Rooster is suddenly aggressive

[ilovemychickens2]

My Rhode Island Red rooster has all of the sudden became very aggressive, even towards me. I raised him and my hen myself, so they're pretty comfortable, but now that they've matured he's become so aggressive for now reason.

My hen, Fettuccine still loves me and she just laid her first egg so I was bonding with her (she likes to sit in my lap and I will gently pet her) He usually tries to join in but I noticed today especially that he would just stare at me, and even started attacking my slippers unprovoked.

Can this be treated? It's just the two of them right now until I can find one or two more hens, he used to be very cuddly up until recently. I have always respected their boundaries, so I dont know why this could be happening.
Photo of his weird staring below

 

[Mother of Chaos]

My Rhode Island Red rooster has all of the sudden became very aggressive, even towards me. I raised him and my hen myself, so they're pretty comfortable, but now that they've matured he's become so aggressive for now reason.

My hen, Fettuccine still loves me and she just laid her first egg so I was bonding with her (she likes to sit in my lap and I will gently pet her) He usually tries to join in but I noticed today especially that he would just stare at me, and even started attacking my slippers unprovoked.

Can this be treated? It's just the two of them right now until I can find one or two more hens, he used to be very cuddly up until recently. I have always respected their boundaries, so I dont know why this could be happening.
Photo of his weird staring below

How old is he?

Right off the top of my head, I saw that he got agitated when you started petting your hen. In his brain, that hen is HIS hen, and he is interpreting you petting her as mating with her.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Yeah, this is one of the risks of getting too friendly with cockerels. I'm not saying you did anything wrong by bonding with him, but it does put you INTO the flock dynamics vs above them. You also don't want to be too unfamiliar with your rooster, because then you could be perceived as a threat! It's an impossible balance and every rooster will have their own personality and aggression level.

Here's a great TwoCrows article to check out on the subject.

 

[FrostRanger]

Unfortunately there's not much you can do besides invite him to dinner. Many cockerels don't turn out (and Rhode island red roos are particularly notorious for an above average tendency towards human aggression) and it will usually just get worse. For everyone's safety, get the pullet some friends and cull the cockerel. If you want a roo, either have the flock raise one up next year (cockerels that have mature hens around to smack some manners into them often turn out better) or find a mature roo about a year or 2 old that comes from someone who culls for human aggression but the rooster is so nice that they wanted to find him a home

 

[ilovemychickens2]

How old is he?

Right off the top of my head, I saw that he got agitated when you started petting your hen. In his brain, that hen is HIS hen, and he is interpreting you petting her as mating with her.

I got them both in april so approximately 5 months! I've seen him try and mount her before and she refused and just walked away.

 

[ilovemychickens2]

Yeah, this is one of the risks of getting too friendly with cockerels. I'm not saying you did anything wrong by bonding with him, but it does put you INTO the flock dynamics vs above them. You also don't want to be too unfamiliar with your rooster, because then you could be perceived as a threat! It's an impossible balance and every rooster will have their own personality and aggression level.

Here's a great TwoCrows article to check out on the subject.

Thank you! He was my first chick I got and so I really babied him and let him be the boss a lot, I do lightly swat him on the beak whenever he does peck hard at me and I generally leave him and his hen alone (she tends to come up to me more often then not)

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I got them both in april so approximately 5 months! I've seen him try and mount her before and she refused and just walked away.

Yep, oversexed adolescent male who in other cases might benefit from being raised older hens who could teach him manners.

 

[ilovemychickens2]

Unfortunately there's not much you can do besides invite him to dinner. Many cockerels don't turn out (and Rhode island red roos are particularly notorious for an above average tendency towards human aggression) and it will usually just get worse. For everyone's safety, get the pullet some friends and cull the cockerel. If you want a roo, either have the flock raise one up next year (cockerels that have mature hens around to smack some manners into them often turn out better) or find a mature roo about a year or 2 old that comes from someone who culls for human aggression but the rooster is so nice that they wanted to find him a home

I'll have to start looking for some hen friends for Fettuccine for if he is culled, I'm going to try some things I read in the article another user sent me.

 

[FrostRanger]

I'll have to start looking for some hen friends for Fettuccine for if he is culled, I'm going to try some things I read in the article another user sent me.

I would start looking regardless 'cause even if you do keep him (not advised) you want at least 6 hens if you have a roo else he's more likely to overbreed the girls he does have. Granted you're not guaranteed problems with a bad ratio nor are you guaranteed that the roo won't become a problem anyways even with an excellent ratio but the worse your male to female ratio (which is 1 boy per 10 girls BTW, I say 6 here 'cause you only have 1 boy) the more likely you are to run into problems

 

[ilovemychickens2]

My Rhode Island Red rooster has all of the sudden became very aggressive, even towards me. I raised him and my hen myself, so they're pretty comfortable, but now that they've matured he's become so aggressive for now reason.

My hen, Fettuccine still loves me and she just laid her first egg so I was bonding with her (she likes to sit in my lap and I will gently pet her) He usually tries to join in but I noticed today especially that he would just stare at me, and even started attacking my slippers unprovoked.

Can this be treated? It's just the two of them right now until I can find one or two more hens, he used to be very cuddly up until recently. I have always respected their boundaries, so I dont know why this could be happening.
Photo of his weird staring below

I've told my mom that we're probably gonna have to cull or give him to someone else, she doesn't agree with me yet so I'll have to keep convincing her. Thank you all for your replies and the help!