Questions... and a mean rooster...

[TheZMom]

Hello everyone!

A couple weeks back I posted about how I have 2 roosters in my small flock of 4 chickens. So I found some local chickens for sale and bought 12 of them. They are "supposedly" all hens. The guy had 35 chickens and I assumed he knew what he was talking about... So I get them home (It was dusk when we picked them up so that they would have all gone into the coop) and Im now thinking 5 COULD be roosters... I just don't know for sure, and I will be pretty upset because I paid for hens.

Anyway, last night we put the 12 new ones in the run and locked the 4 others in the coop for the night until I could figure out what to do with them. (We need to build another coop anyway and were doing that today). So this morning I went out to check on everyone,a nd I opened my coop door and let the 4 others outside the coop and run (just to free range) the other 12 locked inside the run.

My husbands rooster who weve had since birth tried to attack me SEVERAL times. Tried to climb up my leg and came at me... at first I kicked him out of pure reaction) ad pushed him away and then I backed up. Well Ive read on here that when they do that you shouldn't let it effect you. So I grabbed a nearby rake and continued about my business and every time he got feisty with me again I would push him away with the rake. He got me good in the leg once, and was not letting up. Luckily I was wearing jeans because I think he still scratched through possibly. Anwyay, so I was going to feed the other 12 while the 4 were free ranging the yard, and when I was trying to walk into the run, the **** rooster came at me again! I ended up backing away (but the door was open!!) and my other 3 ran into the run, and eventually so did the rooster. So now they are ALL TOGETHER and I cant go in there because the **** thing will get me. LOL.

I watched them for a good 20 mins and it doesn't seem like anyone was fighting... the girls seem to bee fine, but my one rooster (The nice one) was following the hens around (is this normal.ok?) and my mean rooster was just eatin gall the food. (Maybe hes was just hungry... but hes a jerk.)

So what do I do now?

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm wondering why you'd keep a rooster that attacks your wife. There are plenty of nice roosters out there, just looking for a good home. Many of them will end up in the soup pot because there isn't much market for roosters. You say you like to keep the rooster to protect your hens, but you've had hens before you ended up with this accidental rooster. How did you protect them? Roosters are more of a warning system than actual protection, and a dominant hen will fulfill that role. In my opinion, people should be put above animals every time. He already attacks your wife. Who's to say he won't also attack people visiting your place? Do you have small children that live with you or come to visit? They'd also be at risk. My advice is to get rid of the rooster. If you can't eat him, give him to someone who will.

 

[Twistedfeather]

How old is this rooster? A lot of roosters I've owned have attacked me, in fact they attack me all the time now that I think about it. For when our Old English Game rooster attacks we use a spray bottle on it. As I learned kicking the roosters helps not because in the chicken nature they instinctively fight to the death so as you keep doing it the rooster might keep going.

 

[Mrs. K]

Well the jerk should be supper. You don't want him breeding, and really some roosters just are mean, cull him. He may have gotten all upset at the change, but really the other one did not, and it sounds like you have a bunch of roosters to pick from, so the jerk would be the first to go.

If they are all full grown and about the same size, I would just mix them up and let them sort it out. If they are full grown, there is no way an experienced poulter would NOT know who was a roos and who was not. It is fairly obvious by 10 -12 weeks.

You have already broken quarantine, so hopefully you don't get some disease. However, in the light of day, I would use a fish net, and catch at least several of the new birds and look under their feathers, close to their skin and check for parasites such as lice or mites. If you find them, treat everything.

If they are not full grown, then you best keep them separated as the older birds will not like them and will attack them. Art has a great practice in which there is a one way gate so to speak, that the smaller birds can get through, and the bigger birds cannot, so the young ones can eat in peace and escape if needed.

Mrs K

 

[ChristieB]

Not sure about your rooster, we always had a rake by the run door, but if he doesn't calm down within a week after the new hens coming in I would get rid of him, its not worth having an aggressive rooster, you only need one at the end of the day.
As for the suspects, I think they are hens, possibly just a bit older than the others

 

[Diannastarr]

i would isolate that mean rooster right away . and keep him were he cant get at you ,and keep it that way, dont let him back in ever unless you want to use him for protection , when the hens are out free ranging, my rooster was horribly combative he tried to kill....lol.. or it seemed that way....lol.. so when he first started with that meanness, I kicked him right out of the coop area were he could just see the chickens but not be in with them any more , he has been locked out of the main chicken area since then and under my control at all times & is only aloud to be with my hens when they go out to free range, the hens all go in to the coop at night, but not him he does not like being in the coop at all but he loves to sleep on the fence outside of the coop ...lol...so i would make an area to keep him in when you dont want him in your way, and lock him in there before working around your hens, i did that and then would toss him some scratch and talk to him but leave him locked away from the hens forever, unless like i said if you needed him to go free range with them, he will get use to the routine dont let him get the upper hand, you need to be the winner at all times and wining is control.! keep him under your control with your rake,But dont hit him unless you really have to ,remember thats only when he has become combative first,, just then control him and lock him up and walk away & then ignore him unless giving him a treat thats when you talk to him & using the same words every day you interact with him , other wise ignore him and leave him be,if you hit him when he was not being mean he will become even more believe me, thats their nature to fight to the death, so you dont escalate the situation, because every time he sees you he is ready for a fight ,so keep it all calm & under control and try to make friends with food , and stay away from him unless you are feeding him talk nice to him wile feeding him he will be less aggressive as you tame him down, you are the top rooster, BUT with all mean roos never turn your back on them USE THE SAME WORDS, EVERY TIME YOU ARE AROUND THEM & keep them under control at all times, you are the boss and he needs to learn that...! I would use your rake to heard him in to the place you will be keeping him , that should make things much better , i have worked with mine since he started with that meanness, and now i can use him to do what ever i want him to do, he guards my yard well..! and I can control him with my voice now , but never let him attack me ever again...! my best advice to you is never be with out your rake ever again when around your roo..! its your point of power! and he will respect that. im not sure why some roos get so crazy like that, but maybe their egg got scrambled at the hatchery....lol...???

