Roo with a Tude

[JaciesCoop]

I use a squirt bottle with water. Henry our roo (white leghorn) now knows the sight of that squirt bottle and is on his best behavior when it's in my hand.

Jacie

 

[Laney]

I just sent an email to one of our local breeders looking to get rid of 2 of my roos for just this reason. They have on 2 occasions tried to charge me from the back, and I put hem right in their place.

The problem comes that we have a "family compound" farm. Two houses on 17acres. So we all pull together to do all the work. The chickens are mine but they share one of the pastures 4acres with the goats. So we as a family are always in there doing work. The two roosters I'm talking about are constantly aggressively attacking my husband and father in law. It's gotten to the point where they will attack my husband from the front.

These two are both the same breed and were hand raised by myself and my daughter age 13. We are the only two who the roosters will hesitate to attack. They are Silver Phoenix roos. We also have 2 Standard sized white Cochin roos but they are sweet as pie. If you are reaching for one of their girls, they will nip your fingers good but otherwise they wouldn't even look at you twice really.

We free range so going out in the dark and pulling them off the roost is really the only choice at holding them. Catching the girls is easy as they are very docile, the roosters however, are very difficult to catch.

Anyone in NC want some Silver Phoenix Roo's they can tame up if they coop them up?

Laney

 

[evonne]

Quote:
poor guys... your guys, not the roos... the fact that they don't attack you and your daughter who raised them just shows the alpha roles even more.. after i mentioned it to my husband, he makes sure when he's out and our roo comes around that he plays alpha if he needs too.. when he first started, it was just the stomping in the roo's direction when he was play fighting with the girls.. hubby said "poor blue.. he's like what the hell... now i'm 4th on the totem pole..." lol.. i'm alpha my 6 yr old is beta... lol.. hubby is 3rd then comes blue in out pecking order...

 

[ke.appaloosas]

You know, I belong to only one other web chatsite and even tho that one is horse related, this one is rapidly taking it's place on my *first thing to check online in the morning*. All the wonderful help and extremely good humor is just what this sloooow-in-the-morning-GOTTA-have-coffee-above-all-else kinda gal needs

Some of the signatures I've seen on profiles are almost funnier than the replies...I'm wondering if I haven't been chatting with crazy horse folks waaayyy too long!
Crockpot was raised by hand along with all the other gals but in retrospect it didn't occur to me to keep an eye out for his tude cuz I had no plans on keeping a roo. As it happens I couldn't find him a new home and I just went about feeding and tending as usual until the first time he attacked. I admit-it scared me! Now after reading about others experiences I can see that was one of my missed opportunities to nip it in the bud. However, I will not be defeated by a bird..lol....and I so appreciate all the input. Anyone want a roo?

 

[Big Chicken Little]

Quote:
I agree 100% ...carry that bad boy around and in about 20-30 minutes you will have a new rooster. I have 3 roos that I have done this with and they are now sweet and respectful and follow me all around.Give it a try you will be surprised.

 

[Laney]

I had given my DH permission to do what he had to with the Roo to protect himself. So far he swings his walking stick at him, kicks out at him. However, he does just stand there while the roo stalks him. He isn't proactive. He is only reactive to the attack.

So I'll tell him to react first. We have put feelers out to find them a new home, but we would rather keep them as they are truly gorgeous birds.

Laney

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

If you want to keep them, I can almost guarantee this will have your roos tude adjusted by tomorrow evening. Get a 5gal. bucket and fill it with water. Now, go catch the roo, carefully turn him upside down as not to hurt him. When he calms down and stops flapping, dunk his head underwater and count to 5 seconds or until you see the first bubble come up. Bring his head up for about 10 to 15 seconds so he can get his breath. Then repeat. After this just set him down on the ground, unless he is the spawn of satan he will now have a renewed respect for you.

I was shown this when I was growing up, by my uncle. I've only had one roo of all the roos I've owned that this didn't work. Some people do this as a last resort after toting him around and other various taming techniques. I do this as a first resort.

About 5 weeks ago my RIR cockerel flogged me while i was in the run. He is good with the flock and I didn't want to cull him. I dunked him as I just explained, and I believe that he's going to be one of my best roos.

Some may think this is cruel, however it beats the alternative. Kicking and hitting him is just going to make him meaner.

Marty

 

[Laney]

Well I went out to the pen tonight with my daughter. I grabbed one roo of the roost by the legs and hung him upside down until he calmed and then placed him in the football hold. This was the calmest of the two Roos so he gentled easily. I then went around my night time job of checking for late eggs, counting chickens etc with him tucked under my arm. After a few minutes I sat down and placed him firmly on my lap with my arms curled around his wing and started stroking him. When I was sure he wasn't going to be a problem I stood up and had my daughter sit where I was. Then I placed Roo on her lap (THat's his name Roo). She continued to stroke him calmly while I went after our biggest offender Fritz.

Fritz was a whole other story. I got him by both legs and turned him upside down. He didn't want to calm down and spent about a minute trying to get a hold on me with his beak. He was not successful and eventually gave into the position and calmed down. After another 30 seconds I reached down with one hand and gathered his wings close to his body and started to bring him up close to my body for the football hold. He immediately began struggly. Good for me that I had a good hold on him and got him immediately into the hold with no trouble at all. I began walking around redoing my "chores". He kept struggling against me, unlike his brother Roo. I kept walking until he stopped moving and then I went to a chair near my daughter and sat down. Once he was calm in the sitting position I moved him to my lap with my arms firmly over his wings and started stroking him. I wanted him to know that I was in charge, but I was nice. He struggled a bit here too... but eventually fell into the "you're warm and this feels nice" chicken coma. After about ten minutes I could even completely let him go and he stayed right where he was.

After about twenty minutes of stroking I placed him back on his roost with his girls, my daughter replaced Roo and we headed inside. If this doesn't work, I will be dunking him in the water. My daughter loves these roosters and I told her just like a dog, we'll try training first.

Laney

 

[mamaKate]

Quote:
Waterboard a roo. Hmm. Sounds like a way to kill a chicken. Birds have died from being held upsde down without the water. Of course, if chicken dinner is an option, you can't lose either way.

 

[Big dreams]

I have a roo who is normally pretty good, but the other day I was out with a large plastic container of goodies for them and tossing the goodies around, when I was finished I stood in the run just watching them. All of a sudden Einstien (my roo) came at me, without really thinking I put the container over his head..... he stopped and backed into the fence where I picked him up and walked around with him for awhile. It was funny to see him with a container on his head, but I don't think he thought so. I was thinking you were going to use the 5 gal bucket to put over top him.