No just the opposite. I empathize with roosters who feel threatened and attack me. I don't blame him for being that way and IMO he is acting on instinct, not spite.
That's why IMO it is impossible to change an aggressive rooster. People can learn to "manage" the behavior, but without constant "management" the rooster reverts to instinct.
Can you just describe what you did, and what happened? I'm not trying to make friends with my chickens, just want to let them be themselves as long as no one gets hurt.
I definitely disagree with you there - saying it's instinct doesn't show him empathy at all, in my opinion. Roosters attack for many different reasons. One of the main ones is they're treating you as a rival - and that's what the whole training is about, changing that relationship, not being a rival anymore. Redefining the relationship as a partnership. Other reasons they attack could be fear, insecurity, excitement, surprise, unrelated stress, on and on.
All I do is follow the methods the Featherbrain laid out in the article linked and they work like magic - you essentially just need to learn positive dog training methods. If you want to learn as quickly as possible, follow Zac George - watch his YouTube videos, read his book, apply it to roosters. It will take time - dog training is a skill, but roosters are worth it. In general, I've found that working with a rooster a couple times a day for even just a couple of weeks can completely transform him. Of course, some will learn faster, some slower - just like dogs, but it's never taken me longer than a few weeks of work with my boys. The more experience you get, the faster you can do it, as with all things.
Some will slide back, just like dogs, but when they do slide back, it's much easier to retrain them. Others won't slide back at all. They're all individuals with unique personalities. But I never assume the worst if one slides back (and by slide back, I typically mean a rooster tries to spur me once after not having done it for a really long time). I show him empathy, try to figure out the reason why he's behaving that way, spend about 5 minutes working with him, and then we're good. Honestly, it never feels like a big deal. Sometimes a child behaves really well for a long period of time and then "slides back" - either physically or verbally behaving in a way you don't like. You just deal with it and move on, but it doesn't mean that you're just "managing" a child who is always "mean" at heart and inherently incapable of truly changing his behavior.
I'll be honest here - If you are unwilling to consider that you can change your relationship with your rooster, then I don't see how you could follow through with the training. You essentially need to take the time and the effort to learn positive methods dog training, and just like with dogs, you have to work with their personalities. When one approach doesn't work, you need to change it a bit, as you would with dogs. But if you are convinced it's not going to work, I don't know why you would bother putting the time in to do it.
I don't want to discourage you or anybody else - it really isn't hard if you're committed. But you have to be willing to deal with any obstacles that come up, not just say, "I knew he couldn't change." I know I sound like a broken record here - but it's just like with dogs, some can be harder to train than others, and all require that you tweak things a little bit to fit their needs and personalities. If you ever watch Zak George's videos on YouTube, you'll see that even something as simple as teaching a dog to "sit" may require tweaks, depending on the dog.
One of the reasons I wondered if you see animals as automatons is because if you do, you're going to have a really tough time working with them. You really didn't answer that question, so I don't want to dwell on it and waste your time, but that belief is going to hold you back if you have it. You're constantly going to be interpreting your rooster's behavior in that negative light, rather than figuring out why he's doing what he's doing and working with him to change it.
I also wonder if you view dogs as automatons and believe that people only "manage" their dogs but don't truly help them to change their behavior. I keep comparing roosters to dogs, but if you think dogs only act on instinct and are only "managed" by humans as well, then this comparison that I think is so true and so powerful will have no effect on you whatsoever. That's why I was trying to better understand your position. It does neither of us any good if I argue from an assumption that you don't share.
I also do highly recommend that book (from my last comment) if you do tend to see animals as automatons. (If you're at all interested, that is.)
I was trying to see if you believed chickens were capable of friendship because if you do use positive dog training on your rooster, you will be forming a friendship with him. There's really no way around that. My roosters love me and want to follow me everywhere. So, again, if you don't want a friendship or don't believe chickens are even capable of that (and I don't know if you feel that way or not), then I don't see how you could successfully train one.
I'm not trying to be rude, and I'm not saying you're going to fail so don't bother trying or anything like that. You seem a smart cookie and I'm sure if you ever really wanted to do this, you definitely could. I'm just getting the impression you don't really want to.