Hello everyone!

A couple weeks back I posted about how I have 2 roosters in my small flock of 4 chickens. So I found some local chickens for sale and bought 12 of them. They are "supposedly" all hens. The guy had 35 chickens and I assumed he knew what he was talking about... So I get them home (It was dusk when we picked them up so that they would have all gone into the coop) and Im now thinking 5 COULD be roosters... I just don't know for sure, and I will be pretty upset because I paid for hens.

Anyway, last night we put the 12 new ones in the run and locked the 4 others in the coop for the night until I could figure out what to do with them. (We need to build another coop anyway and were doing that today). So this morning I went out to check on everyone,a nd I opened my coop door and let the 4 others outside the coop and run (just to free range) the other 12 locked inside the run.

My husbands rooster who weve had since birth tried to attack me SEVERAL times. Tried to climb up my leg and came at me... at first I kicked him out of pure reaction) ad pushed him away and then I backed up. Well Ive read on here that when they do that you shouldn't let it effect you. So I grabbed a nearby rake and continued about my business and every time he got feisty with me again I would push him away with the rake. He got me good in the leg once, and was not letting up. Luckily I was wearing jeans because I think he still scratched through possibly. Anwyay, so I was going to feed the other 12 while the 4 were free ranging the yard, and when I was trying to walk into the run, the **** rooster came at me again! I ended up backing away (but the door was open!!) and my other 3 ran into the run, and eventually so did the rooster. So now they are ALL TOGETHER and I cant go in there because the **** thing will get me. LOL.

I watched them for a good 20 mins and it doesn't seem like anyone was fighting... the girls seem to bee fine, but my one rooster (The nice one) was following the hens around (is this normal.ok?) and my mean rooster was just eatin gall the food. (Maybe hes was just hungry... but hes a jerk.)

So what do I do now?

i would isolate that mean rooster right away . and keep him were he cant get at you ,and keep it that way, dont let him back in ever unless you want to use him for protection , when the hens are out free ranging, my rooster was horribly combative he tried to kill....lol.. or it seemed that way....lol.. so when he first started with that meanness, I kicked him right out of the coop area were he could just see the chickens but not be in with them any more , he has been locked out of the main chicken area since then and under my control at all times & is only aloud to be with my hens when they go out to free range, the hens all go in to the coop at night, but not him he does not like being in the coop at all but he loves to sleep on the fence outside of the coop ...lol...so i would make an area to keep him in when you dont want him in your way, and lock him in there before working around your hens, i did that and then would toss him some scratch and talk to him but leave him locked away from the hens forever, unless like i said if you needed him to go free range with them, he will get use to the routine dont let him get the upper hand, you need to be the winner at all times and wining is control.! keep him under your control with your rake,But dont hit him unless you really have to ,remember thats only when he has become combative first,, just then control him and lock him up and walk away & then ignore him unless giving him a treat thats when you talk to him & using the same words every day you interact with him , other wise ignore him and leave him be,if you hit him when he was not being mean he will become even more believe me, thats their nature to fight to the death, so you dont escalate the situation, because every time he sees you he is ready for a fight ,so keep it all calm & under control and try to make friends with food , and stay away from him unless you are feeding him talk nice to him wile feeding him he will be less aggressive as you tame him down, you are the top rooster, BUT with all mean roos never turn your back on them USE THE SAME WORDS, EVERY TIME YOU ARE AROUND THEM & keep them under control at all times, you are the boss and he needs to learn that...! I would use your rake to heard him in to the place you will be keeping him , that should make things much better , i have worked with mine since he started with that meanness, and now i can use him to do what ever i want him to do, he guards my yard well..! and I can control him with my voice now , but never let him attack me ever again...! my best advice to you is never be with out your rake ever again when around your roo..! its your point of power! and he will respect that, I hope that helps good luck & take care.!!!

 

[centrarchid]

Lets take this in small steps. Please post pictures of mean rooster and those thought to be roosters.

 

[TheZMom]

Thank you for the responses! I will try to get pictures of them up in a few hours.

They are all full grown chickens already laying and seem to be nice in nature. I picked them all up, they aren't afraid of me at all. I was worried about parasites as ive never had problems with mine and I can only hope I didn't get "screwed" by paying for sick or bad chickens or even roosters. Should I wait to eat the eggs? (We haven't yet I just don't know if theres anything I should worry about).

I will go take pictures of the ones in "question" and post them here so yall can help me out. (And Im sure youre going to tell me a few are roosters...as they def look like it to me...)

Oh also, the mean rooster thing: I don't think a spray bottle would work as its raining? Would he even care??

 

[centrarchid]

For short-term wear heavy clothing and simply be careful around mean rooster. Do not avoid him or strike back. Try not to look at him even when he flogs your leg. Further details on approach will need to consider the rooster more specifically. What is his breed?

 

[TheZMom]

here are pictures This is hawk my mean rooster... around 10 months old



And possible roosters I don't know the ages:







Thanks everyone