Preventing Cockerel From Going Full Caveman?

[Pickled Plaid]

Apologies in advance for the length of this.

We got a random Brahma cross chick in a box of ducklings this summer, whose egg was laid in a broody duck's nest, and he was hatched alongside the ducklings. As luck would dictate, the chick is a cockerel.

He's always been brave, alert, and a dedicated leader of the ducklings - even at less than a week old. I can't even do a bedtime check on the duck pen (quietly, in the dark) without him alerting everyone. I think he has some stellar qualities that could potentially lead him down the path of Exceptional Roosterdom.

I'm very inexperienced with poultry, and less so with raising certifiable gentlemanly roosters! I'm sure cockerels are individuals, but is there anything I can do to help encourage his good traits, while minimizing his inner Captain Caveman as his hormones spike?

He's about 13 weeks old now, and still prefers the company of the ducks. "The girls" (five pullets, 4/5 laying) don't take him seriously, the girls mid-high on pecking order actively chase him. Top and bottom ranking girls ignore him.

They all free range on a fenced 3/4 acre yard all day, keeping to their own cliques. The pullets have a mobile tractor coop with a run they are secured in at night. The ducks and their guardian have a huge coop and fenced yard they're secured in at night. The cockerel has zero interest in the smaller coop.

All my pullets are large fowl, the smallest is the Welsummer who hasn't started laying yet. I know cockerels can get pretty crazy when they start learning how to be roosters, and this guy's size is a bit of a concern (he's definitely got the Brahma size). There's no way to know how he'll act until he acts.

Will continuing to free range everyone together, with 3/4 of an acre to run and hide be the best way to allow him to figure it out as the mood strikes (to prevent frustration), while giving the girls opportunities to get away if he attempts savagery?

Are gentlemen roosters gentlemen from the start, or...?

Aside from not handling him, but acclimating him to my presence as I work around the yard and in the garden, what else can I do to give him the best chance for success as a good rooster? We just culled our first aggressive rooster this weekend (he had always been a bit "off", but puberty turned him into a demon), and it's a road I'd prefer to keep this guy from traveling.

If it sounds like a recipe for disaster to more experienced chicken keepers, I'll redouble my efforts to find him a better home. I don't want this guy to go bad due to my ignorance. But if I can learn enough to help him grow and gain confidence and humility where necessary, I'm all for it. Thank you kindly in advance.

 

[Shadrach]

Not a recipe for disaster at all.
I would like to be able to persuade you to keep a record of his progress.
The reason being he will have imprinted the ducks as his family. At some point it is likely that he will learn that he's hanging with the wrong crowd.
Some people will tell you that a bad un can't be made good and it's in the genes; this doesn't bode well for any species, including humans.
What I've found is if you are prepared to put in a bit of work and thought even bad uns can be turned into good uns.
Some I've found have been a nightmare at particular stages in their lives but once that stage is past they'll settle down. The rest of the flock can have a major influence on how this works out over time.
Anyway, it reads like you would like to give this young chap a chance. This article may help you avoid some of the early mistakes.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

 

[Mvan42]

No advice on the prevention of a demon rooster. I had one of those also. I now have a brahma cockerel who is around 24 weeks. They mature slower than most. But so far he seems to be calm.

Is this fellow a mix of your past demon rooster? This may cause his temperament to be different than the Brahma temperament. You won’t know until he is older.

I think letting them see you, picking them up often but not forced can help, but IMO if he is going to go caveman he will no matter what.


My demon rooster saw us every day he was two months when we got him. Once mature he went nuts. Attacking when my back was turned every time. Good luck

 

[Pickled Plaid]

Not a recipe for disaster at all.
I would like to be able to persuade you to keep a record of his progress.
The reason being he will have imprinted the ducks as his family. At some point it is likely that he will learn that he's hanging with the wrong crowd.
Some people will tell you that a bad un can't be made good and it's in the genes; this doesn't bode well for any species, including humans.
What I've found is if you are prepared to put in a bit of work and thought even bad uns can be turned into good uns.
Some I've found have been a nightmare at particular stages in their lives but once that stage is past they'll settle down. The rest of the flock can have a major influence on how this works out over time.
Anyway, it reads like you would like to give this young chap a chance. This article may help you avoid some of the early mistakes.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

What a fantastic article! Thank you so much for sharing!

My demon rooster was culled due to his aggression towards my son, and me while carrying my son. We live in town, and there are other children living in the neighborhood - I was not prepared to risk my son or any other child's safety while this guy worked out his issues. (I also don't believe animals should all happily accept whatever treatment a child doles out, but my son is a year old. His biggest crime against the Silkie was a steadfast and beautiful friendship with our Orpington.) He was a feed store chick, a Silkie who was about as far from breed standard as possible. No visual obstruction, because he had no head poof. He'd always struck me as unstable; his behavior wasn't predictable nor his reactions appropriate (after reading your amazing article, I'm even more convinced he just was not wired right).

The Brahma cockerel I would very much like to give a chance to be a good boy. He's been amazing with the ducklings, and it's neat to recognize most of the herding moves you outlined in your article are already in his resume'. He's definitely not tut-tutting yet or attempting to appeal to any of the pullets. But he's a fair and balanced Duckling Supervisor.

