Reforming an aggressive rooster (project)

[Sussex19]

I agree with SourRoses on this.
Now firstly, none of my roosters or cockerels have ever had to defend for predators, so I don't actually know how well they would do. I can just guess, going by their behaver.

One of my roosters is very intelligent, as a cockerel he would dance me a bit, but it never went to more then that. I think he knew that I wasn't a threat, you could see him thinking about it. I also think he wouldn't hesitate to attack a predator.
I had his son for a while, before I re-homed him. That cockerel inherited all his fathers intelligent, and added some.
One time, I was catching the other cockerels for weighing, and they were getting a bit upset about it.
He shot round the corner, in full attack mode....but then he saw that it was just me, and it was like a switch got turned, and he just chilled instead.

Unlike a certain RIR x that never saw sense, never seemed to think, but would just have fun trying to attack my foot, and make him feel more 'important'!

 

[Mrs. K]

I free range them all day, which means I need to be armored whenever I go outside. I find myself changing plans so as not to upset the silly birds. Eliminating or avoiding tasks that are going to make noise, e

Which makes it appear that the human is being trained, not the bird. You are walking around on eggs shells. Trying not to incite the bully. Some women or abused people live like this with an aggressive person.

We ranch, we deal with intact males all the time. Pay huge sums of money for them. Several weighing close or more than a ton. We are aware, and vigilant, careful with our children and grandchildren. They free range in pastures of thousands of acres, and are closer to a wild animal, than a domesticated one. They are gathered twice a year, we have corrals, and chutes, all designed to safely work cattle. It is not real common, but over the years, we have heard of experienced people being tossed or killed by an aggressive bull. Same goes with stallions. As stated above, there can be non human aggressive stallions, but I have also seen them driven off with a rope in a pasture to protect riders. I have seen where one bit a 6 foot man, lifted him off of the ground and shook him.

You ask what is success: My chickens are my hobby, my enjoyment, and because they are domesticated, I deal with them closely every day. I do not want a thumping, I don't a sneak attack, I don't want to be scarred. I want a 5 foot respect boundary around me, no matter where I am in the coop or what I am doing there.

If I don't get that, they are gone.

Mrs K

 

[Geena]

In my opinion this is self-defeating, since by culling any rooster that shows signs of aggression you're eliminating the instincts that allow him to defend himself and his ladies.

If you think about, in the wild such a rooster would likely get himself culled from the gene pool within the first few times that he randomly attacked something 10X bigger than himself. While his more observant and cautious brother would live on to tend the hens and sire the chicks. It's a poor long term survival strategy and not really a trait worth preserving.

 

[Mrs J]

I have to agree with @Mrs. K
I have dealt with a similar situation to you for the last 2 years. Going out armoured, checking behaviours etc. I now realise it was Red (my rooster) ruling the roost. After 2yrs of trying to “train” him, showing him I was no threat, building confidences, I was bitterly disappointed that I had wasted all of my time and effort. He hadn’t attacked me since Christmas morning, so after checking the coast was clear a couple of days ago, I put the bins out (stupidly in shorts and sliders). I didn’t even hear him creep up on me, it was a full on attack from behind which resulted in me having 4 stitches above my knee and multiple cuts and bruises all over my legs. He obviously new he had the advantage until I managed to grab a brush and fight him off. I will never ever keep a cockerel/rooster that shows any signs of aggression again. I am thankful it was me he attacked, not anyone else. Needless to say he was gone the very same day. The last couple of days have been bliss, I have had my chair out, sitting in the sun finally able to enjoy my hens.

 

[Mrs. K]

Mrs J - I agree. I am the one who buys the feed, protects them, and I need to enjoy doing it.

Mrs K

 

[PicoFarm]

Bieles are well known for being tamer than most and every one I have had has been living proof of that. I am shocked that yours is a Bielefelder.

I have had great luck with a few tactics for those roos of mine that during their first and second spring decide to show signs that they want to challenge.

1. I pick them up and carry them showing them off to all their buddies and ladies.

2. I push them around with body proximity. I make them move out of the way for me on purpose and if there is any hesitation I doggedly follow them until they disengage and leave.

3. I never feed from my hands.

4. I am the fight breaker upper. If two of mine decide it is on between them and their fighting is escalating I will intervene picking whichever roo is more docile of the two to be the one that gets to have the win while I carry the more aggressive one around on his shame parade. Talking nicely and petting him the whole time.

5. If they start the scuttle towards me I never push them away. I will gently hold them in place and when they relax, up they go into my arms to be carried around.

5. No over handling of chicks that are suspected roos. No putting them up to faces and on shoulders. Sends the wrong message. If possible all chicks are raised inside for the first week or so, around the chaos of my children. To make sure that they are as desensitized as possible.

