First I caught him up and put him in a small bird cage just barely big enough for him to turn around. He had to spend the day there. He mended his manners at least to the point that if he knew I was around he wouldn't be mean. If you catch him breeding a hen in front of you gently shove him off with your foot. Fortunately my other cockerel is a gentleman. All the pullets liked him because he was not rough and would ignore Rufus. Rufus got better with the pullets and started being more like Long John Silver. Still it was more of an act than a true feeling at first.
Rufus hates me taking the eggs and came at my legs with his spurs. I snatched him up and pinned him to the ground and gently paddled his butt (it is more of a domination/humiliation thing not a pain paddling) Then I petted him until he relaxed/submitted and let him go. Well that was good for 3 weeks and he jumped me again. This time I pulled some feathers out, paddled him again and pinned him to my chest (claws facing outward). It was wet so I didn't want to get on the ground. He is back to avoiding me.
A lot of this comes from a thread about handling out of control roosters. I thought I was subscribed to it but I am not finding it in my list. It is extremely informative. The man giving the advice rescues "mean" roosters and runs an all male flock of everything from game roos to egg roos and meat type roos. All peacably. His advice has been invaluable to handling my Rufus and has kept him off the chopping block. Rufus is a great free ranger. He is always alert and if I let my dogs out at night to pee he wakes up and crows at them. He is not going to be sneaked up on by a possom or coon. So, I really didn't want to send him to the block if I could alter his behavior.
They are BTW Olive Eggers.