I'm a little worried about his well being in the duration of his awkward stage, as the ducks refuse to use the big coop, and he roosts in there alone at night. This wouldn't be a big deal, except winter is coming, and I'm not sure how he'll stay warm enough without companionship of the ducks or the pullets.

He is utterly enamored with garden fresh tomatoes, and lurks in the vicinity whenever I'm checking the garden plants. I try to share a piece of tomato with him (by tossing it near him) when I've got extras. He grabs it then hightails it to a safe spot, as all five pullets and the six ducks will try to steal it from him.

Do roosters dust bathe? That's one thing I haven't really observed the cockerel doing, though I've seen him relaxing in a shaded dust bath bowl that the pullets have made.

He's an incredible hunter of All Things Buzzy and Crunchy. I wouldn't believe such a big, lanky boy could be so athletic- but man can he move! Just this morning he handily caught a big red hornet!

I'm not sure how to work on preventing egg collecting drama with him, though he's watched me collect chicken and duck eggs daily. I can't help thanking the layer(s), and telling them how beautiful their eggs are - hopefully he won't perceive that as a threat when he's older.

He just strikes me as watchful, wary, but respectful and as an excellent prospect for flock protector. I'd love to monitor his progress as best as I can. Though I'm a poultry novice, I grew up working on a horse farm, and spent years fostering blind/deaf dogs. Body language, gestures and behavior are very interesting to me. I love being out in the yard, and watching them do Bird Things.

Ramen, the cockerel, may be at more of an advantage than the Silkie was as far as flock influence goes. The Silkie brooded with all the pullets, and was a bully from the beginning. There were no older birds to put a check on his behavior. Ramen has pullets who are laying, along with duck hens who are starting to lay to guide his behavior - where as when the Silkie was learning the ropes, everyone else was too.

 

[Pickled Plaid]

No advice on the prevention of a demon rooster. I had one of those also. I now have a brahma cockerel who is around 24 weeks. They mature slower than most. But so far he seems to be calm.

Is this fellow a mix of your past demon rooster? This may cause his temperament to be different than the Brahma temperament. You won’t know until he is older.

I think letting them see you, picking them up often but not forced can help, but IMO if he is going to go caveman he will no matter what.


My demon rooster saw us every day he was two months when we got him. Once mature he went nuts. Attacking when my back was turned every time. Good luck

Fortunately the aggressive rooster does not have any offspring. I'm a firm believer that nature and nurturing contribute to behavior.

The Brahma cockerel is unrelated to any of my flock, though believes himself to be a Muscovy duck.

 

[Chicken Heel]

I have had several Light Brahma roosters in my lifetime with not a single one showing any signs of human aggression. Their large size can be hard for the hens though in terms of pulling feathers off their backs during mating.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Speaking of precocious cockerels, I was out opening up my coops this morning at dawn when I heard a strange noise. For a brief moment I was uncertain what it was but on his second attempt I realized it was my 6.5 weeks old Red Pyle OEG Bantam cockerel trying to crow. He currently resides with five large breed chicks of the same age that I had gotten at TSC back in August. This group of chicks have done very well from the start and have matured faster than any group of chicks that I can recall. I had moved them to their outdoor coop at 3 weeks of age. Since then, they have been subjected to temperatures that have ranged from a low of 46 their third night outside to a high temperature of 100 degrees last Thursday. I believe that has hardened them up quite nicely. It appears it won't be long until I will be integrating the little fellow in with my flock of 16 mixed breed Bantam hens. He will think he is in Shangri La.

 

[Shadrach]

What a fantastic article! Thank you so much for sharing!

My demon rooster was culled due to his aggression towards my son, and me while carrying my son. We live in town, and there are other children living in the neighborhood - I was not prepared to risk my son or any other child's safety while this guy worked out his issues. (I also don't believe animals should all happily accept whatever treatment a child doles out, but my son is a year old. His biggest crime against the Silkie was a steadfast and beautiful friendship with our Orpington.) He was a feed store chick, a Silkie who was about as far from breed standard as possible. No visual obstruction, because he had no head poof. He'd always struck me as unstable; his behavior wasn't predictable nor his reactions appropriate (after reading your amazing article, I'm even more convinced he just was not wired right).

The Brahma cockerel I would very much like to give a chance to be a good boy. He's been amazing with the ducklings, and it's neat to recognize most of the herding moves you outlined in your article are already in his resume'. He's definitely not tut-tutting yet or attempting to appeal to any of the pullets. But he's a fair and balanced Duckling Supervisor.

I'm a little worried about his well being in the duration of his awkward stage, as the ducks refuse to use the big coop, and he roosts in there alone at night. This wouldn't be a big deal, except winter is coming, and I'm not sure how he'll stay warm enough without companionship of the ducks or the pullets.

He is utterly enamored with garden fresh tomatoes, and lurks in the vicinity whenever I'm checking the garden plants. I try to share a piece of tomato with him (by tossing it near him) when I've got extras. He grabs it then hightails it to a safe spot, as all five pullets and the six ducks will try to steal it from him.

