Rooster behavior

[centrarchid]

Lately my rooster has been following me when I go out to give the girls treats. Today I put down the treats, dropped the bag, then started walking away and my roo kept following me, as he did throughout the rest of the day. Is he just being friendly and wanting food or is he going to try and assert his dominance at some point?

Feed bucket aggression. He is associating you with appearance of fresh eats that taste sweetest when they first appear. Interaction may already be to point where you have been rewarding his approaches by putting out feed for him even after food already present. Counter measure I employ does not assume problem is dominance related, nor am I scared of roosters.

 

[BlackHackle]

I just want to restate it totally depends on your actual bird

Chickens aren't cookie cutters they have different personalities and just bc a person is nice to one they aren't going to turn on you, I mean they could, but the point is they are each unique in some ways and different things trigger different behaviours for different roosters,

Anyone reading this in the future (cause I often come upon 8 yr old posts on google) keep in mind I don't think there is always one or two ways way a rooster will turn out

out of 6 roosters only 1 pecked my toes
A different one tried to corral me
A third one charged at me
Another is completely docile
And still another defends me anytime the other has a 'tude

One more thing, my first 3 were pretty mean and fought amongst each other too

My other 2 which I still have I bought as pullets, and they taught me that roosters can be really great and important and fun and etc.
I'm so glad my experience with roosters didn't end after the girst 3.

I agree with you 101%. It all depends on the bird in question. Over my several years of actually breeding poultry I have gone through over 27 breeds of chickens. Each breed had it's own rooster personality. The Rocks, Sussex, and the Orpingtons would be really friendly and would actually mean to be, and the Games (Old English and Assil) and RIR's would be just the meanest things.

 

[thornito95]

I think I may be the only one who loves a mean rooster as long as they're in a pen I can get the eggs out of without being harassed I'm appreciative of a mean rooster. If a rooster will fight me he'll probably fight a fox lol. I had a mean one a couple years ago and when I would want to put my hens up he would square me up then jump at me I would catch him put him in the coop and he was so dominant that he would then make the hens come to him. I miss him every time I'm having to chase a hen around. I also would never file a spur down. Some roosters have killed chicken Hawks stabbing them through the eye to the brain. Thank God the owner hadn't filed it down . Keeping cocks if for the not so faint of heart, I gotta cock out there right now that would put someone in n the hospital if he got em right and IM PROUD OF IT! #SPURS#UP

 

[Mimi13]

I use a trashcan lid as a shield

This is exactly the kind of thing I didn’t want to have to do. I want to be able to just freely walk in my yard and not have to give any thought to whether or not I’m being stalked. I guess I have just been spoiled by my hens. Now in come the boys to spoil the fun. And as I’ve said before, if it was just me, okay, get attacked, process next day. But I have 3 grandsons that I want to be able to move freely around the yard from playhouse to swingset to sandbox to pool. And I want my chickens to be able to roam freely around the yard from bug to worm to lord knows what else. Hopefully I’ll be able to have my cake and eat it too. But my grandchildren do come first.

 

[BlackHackle]

If you want to keep roosters, I would consider getting Orpingtons, Cochins, Orloffs, and Rocks.

 

[Kessel23]

If you want to keep roosters, I would consider getting Orpingtons, Cochins, Orloffs, and Rocks.

I have had good luck with Easter eggers, Silkies, polish, and australorps to.

 

[BlackHackle]

I have had good luck with Easter eggers, Silkies, polish, and australorps to.

Yes! I forgot those! Though I have never met a friendly Polish Roo in the many varieties I've owned

 

[Mimi13]

Feed bucket aggression. He is associating you with appearance of fresh eats that taste sweetest when they first appear. Interaction may already be to point where you have been rewarding his approaches by putting out feed for him even after food already present. Counter measure I employ does not assume problem is dominance related, nor am I scared of roosters.

And this makes perfect sense as well. Oh my word, there are so many things to remember and so many things to be aware of....at all times. I wonder if I’m too old for this?

 

[Kessel23]

I think I may be the only one who loves a mean rooster as long as they're in a pen I can get the eggs out of without being harassed I'm appreciative of a mean rooster. If a rooster will fight me he'll probably fight a fox lol. I had a mean one a couple years ago and when I would want to put my hens up he would square me up then jump at me I would catch him put him in the coop and he was so dominant that he would then make the hens come to him. I miss him every time I'm having to chase a hen around. I also would never file a spur down. Some roosters have killed chicken Hawks stabbing them through the eye to the brain. Thank God the owner hadn't filed it down . Keeping cocks if for the not so faint of heart, I gotta cock out there right now that would put someone in n the hospital if he got em right and IM PROUD OF IT! #SPURS#UP

A rooster that attacks you is 90% of the time not attacking you because he thinks you are a predator, he is attacking you because he thinks you are a rooster. Also, a rooster will do little to nothing against a fox, the style of hunting that a fox uses makes it hard for even a guard dog to stop, they just dart in, grab a bird, and dart out, the whole process only takes a few seconds and can go unnoticed for quite some time in large flocks because the attack usually doesn't even leave a feather behind. Roosters treat predators different than they treat what they think is another rooster too, all my aggressive leghorn roos would run as fast as they could while screeching like crazy whenever one of my dogs got out. With the hawk thing, a rooster would need an extremely lucky shot to hit a hawk in the eye and unless he was swinging sideways it would not be heading to the brain, and anyways a good rooster who is focused on his job of guarding the flock and not wasting time attacking humans should be able to alert everyone of a hawk attack before it happens.

BlackHackle, I have only had two polish roosters, both were nice, based off of what you are saying I would say that I got lucky, scratch the polish off of the nice breed list

 

[Mimi13]

I think I may be the only one who loves a mean rooster as long as they're in a pen I can get the eggs out of without being harassed I'm appreciative of a mean rooster. If a rooster will fight me he'll probably fight a fox lol. I had a mean one a couple years ago and when I would want to put my hens up he would square me up then jump at me I would catch him put him in the coop and he was so dominant that he would then make the hens come to him. I miss him every time I'm having to chase a hen around. I also would never file a spur down. Some roosters have killed chicken Hawks stabbing them through the eye to the brain. Thank God the owner hadn't filed it down . Keeping cocks if for the not so faint of heart, I gotta cock out there right now that would put someone in n the hospital if he got em right and IM PROUD OF IT! #SPURS#UP

Unfortunately, your post kind of scares me.