Rooster behavior

[HighStreetCoop]

If you have young children, get rid of him, you are risking too much. And really it is not funny, it is scary as hell. If you leave him, he will probably be attacking you soon enough, and most definitely the children.

Totally agree. When I was a kid, we had a RIR roo that attacked us kids all the time. It was not funny. It was **** scary. We celebrated like mad the night we ate him!

 

[mphinney]

He went after my wife again today, and he is now draining and waiting to become soup. Ol grey mare I do understand the ways of the flock and he was trying to assert himself at the top of the pecking order. If your horse nips at you do you send it to the glue factory, or do you correct it. I gave him another chance and obviously he failed.

 

[Peeps61]

If it's any consolation, my husband was going to take our rooster out as well after he flogged me, but since he ran off into the woods and didn't come back, one would presume the problem solved itself as a predator obviously got him. The flogging was not a pleasant experience and I did have to seek medical attention and a tetanus shot.

 

[birddog456]

Newbie here. Marengo Illinois.
We have 12 rir we picked up in April as chicks, 2 roosters, 10 hens. Coop is 4 x 8 inside barn, with 10 x 27 outside run. Coop in barn was over $500 in material alone, would have been $500 more to steel side it for outside. Awfully expensive eggs! Just to be clear chickens were my wife's doing, and, to be perfectly clear, I wear the pants in the family...and my wife's permission to say so!
So now we have 12 chickens 5 months old. One of the roos, let's call him Moe, seems to act too agressive (IMO) towards the other chickens. He will peck hens behind the shoulder for no apparent reason, chase down other rooster, let's call him Larry, and corner him . This morning I let them out, heard all this commotion and found Larry hiding his head down in corner with *** end up!
I am not very fond of Moe, he's come at me only to come face to face with another Red Wing...size 8! So, being new at this, I don't think we need 2 roosters, we are not intending to breed. Not raising them for meat, but would have no problem smoking one on the grill. Any insight regarding Moe's behavior at this life stage would be helpful, not starving yet.

 

[Folly's place]

Moe is being a normal adolescent cockrel, BUT he needs to be polite to humans or be dinner. I'd be alert for any bad behavior towards people, including that sideways shuffle, dipped wing, or 'that look' at you. Your junior cockrel may be the better choice, as long as he's not thinking bad thoughts about you. Only one cockrel needed for your small flock anyway. Welcome! Mary

 

[mphinney]

The research I have done shows that you have to establish a pecking order (although others on here tend to disagree). So you and everyone in your family needs to show Moe that he is below you guys in the pecking order. I have three young children and didn't want to risk my rooster going after them. He went after my wife several times, but only when I was not there. I also did not want to teach my kids to give the rooster a boot if he came near them.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

The research I have done shows that you have to establish a pecking order (although others on here tend to disagree). So you and everyone in your family needs to show Moe that he is below you guys in the pecking order. I have three young children and didn't want to risk my rooster going after them. He went after my wife several times, but only when I was not there. I also did not want to teach my kids to give the rooster a boot if he came near them.

I totally agree (just like with dogs [the pecking/pack order thing, not the booting thing, LOL!]), but some roos just won't learn. I spend years of my childhood armed with a tennis racket when collecting eggs.

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters are crap shoot. I have a theory that roosters raised with flock mates, gets bigger faster than the others and often times has no manners and is a real bully. Which is your situation. I would suggest that you get rid of both, but you decide.

Next year, if you get blessed by broody, (RIR are not real broody, I don't think) you might want to add some more broody type breeds to your flock. However, if you get a broody, you can raise your own chicks or day old chicks and let her raise them in the flock.

I think you get MUCH better roosters, roosters with better flock manners and better people manners when they grow up in a flock, with older and larger birds in the flock.

Mrs K

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Quote:
What an interesting idea. I'll keep it in mind if none of the ones I end up with in the first batch turns out to be keepable.

 

[duluthralphie]

Was the soup good?

Do you have a junior rooster moving into his head bird spot?

I find rooster behavior fascinating . I have my head bird "Brutus". He is gentle and seldom ever fights with the other roosters. I have never seen him fight with a hen. The chicks can eat alongside him with no problems. Brutus seems to have hit man. The hit man is named "Rick", my wife named him as a joke on a friend of ours, because "rick" appears to be to dumb to get out of the rain. BUT Rick is side by side with Brutus most the time. Any rooster that appears to want a go at Brutus has to go through Rick.

Both roosters are very friendly and sit next to us during chicken TV time.

Without trying to hijack your thread, I plan to keep 3-4 roosters over winter, (different breeds and different traits for next years chicks) Would you keep Rick or let him reside in the freezer?

Brutus is a very large Production Red, Rick is a large Dixie rainbow....

I am a little worried Rick is not smart enough to breed, and would not breed without Brutus's permission. ( I have several smaller fences and coops to make sure the breeding is with the hens I want it with.)