Rooster Chat

[summerb123]

 

[Lyranonamous]

I'm noticing that all of you here have roosters, and seem to do fine with them. We ended up with one Welsummer and he was quite dangerous-attacking us in the face and the legs and we had to get rid of him. Is the behavior mostly breed specific? Or should we have handled him less? Handled him differently? I'm not sure what we did wrong but I would like to have a well behaved rooster around the farm. Advice? Opinions? Any breeds that are more likely to be more manageable or even friendly?

 

[hallen01]

My best rooster was handled from the day we got him. It could be breed specific as my Buffs are really calm and do not bother us when we go into the pen. I did have a very aggressive rooster who would attack any chicken we had handled and he was the first to be put in my freezer.

 

[bald Rooster]

Catch him and hold him on the ground in front of his girls. Don't hurt him just hold him down tight for 10 minutes. Do it a few times and he should calm down some.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I personally don't handle any roosters. I have multiple breeds and have had many others. The only aggressive roosters I have dealt with were both handled a lot. Some can handle it others can't. Handling and especially petting causes many roosters to view you as part of the flock. As they reach sexual maturity you are just one to be dominated.

My theory on those that don't attack their keepers is sometimes roosters form coalitions with sibling roosters, and they don't really fight amongst each other. So I think some tame roosters see their keepers as another rooster, but not a threat.

I only handle all my birds to just move them around or to check them out. My roosters are mostly ignored. If they make the hens scream or try mating in my presence the get corrected by being chased off. None have ever bothered me and all get out of my way.

From my experiences with different breeds I can say that lighter breeds often mate more and are more likely to harass hens, where larger breeds mature more slowly and often are all around better rooster.

My current rooster breeds are 2 buff Orpingtons, a barnevelder, a barred rock, a gold laced Wyandotte, 3 bantam cochin mixes, 3 d'uccle, and 4 bantam cochins.

For large breeds I like the barnevelder roosters, they seem a bit more calm than other breeds, but it could just be the two I have had.

 

[the poppster]

I'm noticing that all of you here have roosters, and seem to do fine with them. We ended up with one Welsummer and he was quite dangerous-attacking us in the face and the legs and we had to get rid of him.   Is the behavior mostly breed specific? Or should we have handled him less?  Handled him differently?  I'm not sure what we did wrong but I would like to have a well behaved rooster around the farm.  Advice? Opinions? Any breeds that are more likely to be more manageable or even friendly?

some of the best Roosters I have had and have...my Silkie Roo Larry....my white rock roo Roger...a really nice big roo is a Brhamas, they are usually pretty mellow...my Blue Part Brahma, BoBo...never lifted a feather at me...his name is actually Blue Boy...but he was so afraid of being grabbed, he runs from you...and when he was younger he would squeal if you picked him up...he doesn't squeal any more he doesn't like it but he is fine if you get a hold of him...but he's so big I don't mess with him unless it's necessary...he looks mean....but he's a big baby with humans...he was the flock boss for a while when he was a youngster...but he has dropped back to third place now that he's matured...he's a bit rough on the hens...because of his size...he's such a big clumsy boy...but he's not mean. The Kelloggs corn flakes rooster was based on the Welsummer roo...I had an evil Dominic rooster, a dark Cornish Rooster that gave me puncture wounds...a barred rock that would try to nail you in the head when you bent over while doing chores...any over the top aggressive rooster behavior sends them straight to the freezer...I don't invite defense behavior either...I move smoothly and purposefully when around the flock...I do not back off, or change my direction because of the rooster...he gets out of my way or I will retaliate...this usually involves "putting the run" on him...in other words I will drop what I am doing and catch him this usually involves me having to corner him, pin him and grab his legs...then unceremoniously gently swing him up into a"Football" hold...then carry him around till he's calmed down...he will usually settle down after a few minutes and relax...that's when I will set him down...not drop him...gently put him down on his feet....he usually gives way from then on. It's been awhile since I've had to deal with any aggressive Roosters. But I do enjoy them.

 

[dekel18042]

I'm noticing that all of you here have roosters, and seem to do fine with them. We ended up with one Welsummer and he was quite dangerous-attacking us in the face and the legs and we had to get rid of him. Is the behavior mostly breed specific? Or should we have handled him less? Handled him differently? I'm not sure what we did wrong but I would like to have a well behaved rooster around the farm. Advice? Opinions? Any breeds that are more likely to be more manageable or even friendly?

