Rebel Roo?

[jlj]

I am having a problem with a Roo of mine, He (Bert) flew up and scratched my face a few weeks ago and has gotten to the point that I cannot go into the coop or yard with him comming after me. He seems very aggressive now and I'm not sure what to do.
Bert is 26 weeks old. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Baymule]

Eat him.

 

[sourland]

There are several threads on rooster rehabilitation, but I would never trust a human aggressive rooster especially if you have children. I would cull him and replace him with a more mellow rooster. Human aggressiveness is an inherited trait and should be selected against.

 

[azygous]

You'll find there are two pretty distinct rooster camps here - the "eat" group and the "reform" group.

You need to commit to which one you are in because the "reform" option takes a lot of commitment and work.

Two years ago, Stan, my SLWyandotte cockerel got his hormones and turned into a tyrant over night, around the age of your boy. It was getting pretty scary, but I stumbled onto some great programs people have come up with for taming a wild roo. Stan and I went right to work.

It took a year of humiliation, domination, and frustration, and Stan even experienced some of that, but now Stan is completely tame and will stand quietly at my feet and lets me pick him up and cuddle him and talk baby talk in his ear and even kiss the top of his little head.

Now I have two new roos, almost five months old, and one of them is turning into quite the ornery one. So I will be facing what promises to be another long year of rooster training. It involves daily handling, carrying him around, forcing him to be still and quiet and accept that I'm the boss of him and not the other way around.

Like I said, it takes commitment and hard work, but I think it's more than worth it to have a lovable roo instead of a tyrant you're afraid of. Or one fried chicken dinner.

Edited to add link to a good rooster-taming tutorial. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4732472

 

[CMV]

Since aggression is an inheritable trait the only thing you are doing by rehabilitating a nasty rooster is allowing for the passing of his nasty behaviors along to the next generation. Why do that? You are only compounding your future woes.

I'm in the "eat him" camp, in case you didn't guess.

Good luck.

 

[Ibicella]

Thanks for sharing that, azygous. That's really good information. You are far more patient than I am! I would have eaten him long before then thinking he would never have come around. I'm normally in the "try to reform, eat it if it doesn't work" camp.

 

[txcarl1258]

I have to go with the eat him group. I have had too many roosters to count over the years and only a handful have been nasty. I only ever kept one a red cochin and he was the worst. He would actually stalk and and when you turned around he would act like he was pecking the ground! I think the only reason I put up with it was because he used to chase my brother up a tree and and then stand at the bottom and crow like he accomplished something.

Now that I have a baby on the way I would not put up with a mean roo for a second.

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
X2!
If he'd rather be eaten than reformed, I'm happy to oblige!

 

[Tomhusker]

He scratched your face!? OUCH!!

I'm afraid if that happened to me I would be on here asking how I could avoid this behavior with my NEXT roo, since that one would have already been in the freezer.

My BR is feeling his oats these days but I make a point to remind him every day who the cock of the walk is. I challenge him by walking up on him and make him move out of my way. I also remind my wife to do things that knock him down a rung or two.

 

[speckledhen]

Do you know what you get when you carry around and humiliate a human-aggressive rooster? A much more sneaky one. Truthfully, you may think you've reformed him because he will avoid you for awhile, but one day, when you least expect it, he'll see his chance and take it. Very few can be truly rehabilitated, very few. And I don't say that without experience.

I have tried all the methods on several roosters at various times over the last few years, since I have more time than most folks to mess with my birds each day, but I had to rehome a perfectly wonderful rooster recently who turned aggressive to me (only to me at that point, well after he was a year and a half old due to circumstance it would take too long to write about here. I had a sentimental attachment to Dutch and this was not the normal time for aggression to show up like your 26 week old boy, whose hormones are in full swing, so I tried everything for almost a year. He'd go for months being his former sweet self, then suddenly he'd rush me. When he finally actually flogged me, a friend said she'd give him another chance. He'd never shown one bit of human aggression till that point where he bit me viciously and surprised the heck out of me. He was raised here from an egg and was handled all the time and still, he disappointed me greatly. If there had been children involved, he would have been gone long before he was because roosters are worse with kids than adults.]

By all means, try the rehabbing, but never let down your guard, even if you think it's worked.