Some folks can get by with petting and coddling a roo and never have a moment of trouble...but most of the posts on here complaining about aggressive roos start out "he was so sweet when he was little and would let me hold him and pet him" or " I have always fed him treats out of my hand, but now...."
That's because they are usually AFRAID of the rooster....they treat him like he's still a baby. He's not a human: chickens have different rules of behavior, but that doesn't mean you can't have a nice rooster, or even a pet rooster!!
Pet your hens but keep your roo at a distance and never let him approach you boldly and directly. I know there are exceptions to every rule but you only have to read the inordinate amount of posts regarding aggressive roo behaviour to realize that these are not cats, bunnies, dogs or any other pet animals.
Also, totally agree: you shouldn't treat your roo like he's just an innocent, bunny, or human or something: he'll almost certainly be mean if you do that, so treat him with respect, but there's no need to keep your distance from him if you want a tame rooster.
Anyways, I wrote a whole long answer on Answers.com, so this is my answer from there, until I have time to edit it more, and add more to it:
Let me just say first that I am speaking from years of experience. I have about a dozen roosters right now, am not afraid of any of them, they are all tame, and even the one "mean" (meaning overly macho) rooster is easy to deal with. Even my 2-year-old niece has been taught "the ways of the rooster", and is totally unafraid of them!
It's actually much easier than most people think. There are very, very few roosters that can't be taught to respect you, but even those rare few truly mean ones can be dealt with easily, even the 'meaner' breeds, such as barred rocks.
Simple steps are: Don't ever be afraid of him, make sure he knows who's boss (without hurting him), and tame him down.
First off, the # 1 step, and the VERY MOST IMPORTANT STEP, is to NOT be afraid of the rooster: if you are, many roosters will simply take advantage of what they see as a weakness. This applies to many different animals too. And as they say with dogs, you don't have to train the dog, just the human. As I said, there are almost no roosters that can't be taught to at least respect you. There are very few feisty ones that will continue to attack, but you should easily be able to deal with them.
Even if you're still afraid of him, don't act like it: DO NOT back off, do NOT run away, don't throw things at him, as that will make him even more mean. It may take some getting used to, but once you really get to know the rooster, you won't be afraid of him anymore.
Step #2 and #3 is to tame your rooster as much as possible. This serves the dual purpose of making him 'know who's boss'. This is much easier when he's very young, and gets harder the older (and more stuck in his ways) he gets, but it's usually doable. Pick him up whenever you can. Then, pet him, rub his wattles, carry him around, etc. It seems to 'humble' them (or just humiliate them!) and show them who the 'bigger rooster' is. It also shows him you're not afraid of him. Feeding him a treat here and there does a TON to make him tamer. Just don't make the mistake of treating him like a total baby: many people do this with their dogs, then are afraid of them. They simply have different 'rules' of behaving, so treating them TOO much like humans usually doesn't work well. Once you're used to him and would never be afraid of him though, you can treat him like as much of a baby as you want!
Whenever a rooster is acting like a bit of a smart-alec, or even makes the slightest move to attack, I pick him up, make a bit of a fool out of him in front of the hens, and sometimes shake him up a bit if he's being a bit mean (without hurting him of course).
If I DO encounter a mean rooster, I have a bit of a 'matador session' with him, sidestepping whenever he tries to attack, then grabbing him. Not saying you have to do this, but once you're used to roosters, it's quite useful, as, again, it makes the rooster respect you, (and is actually quite fun .
If you have kids, make sure you get them used to the roosters so that they're not afraid of them. If the rooster is really untrustworthy, you may even wan to teach the child how to dodge and grab the rooster if he attacks, and supervise them so no one gets hurt. An unstable rooster who's not used to people will attack when he gets the chance, while a well-adjusted rooster will not. Even the well adjusted rooster will sometimes attack if someone is afraid of him, such as if someone runs whenever he makes what they consider to be 'a move to attack them' (most people seem to be afraid that even nice chickens will peck them - I have a friend that was afraid of baby pigeons! ). Of course, don't ever leave a little kid unsupervised with the rooster.
A few people who don't know better might say this is the 'wimps' way to go about it: taming your rooster down and even treating him like a pet, but it's NOT. It's actually recommended by many chicken experts, and by far the best way. If your rooster is afraid of you and you're not afraid of him, that can work, but he'll be scared of you and take any opportunity to attack you when your back is turned. It's much better to get him to actually be tame and even like you. Most of the roosters I have are so tame I can simply walk up to them, pick them up, and pet them, all without ever getting attacked.
As I said, it's much easier than most people think, and if you try, you can have quite a nice rooster, and maybe even a nice pet.
Yes....I know, I know, you may say "but MY rooster is way beyond hope!". I don't think there is ANY rooster beyond hope. Even if he can't be tamed down much, I certainly think (know?) that he CAN be made at least manageable. As I said, it's not the rooster, it's the person. Now that I'm no longer afraid of any rooster, I think "why the HECK was I ever afraid of something that tiny?!?!?!!?"
Even so though, you should always treat your rooster with the proper respect....he may not hurt adults anymore, but roosters often see small children as a threat, or a rival, so you should try to get your kids used to him, and watch him for signs of 'going over to the dark side', in which case you'll have to spend more time working with him.
Good luck, and please, if you have questions for me or anything, don't hesitate to ask. I really hope this helps some of you.
Wow, now I feel like a total smart-alec....sorry.
Just that I really, really, REALLY hate to see nice roosters go just because they're mean (in other words, just going by their instinct).
Hmmm.....maybe I should've created a whole new thread for this, "How to deal with an aggressive rooster"? What do ya think?