6. Lots of soft, happy talking and confident handling. My kids all are trained on this as well.

7. Any roo that has had multiple months each spring spent on correcting and still chooses to be aggressive is no longer with us. Any roo in his third spring that continues to show aggression will also no longer be on the farm. And finally, any roo that targets my children but leaves adults alone will also find themselves no longer around. In the past thirty years tending chickens I have had only 10 or so roos that didn't make the cut.

**This works for me. And this is what I am comfortable with. I work with primarily egg layers and dual purpose. I do not have experience with breeds that historically have been used for anything else.

This makes sense to me.

I have one Roo who is a super dog fighter and hen defender, but unfortunately also a human fighter. Not willing to cede the property to him, he will be butchered in 12 weeks or so. That's when I'll be able to tell which of my straight-run chicks are also roosters.

 

[Hucklekree]

It is sad that he can't/won't make the distinction. I often wonder if they become/are overprotective like this because they lack the ability to discern between perceived threats, too much testosterone blocks it, or they are just too afraid all the time to access it.

Our preferred method of culling is to also butcher. Spend all that money on feeding the miscreant, it is his turn to feed us.

 

[LaurenRitz]

This is probably going to be a long post. I want to address a lot of issues before I close out this project.

First, the rooster is gone. I found him another home, and lots of ladies. I made full disclosure about the aggression.

There are a number of reasons. Although he hasn't attacked me for close to 6 months, I am getting older and the last set of spur scars (from June) didn't heal as quickly as I expected. One is still pretty tender, and I can't risk infection.

He was good with the girls. Perfect with predators, although with snakes he just kept the hens away. He was gentle, always let the girls eat first, very watchful and alert. In all ways other than his aggression toward me, he was a perfect rooster.

In terms of the project, we went from an attack every time I was near the birds, to one a week, to once a month, and then nothing for nearly six months.

I call that definite progress.

I stopped putting my hands on my hips near the birds. I stopped stepping around the birds. Make them get out of my way. I learned to keep my head up and not make movements that the rooster might consider aggression. I learned to move slowly and talk to them when I was close by.

Behavior modification solved most of the problem.

I discovered that I am not the ideal person to take on this kind of project, primarily because I don't have any kind of emotional investment in success. I wanted to succeed, but I couldn't care less about the bird himself. It wasn't worth it to me to build him his own training yard, or even to take time to train him individually.

So beyond the initial training, when he stopped attacking me regularly, all I did was keep an eye on his behavior. If he started showing signs of losing respect, I gave him a remedial lesson in the form of walking after him until he ran. It worked.

I have no doubt it would have continued to work. I also have no doubt that someone with a true investment in the bird could have done much better.

I have read a great deal in the past year. I have done research, read the accounts of people who make their living rehabilitating aggressive roosters. The process is straightforward and matches any other kind of training.

Saying a rooster cannot be trained is either a copout or ignorance. Based on what I have seen since I started this project, the reason people don't train roosters is either lack of interest (too many roosters, for example), lack of knowledge, or other circumstances that make having an aggressive rooster around dangerous.

These are all legitimate reasons. "Can't" is not a reason, and it is entirely, and provably, false.

I have culled several birds during the period of this project, and two more will be going down. It may sound odd, but I can easily accept damage to myself as long as the rooster is doing his job. I will not accept hurting the hens.

Taking a life is not something I do lightly. I knew it would be part of the life I have chosen for myself, but I have seen too much death and had too many experiences surrounding it to think it's to be done casually.

Because he was such an amazing roo in other ways I decided to give him the opportunity to possibly change. Which he did. I then found him another home when the risks to myself became too great.

Anything can be trained. A single celled organism can be trained. People can be trained, as stubborn as we are.

A rooster is no different, assuming you have the time, energy and motivation to do so.

Knowledge is another necessary aspect, and one which I hope this project will help to fill.

I asked a very specific question a while back, and for a specific reason. I asked how people would define success in training a rooster, because if you can't define success, you will never succeed.

If you want a lap rooster, that is going to take considerably more training, and of a different kind. If you're satisfied with "beat him off with a stick," again, different training.

Define your goals. Determine the best way to achieve those goals. Determine if those goals are within your abilities and/or resources.

Someone says something is impossible, my first instinct is "Watch me." Usually it is possible. Sometimes it's outside of my resources or interests. But impossible? Very seldom impossible.

I am officially declaring this project completed.

 

[Mrs. K]

Define your goals.

I enjoyed this article. Thank you

Defining your goals, and your ability to reach them. I am not interested in being attacked. A bird, that gives me space is my goal. A bird that runs across and flies at me, not so much.

I enjoyed this.

Mrs K