Do roosters dust bathe? That's one thing I haven't really observed the cockerel doing, though I've seen him relaxing in a shaded dust bath bowl that the pullets have made.

He's an incredible hunter of All Things Buzzy and Crunchy. I wouldn't believe such a big, lanky boy could be so athletic- but man can he move! Just this morning he handily caught a big red hornet!

I'm not sure how to work on preventing egg collecting drama with him, though he's watched me collect chicken and duck eggs daily. I can't help thanking the layer(s), and telling them how beautiful their eggs are - hopefully he won't perceive that as a threat when he's older.

He just strikes me as watchful, wary, but respectful and as an excellent prospect for flock protector. I'd love to monitor his progress as best as I can. Though I'm a poultry novice, I grew up working on a horse farm, and spent years fostering blind/deaf dogs. Body language, gestures and behavior are very interesting to me. I love being out in the yard, and watching them do Bird Things.

Ramen, the cockerel, may be at more of an advantage than the Silkie was as far as flock influence goes. The Silkie brooded with all the pullets, and was a bully from the beginning. There were no older birds to put a check on his behavior. Ramen has pullets who are laying, along with duck hens who are starting to lay to guide his behavior - where as when the Silkie was learning the ropes, everyone else was too.

I'm pleased you enjoyed the article. Other than being aware of what may trigger aggressive behavior towards humans, it's a question of how much effort one can put into behavior modification.
For many, they just don't have the time, or often, even the right circumstances.
I hope both for your sake and his he doesn't become like hard work.

Do roosters dust bathe?

Now that is an interesting question.
If someone asks me that question I reply. no they don't. Understandably if I or you write that on this forum you will get besieged with people telling you they do, you're wrong and possibly providing a picture of a rooster having a dust bath.
It seems that roosters ideally require/prefer a different composition in their baths. It's something I've done some experimenting with and a great deal of conversing about at my local chicken club.
Roosters have not so obvious biological differences to hens. One that gets overlooked is roosters do not moult the same way as hens. A couple of the club game fowl keepers believe it's this difference in moulting that necessitates a different kind of bath.
All the roosters here and those belonging to the club members here prefer to bath in slightly damp soil. Hens on the other hand will bath in damp soil along with their roosters but they also take dust baths which the roosters don't.
From here on it gets complicated because you have to define your dust.
Anyway, it's one of my projects so I'm afraid I've bored you.
If you are interested I wrote an article about dust bathing which is a commonly misunderstood chicken activity.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/why-chickens-bath-in-dust-and-not-in-water.74441/

 

[Pickled Plaid]

I have had several Light Brahma roosters in my lifetime with not a single one showing any signs of human aggression. Their large size can be hard for the hens though in terms of pulling feathers off their backs during mating.

Yes, I've definitely seen the potential problems those giant feet and heavy bodies can cause! I know he's not full Brahma, because the flock he came from had two (enormous!!) Brahma roosters, and assorted normal sized hens - none of which were Brahma. He seems more vigilant and flighty than what I'd expect a Brahma to be too.

He's shown absolutely zero signs of aggression towards anything but bugs. While having his patience tested with his ducklings, he responded appropriately to their behavior - even when they were twice his size. He's never been a bully or acted viciously. Our first cockerel was just so traumatic for everyone that I want to ensure I try harder to do better for Ramen. If he's unhappy or frustrated, I need to find him a new situation before he feels like his only recourse is violence. But along the way, anything I can do to help him learn chickenisms, gain confidence and become a reliable flock guardian - I want to do.

 

[Pickled Plaid]

I'm pleased you enjoyed the article. Other than being aware of what may trigger aggressive behavior towards humans, it's a question of how much effort one can put into behavior modification.
For many, they just don't have the time, or often, even the right circumstances.
I hope both for your sake and his he doesn't become like hard work.

Now that is an interesting question.
If someone asks me that question I reply. no they don't. Understandably if I or you write that on this forum you will get besieged with people telling you they do, you're wrong and possibly providing a picture of a rooster having a dust bath.
It seems that roosters ideally require/prefer a different composition in their baths. It's something I've done some experimenting with and a great deal of conversing about at my local chicken club.
Roosters have not so obvious biological differences to hens. One that gets overlooked is roosters do not moult the same way as hens. A couple of the club game fowl keepers believe it's this difference in moulting that necessitates a different kind of bath.
All the roosters here and those belonging to the club members here prefer to bath in slightly damp soil. Hens on the other hand will bath in damp soil along with their roosters but they also take dust baths which the roosters don't.
From here on it gets complicated because you have to define your dust.
Anyway, it's one of my projects so I'm afraid I've bored you.
If you are interested I wrote an article about dust bathing which is a commonly misunderstood chicken activity.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/why-chickens-bath-in-dust-and-not-in-water.74441/

I'm absolutely not bored! I thought maybe I wasn't being diligent enough in my observation. But I've tried to catch him in the act for weeks- nothing. It's interesting to know they prefer damp soil, as the places I find him laying down are dampish, shady spots - no sandy fluff there!

I can't wait to read the article when I get my son down for a nap. He's into everything and making it tough to concentrate right now, lol.