am not new to chickens but I am new to having Silkies and Polish in my Flock. Actually they were supposed to be their "own" flock. So my current flock is mixed. They are all around 4 /4.5 months old. 11 Different types of chickens..2 Turkeys(a hen and a Tom) and 2 ducks. One of the chickens is a sweet little OEGB Pidgey. I love her so much! Her 2 bestie are the Largest chicken OUR golden laced Cochin Little Foot and our RIR Carmel. But she is picked on ALLL the time and pushed away from food.. treats..etc. We felt terrible for her. So I searched online and found a breeder a hour away that had Bantam Silkies and Polish chickens. We built them a separate yard attached to the side fence of the main chicken yard for these guys and hopefully Pidgey could have a Flock of her own. I got 2 Silkies and a cute Silkie Mix they are 3 and 4 months old. Plus a Polish Rooster that was 4 months old. So the same age. He was so gentle and sweet but seemed off from the beginning. I'm not used to them so I didn't know for sure what was going on. But after a couple of days it was obvious that he was sick. By the time I started treating him it was too late. He passed away. The girl felt so bad that she gave me another one around the same age but she gave me an extra as well. He is around 6 months old and MUCH bigger. He is a TOTAL spazz and is SUPER mean to other chickens! He is mean to the smaller rooster with him. I thought it was just because he was a rooster but nope. My cutie blue silkie hen was close to the dog pin I have him in and he snatched her right up! I got her away so he didn't hurt her. The girl raises Polish and Silkies together so I was super shocked! He even tried to fight my Turkey Hen through the Pin and Fence. Like jumping up in the air trying to poke her eyes out. Now she HATES him. She would FOR SURE kill him if I tried to put him in with the large Flock. She is fine with the Silkies and there are 2 Roosters in those. He is just a JERK! He isn't mean towards me. He is actually terrified of me. I'm sweet to him.. stroke his head and give him treats.. I am stern and did yank him up when he grabbed my silkie. But long long story short. What do I do? I've had another EE rooster previously that was kind of mean and I just kept being sweet but strong around him and removed him when he was acting up.. is this normal for Polish Roosters? I don't want to have to keep the other Polish rooster in with him so he won't be alone. And I don't want to leave any animal in a Pin.. especially not alone. And it's been a couple of weeks now trying to get everyone used to each other still about the same. He is the only off factor. Should I keep trying with him? See if the girl will take him back or find someone that will take him? Or?? What? Thanks.

I'm currently experiencing my own issues with my polish rooster. Not quite as bad as yours, but still frustrating. My rooster is a spazoid! Any attempt to interact is met with erratic running and avoiding. He freaks out so much that he actually knocked himself out one time! Thankfully he was okay, just knocked out for 30 seconds. I'm not sure what to do with him. My wife wants to rehome him, but I refuse to give up. I built him his own coop and run attached on the side of our main coop and run. So this way he's included, but still safe...sorry I'm rambling. Anyway, I hope you figure it out, and everything goes well for you and your chickens.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

I'm currently experiencing my own issues with my polish rooster. Not quite as bad as yours, but still frustrating. My rooster is a spazoid! Any attempt to interact is met with erratic running and avoiding. He freaks out so much that he actually knocked himself out one time! Thankfully he was okay, just knocked out for 30 seconds. I'm not sure what to do with him. My wife wants to rehome him, but I refuse to give up. I built him his own coop and run attached on the side of our main coop and run. So this way he's included, but still safe...sorry I'm rambling. Anyway, I hope you figure it out, and everything goes well for you and your chickens.

Try trimming his head feathers, it sounds like he can't see and is freaking out

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

I was unaware that chickens could be embarrassed. How real is this? Do all chickens experience this? I have many questions

100% they are social animals and care about what the other chickens will think of them

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Give him some time but if he does not improve then yes, I'd give him back. Sometimes a chicken or rooster does better in a different setting, different group, sometimes they don't acclimate. Just like people, they have their own personalities, too.

I have 1 Polish hen with a mixed flock. She is a skittish spazola, even though no one ever bothers her & the large RIR & Comet Rooster, Casanova, protects her as if she was his baby chick. She often runs under him & he looks bewildered & worried while gently preening & chortling to her as she is underneath of him. The other hens are like...what's up with her?

I've watched them, it's as if she's running from an invisible ghost. Her hairdoo has been trimmed so she can see better, but she still runs like a spaz. She knows she is smaller than everyone else, so she naturally takes precautions to avoid possibly getting picked on, but no one has ever picked on her. I believe it is just her spazzy personality trait.

Perhaps your Roo, because he is a Roo, feels like a vulnerable spaz so he is acting out the opposite, to nip anyone else bugging him, in the bud. Or he may just have a mean streak. I've had 15 Roosters of different breeds, (currently 10 Roos of various ages, as my old original boys have passed on), & they all displayed the "tough guy act" at some point, but in time, usually about 2-3 yrs of age, they eventually became very comfortable with the entire flock (including Guineas) & calmed down.

As to my only Polish gal, the only time she is breifly fearless is when I have some treats in hand, squash, mealworms, etc., but 90% of the time she is zooming around as if her tail was on fire. She has a bestie, a smaller than average Barred Rock hen, who always has a bewildered expression as to why her friend is zooming around...alway looks surprised when Phyllis jets off, looking around, like...who the heck is she running from? It is hilarious actually....chicken TV entertainment. Oh, Her name is Phyllis Diller, of course.

