I'm introducing my 5 hens to their first (gamefowl) rooster, all has gone well, a few bloody scurfuffles with my top hen through a fence, but they all settled down, and free range together now.
Been doing a lot of research here on rooster behavior (he's my first) and there seems to be two main camps as to how to deal with aggression; the 'Show No Reaction' way which causes the rooster to think of you as a non-chicken whom he can then ignore, and the 'Be a Bigger Rooster' method, by which you become the alpha and he then stays out of your way.
These first few weeks, my new roo has basically ignored me and let me go about my business, he doesn't like to be handled but not aggressive. I assumed he thought of me as a non-chicken. Then suddenly, today he challenged and flogged me pretty badly. Not sure what provoked this? I may have gotten in the way of some hen romance?
I was caught off guard and bare-legged and he has full spurs so I couldn't try the not-reacting! I tried the pinning down thing and the carrying around thing and the poking with a stick thing, and flapping my coat thing, and he just wouldn't let up. So I stuffed him in the coop for a timeout.
I remembered that gamefowl are specifically bred to be human friendly, but to never give up when fighting another rooster. I wondered if there was a recommended breed specific way to deal with this situation rather than generic rooster advice.
ANYWAY, after that long intro, my ACTUAL QUESTIONS are: Does the fact that he's gamefowl mean that I can never succeed with the alpha method because he'll fight til he dies? Or should I try being alpha more aggressively (and with long pant and boots, ha)? Is it too late to try the nonreaction method because he thinks I'm a rooster now?
I would love some gamefowl specific responses! I'm kinda taken with this breed and would like to keep him and work it out..
(soup is my plan C)
Been doing a lot of research here on rooster behavior (he's my first) and there seems to be two main camps as to how to deal with aggression; the 'Show No Reaction' way which causes the rooster to think of you as a non-chicken whom he can then ignore, and the 'Be a Bigger Rooster' method, by which you become the alpha and he then stays out of your way.
These first few weeks, my new roo has basically ignored me and let me go about my business, he doesn't like to be handled but not aggressive. I assumed he thought of me as a non-chicken. Then suddenly, today he challenged and flogged me pretty badly. Not sure what provoked this? I may have gotten in the way of some hen romance?
I was caught off guard and bare-legged and he has full spurs so I couldn't try the not-reacting! I tried the pinning down thing and the carrying around thing and the poking with a stick thing, and flapping my coat thing, and he just wouldn't let up. So I stuffed him in the coop for a timeout.
I remembered that gamefowl are specifically bred to be human friendly, but to never give up when fighting another rooster. I wondered if there was a recommended breed specific way to deal with this situation rather than generic rooster advice.
ANYWAY, after that long intro, my ACTUAL QUESTIONS are: Does the fact that he's gamefowl mean that I can never succeed with the alpha method because he'll fight til he dies? Or should I try being alpha more aggressively (and with long pant and boots, ha)? Is it too late to try the nonreaction method because he thinks I'm a rooster now?
I would love some gamefowl specific responses! I'm kinda taken with this breed and would like to keep him and work it out..
(soup is my plan C)
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