Rooster behavior

[sammi_lynn12]

Sorry, I meant to heart that! I am the same with my chickens. Most are silkies, so they aren't really for egg production. I just enjoy them. So this is a real bummer, because I cannot even effectively get to the coop to clean or collect eggs, etc much less just set out and enjoy spending time with them. He is the most aggressive rooster I've ever seen-and he is SO tiny!. I also don't have it in me to cull. Though I'm sure my husband would.

Mine was a big ole boy and he wasn't near as aggressive as yours seems! He would let me go in the coop and let me walk around a majority of the time, he just had random outbursts lol Maybe just have your husband handle it, or just try to rehome him with disclosing everything. If no one takes him then you may unfortunately need to cull him yourself. Mine was my first rooster and I was sooooo worried about getting one for this reason and ended up turning out that way. My tolerance level is also extremely low for aggression what so ever because my friend acted like his behavior wasn't really a big deal but like I said she has had chickens a long time and has had anywhere up to 8 roosters at one time. Lol

 

[Cierrascoop]

Mine was a big ole boy and he wasn't near as aggressive as yours seems! He would let me go in the coop and let me walk around a majority of the time, he just had random outbursts lol Maybe just have your husband handle it, or just try to rehome him with disclosing everything. If no one takes him then you may unfortunately need to cull him yourself. Mine was my first rooster and I was sooooo worried about getting one for this reason and ended up turning out that way. My tolerance level is also extremely low for aggression what so ever because my friend acted like his behavior wasn't really a big deal but like I said she has had chickens a long time and has had anywhere up to 8 roosters at one time. Lol

Awe he was a looker! Lol. I have had chickens for quite a while but this is our first flock in four years, since we are finally back in a rural area. And I swear last time we had over thirty birds with many roosters for a little while, due to getting straight run EE and silkies online. But out of all of them I had one that was aggressive. This round I have had four in a row. My last I could have possibly kept, but, he was a huge guy. And was showing early signs of aggression and flogged me twice. My mother in law has a farm with his sisters so she got him back. With kids, I couldn't risk it. He was as large as my youngest. So once his spurs fully came in, it was a bit worrisome. However, now I'm in the same boat as before but worse, lol. Regardless of size, spurs are sharp. And mine free range our big property so they're amongst the kids as they are playing. I may just have a go at hand raising my own come spring. I wanted a good roo for breeding come spring, but, I don't want his traits passed on temperament wise. Finding silkies full grown is hard in my area. Normal, satin, frizzles, any- it's just super hard to find them already grown. But by the sounds of it I don't see a very bright future for little Oliver here. Though I can possibly see if anyone would want him as is. But I just highly doubt it he came with the name "edris" and I couldn't find out why someone would name him that. I looked it up-"fiery leader". That's for sure. Lol.

 

[3KillerBs]

There are likely a hundred good roosters in your area, too many for you to put up with a jerk like that.
The girls don't like him, he's a threat to you.....give him a boot.

I have to agree with this.

Just before Christmas I had 5, gentlemanly, 6-month cockerels that I gave away free as food for lack of time to butcher them myself. There are always good roosters headed for Freezer Camp who would love to become flockmasters instead.

I'm going to be putting another batch of boys up for sale again soon (I always give them a few weeks on Craigslist before I eat them).

 

[The Birb King]

If there is any other issues with rooster aggression, Try holding the rooster down and gently pushing its head down. This is how roosters show dominance over each other so they shouldn't mess with you if you do that. My marans rooster would jump at my hand when he was a baby, and walk sideways toward me when he was a teenager. But now he is fully grown and doesn't act aggressive at all he is a good boy. I did pin him down once when he was a teenager because he looked like he wanted to attack me but other than that im not really sure why he changed so much im happy about it though.

 

[Jen Leigh]

I've found that silkie roosters have attitudes way bigger than their bodies. I have two silkie and an Australorp roo. The largest silkie roo is as big as the Australorp hens. I hand raised him but he still ended up attacking me. His first run I just thought he ran into me on accident, but then he made a second run. I kicked him with the top of my boot hard enough to knock the wind out of him but not hurt him. He made a third run and I grabbed a stick and chased him down. Ended up throwing the stick and missing, but for the next 3 days if he got within 10 feet of me I chased him down. Never caught him. He now gives me a wide berth and I have to step back before he'll go in the coop at night. With silkies you have to assert your dominance in the flock. If he ever even runs toward me I'll drop what I'm doing and chase him. Hasn't happened yet, but since he's the number one rooster I'm sure it's a matter of time before he challenges my authority with the hens again.

On the flip side, he is the best rooster I could ever hope for. He's the last one in and out of the coop. He makes sure the hens eat and drink first. I had a hawk try to take a silkie hen and he flat attacked the hawk. He beat it up and ended up without a drop of blood on him. Haven't had another issue with hawks since and it's been a few months.

