Rooster behavior

[Jackievg]

I am new to chickens. I got 10 checks from a fellow teacher back in April. She had hatched them out in her classroom. I knew there would be a pretty good chance that I would have roosters because it was just a crapshoot of what I got. Well, I ended up with eight roosters! I knew I had seven and I arranged for someone to take six of them for meat birds. While he was here we discussed the other one had both agreed we thought it was a hen. Well ended up being a rooster and he's not very nice! I have arranged for someone to take him but they haven't been able to get him yet. He has come after me a couple times and actually got a friend of mine in the hand when she was taking care of them for me. Sh still has a bruise and it's been almost a month! So the rooster I plan to keep has gotten a little bolder too. This morning when I went in and opened the coop so they could go out and to their pen he came out and came after me. I think it was just more of a warning because he probably could have gotten me and didn't. What do you do to curb that issue? I do not want to have to watch my step in there every second if I'm trying to clean or replace water or just work in general. I am very respectful of his space but expect the same from him. Is there anyway to teach them manners? I have found getting after them seems to make them come back after you even more. Help! I would really like to keep him as I understood they keep order with the hens. I don't plan to hatch out many babies, if any. But I was told the hens will start going after each other and pick on one until they kill it.

 

[SIMZ]

First off, you don't have to keep a rooster with hens. Your flock could single out a chicken to pick on whether you have a rooster or not.

As far as mean roosters go, my experience has been the only way to curb that behavior is to get rid of the rooster. We messed around with a meanie once and I'll never do it again. You will absolutely have to watch every step and keep an eye out behind you all the time. Do yourself a favor and get rid of him. There are plenty of nice roosters being given away on craigslist -I have several now! lol

 

[chickens really]

Hens actually do fantastic without a Rooster....
Aggressive Roosters first start with small threats....Then it begins to get a bit more aggressive until one day you get full blown attack....
I have a good Rooster but I never turn my back to him..I keep him away from me...

 

[abraga]

I was never afraid of my birds and had some pretty rank roos. When they would threaten me or come at me, I'd grab them, and pet all over them..tug thier feathers and combs and let them go. They learned to leave me alone..but everyone else was still fair game..incliding my little girl..long story short..get rid of them. They pass meanness on to thier offspring to. We adopted a white roo (called him purdue)from school to..that sucker was pure white..mean..onery and downright dangerous! He ended up being culled.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree, get rid of all of the males. Hens will do fine without one. They lay with or without one. If they are going to go broody they will go broody whether or not a rooster is around.

As a teacher you probably understand the meaning of "can". Can means it is possible. Can does not mean it is assured or even probable. There appears to be a lot of people on this forum that believe if there is a remote chance something could happen it absolutely will. Some people on this forum write things in a way to reinforce that thought.

Since you are dealing with living animals about anything can happen, hens can attack each other and even kill each other. But that is rare, really rare, especially if you have sufficient room. It's possible if you have a mature dominant rooster in the flock he would stop that kind of behavior, it's also possible he would ignore it and let it happen. You don't get guarantee with chicken behaviors, about anything can happen. The vast majority of flocks without a rooster do absolutely fine without a rooster. You are worrying about the wrong thing.

There is some debate on here about whether a rooster's behavior is inherited or environmental. My opinion is that tendencies toward aggressive behavior can be inherited, but a lot of whether a male becomes aggressive or not is how you act around him. Since you defer to the cockerel he considers himself the dominant one. If you don't do as he wants he is right to punish you. With chickens someone has to be the boss. Is it him or is it you?

I do not condone being physically abusive to a cockerel or rooster. But don't defer to him, even as a young cockerel. If he is in your way, walk through him. If he makes any attempt, just with posture, to intimidate you, don't let him get away with it. Walk toward him, make him back down. If it comes to a stand-off, stand and face him until he walks away. They love to attack from behind. If you see any attempt at that walk toward him. Don't turn your back and walk away, you just let him win, he will probably attack to cement his victory. Your behavior of being respectful of his space probably contributed to his becoming aggressive toward you. With some cockerels how you treat then doesn't matter, they will become aggressive no matter what. But your attitude toward them will have an influence on a lot of them.

Having roosters around is not for everyone. You had rotten luck to get that many males in that hatch, but it happens. Sometimes you get lucky and get that many pullets. The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. You really don't need one for anything else.

 

[andreanar]

I think people underestimate the damage a rooster can do. Its only a small bird right? Seriously, they can launch an attack that is vicious. Some will not stop the attack short of maiming or almost killing them. We had a 7 month old cockerel that went after my sister so hard I couldn't believe it. It leaped at her over and over, quickly, going for her face with his spurs. Even after hitting him with a stick hard enough that the stick broke, he didn't stop. Thank God, that wasn't a child. He did this full out attack after only a few warnings of scratching the ground around us. His very first attack and it was crazy,

 

[abraga]

I think people underestimate the damage a rooster can do. Its only a small bird right? Seriously, they can launch an attack that is vicious. Some will not stop the attack short of maiming or almost killing them. We had a 7 month old cockerel that went after my sister so hard I couldn't believe it. It leaped at her over and over, quickly, going for her face with his spurs. Even after hitting him with a stick hard enough that the stick broke, he didn't stop. Thank God, that wasn't a child. He did this full out attack after only a few warnings of scratching the ground around us. His very first attack and it was crazy,

I had a friend that got knocked out by his rooster...he was in the coop collecting eggs and the rooster attacked him from behind..attacked his head..even broke his glasses.

 

[andreanar]

I had a friend that got knocked out by his rooster...he was in the coop collecting eggs and the rooster attacked him from behind..attacked his head..even broke his glasses.

I believe it. If I hadn't seen a vicious roo in action, I would never believe they are capable of the attacking strength that they are. We don't keep roos at all, because we wont take the chance on visiting family getting hurt. Also, the kids in our family like to collect eggs and play with the girls.

 

[aart]

You've gotten some great advice,
I'm in the get rid of them camp,
so I'll just say:

Welcome to BYC @Jackievg .....sorry for your bad luck.

 

[Jackievg]

Thanks for all the advice. One will be leaving tonight, hopefully the other tomorrow.

I've been on here for a while, just was a "stalker" before.