Give him a bit of time to adjust, once he realizes, hey, "we are all birds here...not a threat. Save your aggressive behavior for foxes or falcons." He may calm down & realize his flock is family. But I would talk to the gal you got him from, keep her in the loop, in case he needs to relocate to a different family.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I am not new to chickens but I am new to having Silkies and Polish in my Flock. Actually they were supposed to be their "own" flock. So my current flock is mixed. They are all around 4 /4.5 months old. 11 Different types of chickens..2 Turkeys(a hen and a Tom) and 2 ducks. One of the chickens is a sweet little OEGB Pidgey. I love her so much! Her 2 bestie are the Largest chicken OUR golden laced Cochin Little Foot and our RIR Carmel. But she is picked on ALLL the time and pushed away from food.. treats..etc. We felt terrible for her. So I searched online and found a breeder a hour away that had Bantam Silkies and Polish chickens. We built them a separate yard attached to the side fence of the main chicken yard for these guys and hopefully Pidgey could have a Flock of her own. I got 2 Silkies and a cute Silkie Mix they are 3 and 4 months old. Plus a Polish Rooster that was 4 months old. So the same age. He was so gentle and sweet but seemed off from the beginning. I'm not used to them so I didn't know for sure what was going on. But after a couple of days it was obvious that he was sick. By the time I started treating him it was too late. He passed away. The girl felt so bad that she gave me another one around the same age but she gave me an extra as well. He is around 6 months old and MUCH bigger. He is a TOTAL spazz and is SUPER mean to other chickens! He is mean to the smaller rooster with him. I thought it was just because he was a rooster but nope. My cutie blue silkie hen was close to the dog pin I have him in and he snatched her right up! I got her away so he didn't hurt her. The girl raises Polish and Silkies together so I was super shocked! He even tried to fight my Turkey Hen through the Pin and Fence. Like jumping up in the air trying to poke her eyes out. Now she HATES him. She would FOR SURE kill him if I tried to put him in with the large Flock. She is fine with the Silkies and there are 2 Roosters in those. He is just a JERK! He isn't mean towards me. He is actually terrified of me. I'm sweet to him.. stroke his head and give him treats.. I am stern and did yank him up when he grabbed my silkie. But long long story short. What do I do? I've had another EE rooster previously that was kind of mean and I just kept being sweet but strong around him and removed him when he was acting up.. is this normal for Polish Roosters? I don't want to have to keep the other Polish rooster in with him so he won't be alone. And I don't want to leave any animal in a Pin.. especially not alone. And it's been a couple of weeks now trying to get everyone used to each other still about the same. He is the only off factor. Should I keep trying with him? See if the girl will take him back or find someone that will take him? Or?? What? Thanks.

soup time

 

[my spoiled chickens]

I was unaware that chickens could be embarrassed. How real is this? Do all chickens experience this? I have many questions

Idk it definitely lessened the attacking. I'm not sure if they actually get embarrassed but that was the best way I could think of putting it

 

[bharris0426]

UPDATE: So I have been so insanely busy at work. 16 hours a day. I meant to come back to let you guys know what happened. So giving him some time definitely made a world of difference. Ziggy is VERY sweet but now he is just a MAJOR spazatron 10,000. Bless his heart he had good reason to be that way for a bit but now.. lord. He is making himself a target. So he was in our adjacent smaller chicken yard and coop with the 3 silkies. Well a Opossum bent the metal siding down and killed the 2 smaller silkies. Ziggy and his BBF painted silkie rooster Ozzie made it. That Opossum met my 22. I caught him in there. We reinforced everything and a month later another one broke in to a tiny rip in the wire that happened during a overnight storm. He got to Ozzie before I heard the alarm going off. Poor Ziggy saw all of that. We made that area a ridiculous fortress. Tore down an old dog pen and used the fencing to wrap the entire perimeter. Over the bird netting and chicken wire that was already around the whole thing. But poor Ziggy was lonely. So we integrated him into the large Chicken area. He stayed by himself in his own coop for a while now he sleeps with the others but runs through all the chickens like his butt is on fire. Yelling the whole time. Hahaha. Ben our main California White didn't care about him for a long while, until recently. But I think it's because he makes sooo much noise. I mean how in the world could you ignore that?! I have 6 new silkies that im raising now. They're only a week old but eventually we will put him back with them and put our 2 bantams and our Cochin all together. I know he will be so much happier. He is scared of the big chickens. Even tho he is almost as big or bigger than some. this is Mr. Mc Spazatron. Lol. Him with my beautiful cochin. Then just him.

 

[Slothinc]

He is so cute!! If I were you, I’d give him a really good crest trim, because his vision is obscured right now. You may see major personality change after cutting back that crest. Worth a try, and he will appreciate it!

 

[Loving my girls]

I’m really sorry but your post was hilarious , I know it was serious and I shouldn’t laughter , but omg I nearly spilt my wine !

Just read your second post and I nearly choked on a peanut, the dogs love the wine on the floor

You should write a book your ability to produce a mind picture is just fabulous

 

[bharris0426]

I will do that today. He is a sweet heart and loves me. He is just a spaz with the other birds. Thank you for your stories and advice! I'll let yall know how it goes.