Roo Question

[marie_martin]

That is what is so funny. He has never really been very aggressive even to the other chickens. He has made it known just by the way he struts around and calls them to food etc that he is the top roo. But I have not seen him challenge any of the others. No more than playing when they were younger. But I guess that is all part of the process. He is very docile and pretty easily caught. But he is still young at 18 weeks old. Once breeding starts it may get worse that is why I wanted to work on it now. Once the younger roos start to mature, they will probably be seperated or moved on, depending on which I decide to keep etc. I plan to keep his spurs trimmed too so that he can't do as much harm if he did jump on someone at some point. Of course I won't tolerate that. But I don't think he is going to be like that. He is still pretty easy going most of the time. I think just like most teens he just has to try out his limits and it is up to me to remind him what they are. I had an OEGB roo that tried to flog me everytime I went near him or the hen and I did use a rake to hold him back on several occassions but not to hurt him really. But I did let him know I was not having it so to speak. I sold them to a guy who has raised that breed and knew how to handle them. That is why I went with silkies and salmon faverolles. I want gentle breeds.

Marie

 

[mdbucks]

Quote:
I bet he wound up in a frying pan if he didn't change his ways

 

[marie_martin]

He hasn't so far. I see the guy around and he just loves that breed and is use to the roos being a bit more agressive?? He said he wears gloves and works with him and handles him and he is some better but he still does not turn his back on him. I think he was just being really protective of the hen who was sitting and I had not been around chickens before so I probably did not do things right either. I took for granted that he would not hurt me and I got surprised. But I think it was mainly because he had not been handled much when I got him.

He may eventually end up in a pan though, who knows.

Marie

 

[FingerLakesChick]

I'm glad someone started this thread!! This is my first experience with chickens. I was supposed to get all hens with my order, but have found that my white rock is a roo. He's 14 weeks old and is starting to challenge me. He pumps himself up and spreads his wings at me... I GO RIGHT AFTER HIM with a dominating posture and he backs down. I have to admit, I am a little bit afraid of what he's going to be like in a few more weeks. If I continue to dominate him will he finally learn that I am the King? Or will I constantly be a threat to him and therefore I will need to grow eyes in the back of my head? I'm concerned!! What about those spurs he's going to grow?

On the other hand... in the evenings when I sit down with them in the yard and they all snuggle on me... HE DOES TOO!! Is this just because he's still a little boy at heart? He's a tricky little dude!!

 

[chickflick]

Krisrose.....YOU KICKED Rocky?? What the??? how dare you come into my yard and kick my sweet, gentle Rocky!! LOL Only kidding. Yes, Rocky is very aggressive, and needs to be put in his place...ALOT. I've got grandkids coming over, so he needs to learn to chill out!! He takes care of his girls, tho. It's funny to see that sweet side of him.

 

[beebiz]

FingerLakesChick, I agree with those who have said that how you handle the agressive roosters is different from rooster to rooster. But, I strongly disagree that an agressive rooster can always be handled with less than violence!! Remember that these guys are in the midst of a turf war 24/7. A turf war with other roosters and overly agressive hens as well as the occasional outsider (dogs, cats, YOU, and so on). And the way that they normally handle things is with violence..... flogging, pecking, stomping, spurring, and so on. Sometimes, the only thing that an agressive rooster will understand enough to make him back down and "yeild" to you..... is violence!!

Case in point..... When I was a kid, I was a member of 4-H. I got 100 Black Sex Link chicks from them.... 50 pullets, and 50 roosters. When the roosters got old enough to do so, we slaughtered all of them except those needed to keep the hens happy and to have the eggs well fertilized.

A few weeks after we slaughtered the unwanted roosters, the #1 and #2 roosters started getting very agressive. In fact, they became so agressive that my father soon became the only one in the family who could go in and feed them and collect the eggs.

Then, both roosters became very agressive to my dad. They would ruffle their feathers, charge him, and flogg him. For a while, daddy could simply charge them, yell at them, and use his foot to shove them back, and it would keep them at bay long enough for him to complete his business.