 

[Cierrascoop]

Well, after seeing an ad on Craigslist searching for a "fiesty rooster" I decided to message them and sadly they had already found one. So I made my own, titled "very angry little rooster" and included things regarding his human aggression, as a last resort. Surpringly, a local who I have dealt with before ended up messaging me, interested in him. And though I had him as free, he even traded me for him after I explained my crazy situation lol. He brought three of his boys for me to choose from, actually. And I ended up with this guy, who we named Smokey. So far, he is the sweetest boy and is showing no signs of any aggression. AND he is currently cuddled up with all my girls, too. They are still establishing some ranking, but I do believe he's older then Oliver was and he has had very little issues. Oliver definitely did. The guy who got him said he hasn't had any issues with him yet, however. Which has me mind blown. But, he is also amongst other roosters. And a LOT of other chickens. I'm just happy it all panned out well for everyone.

 

[Millsa]

At the risk of sounding crazy…. Okay i think i already burned that bridge ages ago. Recently i started holding my roosters and swinging them.. GENTLY. Back and forth. they really seem to like it and i noticed a decrease in their agressive behavior ..they even crow less. I have too few hens for 2 roosters. Hoping to increase the flock this spring with hens so we can keep the 2 and this sedating activity really helps.. i also talk softly to them and hold them .. and scratch their necks which they both really love. They are all learning how to ’get it on’ and right now i think they are missing the mark which is upsetting because its somewhat traumatic to the hens but they are learning too… hopeful in a few months we can have some eggs to hatch and increase the flock and promote happiness for everyone. Try the “swinging” thing. It really worked for me. Hold their wings close to their body - i have orpington Roos so i also have to hold under their bellies because they are big. And i sway them gently … calms them right the F. down and makes me the Top of the pecking order.

 

[Cierrascoop]

At the risk of sounding crazy…. Okay i think i already burned that bridge ages ago. Recently i started holding my roosters and swinging them.. GENTLY. Back and forth. they really seem to like it and i noticed a decrease in their agressive behavior ..they even crow less. I have too few hens for 2 roosters. Hoping to increase the flock this spring with hens so we can keep the 2 and this sedating activity really helps.. i also talk softly to them and hold them .. and scratch their necks which they both really love. They are all learning how to ’get it on’ and right now i think they are missing the mark which is upsetting because its somewhat traumatic to the hens but they are learning too… hopeful in a few months we can have some eggs to hatch and increase the flock and promote happiness for everyone. Try the “swinging” thing. It really worked for me. Hold their wings close to their body - i have orpington Roos so i also have to hold under their bellies because they are big. And i sway them gently … calms them right the F. down and makes me the Top of the pecking order.

Thank you! Luckily the boys I have now are older and very good gentlemen. I somehow got lucky and now have a very harmonious flock. Picking up Oliver would have been catastrophic. Lol. He was a biter. I think he had a difficult time because the ladies here all despised him, and, he was just over all too aggressive for me and the kiddos. Some roosters are just being roosters, being protective. But he didn't even have any hens who respected him enough to protect. . He was always alone. Which you can get aggressive hens too. My beans has a spicy attitude. It's just different when there are spurs added to the mix. Lol.

 

[user605178]

Hey everyone
I was hoping someone could help me with my rooster issue. I want to try every tactic I can before getting another rooster. This one I got a few weeks ago and I was hoping his behavior was because he was out of his element and just acting out because he was in an unusual environment BUT I don't believe it's just him being scared anymore. Everytime I am around he VERY aggressively pecks the ground. Not eating, simply pecking leaves and dirt with aggression while walking sideways in my general direction. As soon as he sees me he can be halfway across the property and he will make it his mission to come over towards me and sneakily attack. I'm pretty sure i now understand why someone drove an hour just to re-home this guy. He is beautiful, but he is the smallest little jerk I've ever encountered. It's only been a few weeks and the hens have not accepted him yet. They refuse his dances and occasionally my head hen will become annoyed and peck his head once to get him to go away. Today when he attempted to flog me at feeding time she actually chased him off. So, I'm at a loss. The hens don't like him, hes aggressive...but, i love my animals. Even the ones that are ill-mannered. So I'm trying to see if there are any tactics to help his behaviors, because I do not feel comfortable rehoming him to anyone at all unless he would be used for food at this point in time.

Walk in grab that rooster and then hold him by the legs upside down shake him up and down 1 time, hold him like that till you see his eyes roll back and he will start getting aura let him down and see if his additude changes

 

[Cierrascoop]

Walk in grab that rooster and then hold him by the legs upside down shake him up and down 1 time, hold him like that till you see his eyes roll back and he will start getting aura let him down and see if his additude changes

EH. Not really one for violence lol. That guy found a home where he has ladies that like him now and he's doing a lot better. And I found two that are great for me. It worked out well