Rooster...help

[Matelew]

I have a small flock of 6 chickens...I know I have one rooster, an Easter Egger, and I suspect one of my two buffs is also a rooster.

I seem to have two problems.

1. Today we went to pick up the hens and he Rooster started charging and run at me. I don't usually pick up the chickens but I needed to take one today and the next thing I know the EE rooster is running at me full speed. He has never attacked me before but this scared the day lights out of me and when I put the hen down, a golden comet, the rooster pecked her on her head and went back in the coop. My first question is how do I get the rooster not to charge me when I pick up his hens? I want him to protect the girls but not from me. I read on my pet chicken that I shoukd pick him up and walk around with him everyday for a few weeks until he sees me as the head rooster. Should Indo that or should I hold him to the ground when he charges at me which is hard to do with a hen in my hand. I guess part of it is my fear of him from all the rooster horror stories I have read. Any help will be appreciated.

Question 2 - can my dominant rooster run off the other rooster? Tonight it's time to put the chickens up and all the hens seem to be up except my suspected rooster. Although my other rooster keeps crowing it won't go to the coop. Is this normal chicken behavior? Does that mean it's definitely a rooster?

This is my first flock so sorry for the long post. By the way the chickens are 5 months old.

 

[rhino1]

Im no expert, but my way of thinking is that you have to be the main, dominate rooster. You do what he does to you, he charges you you go at him. The worst they can do is scratch you a little. I have what i think is a rooster that is supposed to be a hen. He/it would charge me when i would open the door to thier tractor when i would fill thier feed and water. Then it got to were he would peck my arm when i reached in. I was just pushing him out the way. Finally the other day i grabbed him and held him under one arm and held his neck in my hand. Kinda like i would be choking him, but was just holding him there. Then i pushed him, gently, back into the door and he has left me a lone ever since. Animals have to be dealt with in a manner they understand. Its all about the pe king order, so to say

 

[rhino1]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/keeping-a-rooster

 

[Mrs. K]

Truthfully, I would get rid of the rooster. When asked, (and I realize you didn't ask) I recommend just a hen flock the first year, it gives you some experience, and it allows your pullets to grow up n peace.

What generally happens when people get started with chickens is that they buy chicks. The rooster chicks grow up faster and get bigger than the pullets. Very often, these rooster begin to bully the pullets, and often times, they get very aggressive and attack people. If you have children under the age of 5, they are most often attacked first, and a rooster can jump right into a childs face. Roosters have ruined the whole chicken experience for a lot of people.

If you wait a year, and then add some chicks with a broody hen or brooder, these chicks will be introduced to an adult world. The older birds will not accept that juvenile behavior and will whip some manners into the up coming rooster. The rooster learns his place in society, and chicken rules, and generally speaking, often times is a sweatheart, not always, but often times.

If you truly want a rooster now, I would still suggest culling yours and asking around if there is someone near by with an established flock with a sweatheart of a fellow. Six hens is not really enough hens for a young and randy rooster, they will very probably be over mated.

Once they have begun to attack, they are difficult to break them of it, especially if you are not real confident, and you would probably not be, as this is your first time with chickens.

Mrs K

 

[Matelew]

Truthfully, I would get rid of the rooster. When asked, (and I realize you didn't ask) I recommend just a hen flock the first year, it gives you some experience, and it allows your pullets to grow up n peace.

What generally happens when people get started with chickens is that they buy chicks. The rooster chicks grow up faster and get bigger than the pullets. Very often, these rooster begin to bully the pullets, and often times, they get very aggressive and attack people. If you have children under the age of 5, they are most often attacked first, and a rooster can jump right into a childs face. Roosters have ruined the whole chicken experience for a lot of people.

If you wait a year, and then add some chicks with a broody hen or brooder, these chicks will be introduced to an adult world. The older birds will not accept that juvenile behavior and will whip some manners into the up coming rooster. The rooster learns his place in society, and chicken rules, and generally speaking, often times is a sweatheart, not always, but often times.

If you truly want a rooster now, I would still suggest culling yours and asking around if there is someone near by with an established flock with a sweatheart of a fellow. Six hens is not really enough hens for a young and randy rooster, they will very probably be over mated.

