Rooster Has Taken To Biting

[countrychickengirl]

My 16 week old rooster (Delaware) has begun biting me and I have been picking him up each time he does it but as of today, he is actually running at me all puffed out and going at my feet and hands - he even seemed to be blocking my way into the house with this behavior - any ideas of how I can break him of this before it gets out of control??

~Lisa~

 

[speckledhen]

Sounds like his aggression is escalating now that he is approaching mating age. I hate when that happens. If it was mine, I'd grab him up and flip him upside down when he does it, just for a few seconds. If he bites, scoop him up and hold his beak shut with your fingers (not blocking his nares). If that doesn't fix it, I don't know. Isaac, his daddy, used to bite me at that age. Well, he did it twice. A couple of "aversion therapy" sessions of beak-holding and he never did it again, but he never ran at me or attacked my shoes. A couple of his brothers did at that age and I gave them away before they could influence him. Hope you can fix it, Lisa. I'm sorry he's being a butthead.

 

[Olive Hill]

I, personally, would send him to freezer camp. But we have a zero tolerance policy for aggression here. First strike and you're out. If you don't mind rehabbing and are willing to keep a roo with the known tendency to be aggressive I'd go the aversion route and see what results you get. I can say even if I was open to rehabbing I would not give more than a few sessions before freezer camp would be the ultimate result all the same. Good Luck!

 

[sourland]

Is he your only rooster? If so try aversion therapy as recommended. If you have other roosters, you might consider rehoming him. Aggression can be an inherited trait; therefore, it is better to utilize roosters that are not human aggressive for breeding.