Picking the right Cockerel....

[SueT]

I would like to hear about your outcome and which one you choose, thank you for responding.

Next Sunday is the day I take the 2 unlucky ones to the poultry swap. So they have one more week left here.
I have found that both of the aggressive boys I’ve had were raised by me, and both the good roosters I’ve had were hen raised. And the predecessor of those 2 gentlemen roosters was an aggressive one. So I give all the credit to the hen and imprinting. (And the flock.)
(by aggressive I mean attacking humans.)
I have not yet heard any input to the contrary, but if anyone out there has any experiences to share, I’d appreciate hearing!

 

[mcard]

Next Sunday is the day I take the 2 unlucky ones to the poultry swap. So they have one more week left here.
I have found that both of the aggressive boys I’ve had were raised by me, and both the good roosters I’ve had were hen raised. And the predecessor of those 2 gentlemen roosters was an aggressive one. So I give all the credit to the hen and imprinting. (And the flock.)
(by aggressive I mean attacking humans.)
I have not yet heard any input to the contrary, but if anyone out there has any experiences to share, I’d appreciate hearing!

Yes aggressive to means to me ( human aggression) yes and I to would like to hear others experiences of cockerels raised by mama hen.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I had a timid BPR cockerel. Human raised with about 15 other chicks, then integrated into the flock at about 8-10 weeks. Main flock had about 40-50 hens. Also one rooster, one cockerel about 8 months old, and another cockerel the same age as the BPR. I mistakenly culled the second youngster, believing my BPR youngster to be the better choice. He was gorgeous, and I wanted those genes. Sadly, he was a wuss and would not stand up to ANY bullying. The two older boys (also human raised) didn't bother him much, except the typical chasing around the run, but no outright attacks. Just asserting dominance. The hens, however, did NOT like him. I found him one morning beat almost to death by a group of hens. His head was a bloody mess. I rehabilitated and re-integrated him, but from that point on he was always alone and kept far away from the flock. I realized he would never be a breeder as long as I kept an integrated flock. So I had to cull him. He's since been replaced by another youngster, a Bresse who was hen-raised, and is coming along just dandy. The older 2 roos are teaching him well, and the hens respect him.

 

[azygous]

Many chicken people underestimate and even ignore the effect of their own human behavior on young cockerels and older roosters. It's a very significant factor, I firmly believe.

I arrived at this from my own experience. My first rooster, a SLW, was very aggressive toward me and other humans that would stop by. I was just getting started with my flock, this roo being one of the first chicks i had raised. I had just joined BYC and the advice on handling aggressive roosters was not the most helpful at that point.

The roo would run up to me and attack me from behind, ambushing me at every opportunity. In turn, I would do little more than to get up and run him off. The only thing that was accomplished was for both of us to get plenty of aerobic exercise.

My second rooster was a Buff Brahma. He was not aggressive like the first one, but he developed a serious biting problem and would literally drill my hand with his beak when ever I got near him. On BYC at that time was a member called olychickenguy from Olympia WA. He was very intuitive about the behavior of roosters as he ran a rooster rescue and had at least a dozen roos at any given time. He taught me a lot about rooster behavior and the psychology behind it which I credit for what I now know and understand about them.

He tutored me for nearly a year to rehabilitate this rooster, and the rooster finally stopped biting and became a gentleman. Most of the rehabilitation was me changing my behavior around him. I understood how I was always in a rush, made abrupt movements when in close proximity to him, and when I moderated my behavior, the rooster changed his.

Subsequently, all of the roosters I had after him were very well behaved partly due to being gentle breeds, but also my behavior has become much more moderated and self confident. I wrote an article about this. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/i-think-i-have-a-cockerel-now-what-do-i-do.76274/