Once they have begun to attack, they are difficult to break them of it, especially if you are not real confident, and you would probably not be, as this is your first time with chickens.

Mrs K

Thanks for your honest opinion you are right in that I am not confident...I am terrified of getting attacked but that's just a personal fear...I only wanted hens but he is a good rooster and does well protecting the girls which gives me comfort when they free range...and he is not the head chicken as my buffs keep him in check constantly.
I would love to keep him but you may be right if I can't get over my fear I may have to cull him...especially since I do have small children.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you have small children I would strongly recommend culling him ASAP. No protection of hens trumps the protection of children, and that is what you are risking.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is just personal preference. There are plenty of flocks that free range with no rooster among them and it works out well. A rooster might add to the safety of the flock, but that is often overblown in my experience. The biggest advantage is that he seems to be more on the lookout for danger so he is more likely to be an early warning system. Some roosters do give their life for their flock but mine are more likely to lead the flock to safety instead of confronting the danger once it is identified. With living animals you can never be sure how they will react. In a flock with no roosters the lead hen often takes on a lot of the roles of the rooster anyway.

I always advise that you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you are guaranteed to have a problem with more roosters, just that they are more likely.

It sounds like you may have two roosters. If the buff is crowing, you do. Him avoiding the EE is another sign. You also have an adolescent flock. A flock of adolescents is a lot more trying that a flock of mature chickens that know their roles in chicken society. They have different levels of maturity and hormones are running wild. It can get pretty rough down at the coop when they are transitioning from puberty to mature responsible adults. Cockerels establish dominance over each other and over the girls. Often this gets very physical. It’s not something for the faint of heart to watch. If you can get through this phase they normally mature into a nice peaceful flock where everyone accepts their roles but it takes patience. Normally none are permanently injured but occasionally chickens do get seriously or even fatally injured. Lots of space helps. With two roosters you need a lot more space.

My experiences are different than Mrs. K’s. I’ve had more problems with barebacked hens when the hen to rooster ratio was really good than when it was not so good. I think that was because those hens with problems had brittle feathers, no matter how gentle the rooster is the feathers break off anyway. But there is no question that some roosters are pretty rough on the hens, especially when they are going through adolescence.

Since that rooster attacked you, he needs to go. You can try to tame him, but I’d never fully trust him again. Even if you do break him, he may see that as only you and your children are still legitimate targets. People have been raising kids with flocks of chickens for thousands of years, often with no problems. Those kids are often the ones gathering eggs and feeding the chickens. The parents normally have a very short tolerance for any rooster that becomes aggressive toward them or especially the kids. Those roosters generally don’t last long enough to breed that trait into their offspring. There are too many good roosters out there to tolerate a bad one.

Roosters seem to have an ability to sense fear. It’s instinctive for them to try to dominate. You could try keeping the buff to see how that turns out, it may work out fine even with just four hens but then maybe not. Chickens are not supposed to be stressful. I think the right number of roosters for you to meet your goals just might be zero.

 

[Matelew]

How long until they are no longer considered adolescents but a mature flock.

I didn't intend on breeding him per se...

My children have been around the chickens and the rooster usually just runs from them...and never crows when they are around...humm maybe it just me...I will keep an eye on him at what age can I cull him and get good amount of meat.

Here is his pic.

 

[Nupe]

If you're going to cull him, cull him now. At 5 months and counting, the meat is just going to get tougher and tougher. I recently put a year old meanie in my freezer. The freezer bag is labeled "Mr. Soup."

 

[LovedMyAlydar]

We had a D'Uccle rooster that we have since sold. He used to charge me all the time. I was out working in the coop on day and he came at me. I had a screw driver in my hand putting up a feeder and just out of a split second reaction of self defense I bipped him with the handle end. Well I thought I had accidentally killed him. He fell backwards and his eyes closed. So here I am outside bawling like a baby that I think I killed the darn thing. And while he was laying there the hens tried to attack him. I guess they were fed up with his crap as well. But I picked him up and he was fine, none the worse for wear. Funny thing is, he never, ever tried to attack me again. Ever. He would go after my hubby and adult son, but never me. The hubby finally had enough of his games and we sold him to somebody looking for roosters, so he probably ended up as a small dinner someplace.