Rooster behavior

[linkedsilas]

I have been reading some of the posts and they all seem to be aggressive roosters that are aggressive to hens as well. Mine is starting to challenge me but is fine with his "women". He will come up to me and puff up and stomp up to me. I usually give him a push. Does this work or am I out looking for future attacks? I dont want to leave him for the predators because I have 2 hens (they are all in a pen) and dont want animals in my yard going after the girls.
The rooster is about 4 months old. any advice? I have dealt with other roosters that will attack when you turn your back on them but this one does not seem to get the message that I am the boss. I would like to think chickens are smarter then we give them credit for and he can learn that I am the "rooster" of the yard.

 

[Daisy8s]

There are so many posts about aggressive roosters. You can search and read for hours, if you like. In my experience people seem to fall into roughly three groups.

1. No aggression should be tolerated. At the first sign cull the rooster. Life is too short to try training. These seem to be people with larger flocks who are breeding to create flocks they want. They make the point that they don't want the genes of an aggressive rooster passed on to future generations.

2. Be the top rooster. Do anything you want to be more aggressive to your rooster than he is to you. Kick him, pick him up, carry him around upside down....humiliate him into submission. These people sometimes self-report that the aggression reoccurs regularly so watch him and be prepared to repeat the humiliation/intimidation routine regularly.

3. You're not a rooster so don't try to be one. Understand your rooster is behaving with instinctual behaviors and work with him. When he hits adolescence and starts testing things either limit human interaction by penning him up separately for a few months until he's more mature or, choose not to react to his tests. Dress up in boots, long pants, gloves, etc. If he does peck at you don't react. Become as boring as the wall of a coop. I did this with my rooster and after three testing sessions (each lasting less than 5 minutes) he has never tested me again. People are totally off his radar as far as what he should patrol.

I used option number 3. A very important caveat--I've only ever had one rooster so I cannot say this would work all the time. But, when it works it really works to make a bird as trustworthy as any animal can be (which is never 100%). Here's a testimonial. Yesterday my son's friends were visiting. I came out and found two kids chasing the rooster and hens all over the yard. Total chaos. I stopped it immediately, but was also intensely grateful that my rooster didn't see humans as something he needed to challenge or defend his hens against.

 

[CarolJ]

Guess I fall into the first group. I don't want to take any chances of an aggressive rooster possibly harming my grandchildren when they visit. Even though I never let them around the chickens unless I'm right there, I've read too many stories of people who were right there with their children - and the children were attacked before they could intervene and ended up in the emergency room - with both physical and emotional scars. Not worth the risk - however minor - to me. If a rooster attacks me - he's gone. I either give him away or sell him - with full disclosure to whoever takes him.

 

[Daisy8s]

I think there's value in the first and third groups I listed above. Personally, I don't see any benefit to the middle group because it seems the people and rooster are then trapped in a very long term war with intermittent skirmishes. No fun.

I should also add that it seems people naturally fall into their groups based on their own personalities. There are some people who see red at the slightest provocation and absolutely must retaliate with physical violence toward the rooster if he threatens them. It takes a very calm demeanor to look at a rooster, try to understand why he's behaving that way, and then work in harmony with his instincts.

 

[sheena85]

i would cull him ! when they attack you it hurt's ! and i would not want my son to be hurt by one so if it were me i would cull it !

 

[speckledhen]

A huge aspect to consider is that temperament can be passed down. I refuse to keep a human-aggressive large fowl rooster (I'll define one in a minute) and breed from him.

The blue Orp in my avatar is a huge blue teddy bear. He has never so much as nipped me in his entire going-on six years of life. 99% of his sons are exactly the same way. People want them for their temperament alone, though unfortunately, his fertility is waning.

My Delaware is also wonderful and easygoing as you can see in the videos below-his lines were culled for temperament by the breeder he came from:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/384349/sdwd/14610#post_8894682
http://s673.photobucket.com/albums/vv95/Mtnviewpoultry/Video Clips/?action=view&current=DSCN5537.mp4

I've tried all the methods folks push here to "renovate" an aggressive rooster and none of them have ever worked on one who was flogging after mating age (16-18 weeks of age, generally--that is the definition I mentioned, that age, mating the hens and already flogging) Those roosters did not stay. They were Barred Rocks, Delawares and even an Ameraucana that many think are always good natured. I've also had wonderfully calm and even-tempered in all those breeds as well so it's not related to breed alone, just individual.

I don't care if a rooster is perfect looking according to the Standard of Perfection and if he is the Terminator of Hen Protectors-if he attacks the hand that feeds him, he's outta here. I don't want to propagate those genes.

 

[linkedsilas]

Hes only pecked me 3 times. When I sit with him I know he is testing me. I guess I will try a few approaches to see if something works with him.
Thanks and I just found a post with the same content...i subscribed

 

[speckledhen]

That awesomely sweet Delaware in the videos above? He bit me twice, pre-mating age, at around 14 weeks old. Both times, what I did was grab him up and clamp his beak shut with my fingers. He froze. He hated it and never did it again. That's because it wasn't true aggression, it was teenage boundary-testing. That is usually fixable.

If Isaac's biting had progressed to flogging, he would have been culled.

 

[linkedsilas]

thanks
i know hes testing me i just was wondering if there was a better method then others. he is tolerant of me picking him up but i never held the beak. i used to do it to the turkeys, i guess i never thought about it with a chicken

 

[speckledhen]

The simple truth is that there is no guarantee-it all depends on his genetic predisposition to aggression towards humans and his overall intelligence. He may learn, he may never learn, all you can do is try. Good luck!