I do think it can be a combination of factors. While some breeds seem genetically disposed to be less aggressive, I think it can also be an individual rooster thing.
A question for you: Was your welsummer cockerel raised with other birds all the same age as he or was he raised with a flock with multiple ages and sexes present?
I have noticed that cockerels raised with all the same age birds tend to be more aggressive IMHO, perhaps because they raise to the top of the pecking order quickly while those raised within a flock with mature hens learn their place as youngsters and if they are ever to be a flock rooster need to work their way to the top. It isn't given to them.
Most of my roosters are raised in a flock with all ages. It seems when the birds are all the same age the cockerels get cocky pretty quickly. The few times that has happened I remedied it by pulling the young cockerels away from the same age pullets, separated them and threw them in with either the adult laying hens or into the bachelor pad. In either case they got a quick and effective attitude adjustment and went on to be nice birds.
The first time I threw a cockerel in with the adult roosters I made sure they were free ranging so he could get away and stood by ready to intervene if necessary.
Initially the other roosters chased him but the minute he stopped being a jerk all was well. No problems or bloodshed at all.
The worst roosters we ever had were the white leghorns that were sold as colored Easter chicks. All of them were roosters and my mother felt sorry for the chicks that outgrew their pet homes (hmmm, notice ALL of these had been pets.)and allowed some to come live with our flock. BIG MISTAKE! Every one was horrid. I remember going outside carrying a stick.
Finally they were invited for soup and no more Easter chicks were rescued and we went back to having nice roosters again. (And I still hate leghorns to this day.)

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I think my younger cockerel spots has it in his mind to try taking on Zeus, now it's just a waiting game.

Noticed when Zeus jumped a hen, Spots got very protective and defensive looking.

 

[uzisuzuki]

I'm not very experienced with chickens (I'm heading into year 3), so I don't know if what I've been doing with my roosters is "correct" or not. I handle all of them, 3 since they hatched & 1 since he was the only chicken I had for awhile. 2 of them get chippy with my legs sometimes, but they are about 2lbs in weight so it's not anything that hurts. The other 2 were born last spring & have been extremely well behaved with each other & people in general. They're all different breeds: Sebright, Sebright/Polish mix, Phoenix & Cemani. I might have just been extremely lucky so far, but none of them have been overly aggressive in a way that couldn't be corrected.

 

[Victoria-nola]

I'm noticing that all of you here have roosters, and seem to do fine with them. We ended up with one Welsummer and he was quite dangerous-attacking us in the face and the legs and we had to get rid of him. Is the behavior mostly breed specific? Or should we have handled him less? Handled him differently? I'm not sure what we did wrong but I would like to have a well behaved rooster around the farm. Advice? Opinions? Any breeds that are more likely to be more manageable or even friendly?

I have had 3 roosters in the years I've had chickens. The first one had not been handled hardly at all, but he started eating treats out of my hand and next thing I knew just became violent, drawing blood over and over, finally handed him over to a homesteading friend. The second one was very gentle for a long time, but then became violent, but I had always kept my distance. I believe he had been handled somewhat for his first year, I got him when he was 18 months old. Both of them, you couldn't walk through the yard without getting flogged. The second one hadn't drawn blood but I felt it was a matter of time. He's gone too. We have his son, who so far has been great but he's not even a year old yet. With the first one, I tried everything that was suggested on BYC to get him to respect me again, but no go. With the second one, I just mainly kept my guard up but finally just didn't want to feel threatened all the time. So my experience is, handled/not handled, a rooster can still go aggressive. And my experience is that the "treatments" people suggest don't particularly work either, long term. That's why with the second one, once I realized the aggro threats were not acceptable, I didn't try the taming treatments because I didn't have any faith in them. I think it's more the individual rooster. Also, experience in learning for the human. With our 3rd rooster now, if he even gives me a look like he's worried I'm too close to one of his hens, I walk "through" him and he gets it. If he does start getting aggro, he's out of here.

I do know that living in fear of a rooster is no way to live, and that a rooster being aggro is NOT a sign of being a good rooster, either. When we got rid of the 2nd rooster, I was worried the girls would be upset. Far from it. The yard was peaceful and happy for the first time since we moved to our new place-- he used to run the girls around all day long every day. And they've been happy ever since with rooster #3. Funny thing, I can tell which eggs come from certain of the hens and tracked those when I did the incubation; and #3's mom won't let him mount her-- she runs him off every time-- literally henpecks him.

I wish you well.

P.S. I'm a super softhearted person, so my strong stance on not tolerating rooster aggression has been difficult to come to.