But soon, the #1 rooster decided that he would show my dad that he, and only he was the ruler of that roost. The rooster charged my dad, my dad shoved him aside with his foot, and the rooster ran several feet away from my dad. As soon as daddy turned his back on the rooster to go into the hen house and collect the eggs, the rooster flew at him and spurred him in the back of his leg.

Bleeding, hurting horribly, and EXTREMELY P.O.'ed, he went in the house. He returned to the hen yard with a broom that was about 75% worn out. Grasping the handle like a baseball bat, daddy hit many, many, many, many "home runs" on this rooster's body. And, he hit a few line drives on the rooster's head. Actually hoping that he had finally killed the bird, he left it bleeding and unconscious in the hen yard.

Daddy went into the house to get moma to help him clean up, doctor, and bandage the wound that the rooster had left in the back of his leg. After that was done and he sat down and rested for a few minutes, he decided that he needed to go back to the hen yard and dispose of the rooster's carcas.

To daddy's supprise, when he returned to the hen yard, the rooster was up and staggering around! Daddy said that the rooster was limping badly and staggering around like a skid row drunk!!

After that day, daddy could go into the hen yard without any problems at all!! The #1 rooster would run to the opposite corner of the hen yard from where daddy was and would cower there until daddy left the hen yard. The #2 rooster (who had witnessed the ordeal and got a couple of his own licks) would run over to the #1 rooster's side and crow at daddy. But, neither rooster ever acted agressive toward daddy again. In fact, as long as we carried the broom with us, any of the rest of us could go into the hen yard or hen house and the roosters would give us the same wide birth that they would give daddy.

From all of that, I learned that there are some roosters that are like some people....... the only thing that they understand is having the $hi* beat out of them!!

Robert

 

[rufus]

And let me repeat, life is to short to take crap from a rooster. When they would come at us, we would give them a dandy kick. We always kept a nice assortment of sticks outside the chicken yard gate just to keep them in their place. Also, we would chase them around the chicken yard after we whacked them. That lets them and all the others know who is boss.

We never had one seriously injured, but they never would cozy up to us.

And for what it is worth, we weren't interested in having a loving friendship with any rooster that could end up on the dining room table next Sunday.

Rufus

 

[Melzawelza]

beebiz im sorry but that story is so horrible and upsetting. your father should have been charged with animal abuse. beating a rooster within an inch of its life with a broom? despicable behaviour. He shouldnt have been allowed to keep chickens.

 

[greyfields]

Aggressiveness does tend to run in family lines on birds. Don't breed the mean ones; DO breed the ones compatible with their situation. Also the more roosters you have, the more fiercely they will crow, defend their territory and mate the hens. Once there is only one rooster, he'll leave the hens alone and be more patient breeding them.

One thing that may work on particular roosters is to grab a leg and hold them upside down for awhile. Make sure to do it in sight of the others. This should humiliate them and make them realize they're #2. If it doesn't work, then there is always the frying pan.

 

[GoodEgg]

I read the info from the article in #4 before the chicks arrived, and I've always tried to follow it. It's a lot of work sometimes, breaking up ALL the fights and stopping ALL the little roos' attempts at the hens (and they are very young still, but still tried constantly some days) ...

Mine are still too young to tell, I know. But ... those roos are the HARDEST things to catch. They avoid me like the plague, all of them, and they always have one eye on what I am doing when I am out there. I absolutely canNOT sneak up on them. (And so far I've had to do nothing more than "peck" their head with my finger, carry them by their feet, restrain them pretty tightly, and give a small swat to their bottoms a couple of times. I hope I don't have to get rougher than that with them - they ARE all banties.)

I guess I just hope that's a good sign. They DO seem to have a lot of respect for me. I hope so, because I will NOT tolerate being attacked by a rooster (the partridge rock bantams DID try to bite me when they were younger, but that has stopped).

When I was a kid, my grandma took two roos that had been Easter chicks and outgrew their family, and those things absolutely terrorized me as a child (and they were completely free, not in with the other chickens, so they could get me wherever I was). I hated those roos. I won't have any of mine acting like that.

I came into this earlier this year with no idea about "training chickens" so I hope this article was correct. So far, so good! (Now I need one for ducks!)

trish