My 5 month old roo has been attacking me (50 yr old female) for the past week. I collect the eggs (5 hens) every morning. He does not bother me in the morning only in the late afternoon when I go to the coop to check on water ect. He is getting more agressive with each attack. yesterday he came at me six times in a row. He comes at me from behind and body slams me he also flys at my torso and comes feet first, like some kind of karate move. He is really starting to scare me. Can this behavior be changed or do I need to put him in the oven? Any suggestions. He is a rock pilgrim. Thanks
You can try punting him like a football...won't really hurt him but may remind him who the pack leader is. Don't let him get behind you until he can be trusted again.Or Rock soup can be very good However I believe he would be a Plymouth Rock-usually they are very mellow
Trix, I have a little banty roo who thinks he is 10 ft tall and bullet proof, for about a year and a half we do the power struggle thing daily, what helps me for a small amount of time anyway, is at first flog i grab him up and tuck him under my arm, while im feeding , letting chickens in and out, if he is extremely aggressive I have even hung him upside down for about 10 seconds, roll him back up, he walks off shakin his head like whoa what just happen...Inspite of his mean temper I just adore him, hes so tiny yet so mitey ...I just gave away a huge Rooster who became extremely aggressive, but I also with him had to show him who was boss, i would grab him up tuck under arm, coo at him, rub his comb and waddles oh he HATED it, but upon setting him back down he would wander off to grab a hen or something, just some suggestions you might want to try, Good Luck !! ' Dixie
Have you read this page on dealing with roosters? It is very informative! Good luck! https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior
Thanks so much for you suggestions. I will try all of them. I don't want to get rid of him. He is a very grand and proud bird. (big).
Trix, We have a roo with a similar agression problem. He was fine until he got hens...it's been a struggle since then. He started out just little attacks and I could fend him off with a broom or a swift kick. Then he started attacking the teens as well as me any time they would go to feed or water. He got so bad, he would attack me through the fence! DH was the only one who could go in the pen til about a month ago he went after DH. We took away all but one of his girls and isolated them. He was doing better. We'd even let him free range. Until tonight.! I let him and the hen out to eat grass while I fed and watered all the pens. When I came out of one pen he sneak attacked me, bit my hand and scratched up my legs. I "punted" him back in his box and took away his girl. I told DH the roo WILL be going to the butcher next week!!! I tried all the "dominant" things folks suggested but I think some roos are just mean. I hate to take him - he was NOT a cheap bird - but we've been having problems with him for 4 or 5 months now. He's over a year old at this point and I don't have any more ideas to change the behavior. I think sometimes, if you've exhausted all you're options, the oven is the best place for these guys. Oh, he's a black orpington. I have 2 other grown orp roos who are just fine to be around. As well as a turken roo and a bunch of turken, orpington, cochin and RIR cockerels, with whom we have no problems. This one is just mean. I hope you have better luck with yours than we have had with ours.
I have a Plymouth Rock roo 2 yrs old. He is selectively aggressive. I've done everything. The broom works best. As long as its nearby he stays away from me. Occassionally, he has to be "reminded".
LOL you guys are funny. Thanks for your input. I am still going to try cause I don't want to cook him either but I too have small grandchildren and I think if he chooses he could do some real harm and i don't want to traumatize my little girls. We started this for them and want it to be fun. This morning I went out with a broom and a fly swater, dressed from head to toe, boots, hoody. I was ready for battle. I could tell he was thinking about it but nothing happened. I also did not turn my back on him and took a handfull of treats that I directed to him specificlly. He scares me. He is big. We have winter here so I was thinking that maybey after being cooped up for most of it maybey I will be able to retrain him in a more confined space over the winter and next spring he may be more manageable, but if not he will become someones dinner. Thanks again for all your help T
Hi I have too many roosters that all came together as chicks. I first had to remove the Pheonix(I know I didn't spell that right LOL) and the Silver Spangled Hamburg. As soon as they were removed from the hens they did not fight anymore. They were never aggressive to me though. They are together now and don't fight. The ladies seem to make them aggressive with other roosters. Now I have a very little Partridge Cochin Bantie that decided he rules the hen yard. He runs my BIG EE rooster in the hen house when he takes a mind too. The EE is 3 or 4 times bigger then him and was the dominant Roo just because he was the Biggest. Now this little bantam is the boss of 15 hens and 6 roosters. Most of the roosters are bantams except for my EE guy who is very sweet. Well all of a sudden Mr. Fancy Pants decides he is going to come after me. I immediately gave the football kick very gently. It really surprised him. I think that you can never let them get away with behavior like this. If you turn your back to them you are showing that you are summitting to them. Well I did that one day and he ran up and threw up his feet and hit the back of my legs. He thinks he has spurs, but he doesn't yet. He is 5 months old. So I chased him all around the hen yard and he ran in the hen house. So I went around to the front door because I can't fit though the chickie door and I snatched him off the perch in front of all the other chickens and roos and I held him under my arm for quite a while. I went outside and puttered around in the hen yard and all the while he was in discust. (sp. I can't spell today for some reason ) Anyway....I took him back in and sat him on the perch in front of all the other chickens and he was SO HUMILITED! Some one get spell check please...LOL! Anyway...he hasn't done it since. Now sometimes I get close to him he acts like he wants to throw up those feet, but he doesn't and he eats out of my hand. I am glad that he is the one that decided to be the boss and not my hugh EE. Banties are something! I just love them. Now if he acts like he is coming at me I give him a swift boot away, but gently. Hope that helps. Oh...and never let him see you are scared of him. Watch Ceasar the dog whisper and you can learn some animal behavior and I have tried it with the chicks and it works. All just my 2 cents. Keep us posted!
