Rooster Management Questions

[rural mouse]

Keen eye. Yes he managed to finagle his way from #3 to #1 and I never saw it coming. He is tough with the hens when he can get to them. When I say he is rough with the hens, he is a neck grabber. He won’t dance, he just rushes in, grabs them by the neck or where ever he can get a bite and tries to mount. He bites hard (he’s bitten me once when I picked him up) and pulls out feathers frequently. He isn’t people aggressive, which I don’t mind much, but his rough handling with the hens is a no no. It wasn’t an issue when he was not allowed to mate much by the former top rooster, but now he’s an issue. I keep them separated most of the day. He’s the rooster in my avatar. Pretty good looking fella, but I do not care for him much at all. I’m concerned a bit about his progeny acting like him. I’m looking at, at least 3 chicks that I think he may have sired. If they’re hens, I’m wondering if they will be flighty like their aunts were.

I was good with how the pecking order was. Any of the other roosters would be ok. I hope that the rooster following the one on his way out doesn’t move up. However it goes, I think things will improve once I eat the problematic rooster.

I have a little gold penciled hamburg rooster. One of his offspring in the 1st batch of chicks was from my brown leghorn hen. This fellow teamed up with an unrelated hatch mate cockerel. The pair of them would grab a hen and have a go while the other stood guard. Then they'd swap places. We sent eggs to a family member with an incubator for a joint hatch. The same day, the pair got into a fight with each other, ranging across the yard, endangering hens and ignoring obstacles.

They both went in the freezer. Fast forward to incubator hatch.

this was one of the cockerels, hatched from one of the EE eggs, from the leghorn mix.

and today, he's current flock king, well mannered, liked by the hens, fine with people. Doesn't care for the previous flock king, but only chases him out of general vicinity. Change over occurred during fall moult with no fight.

Personality can vary dramatically from one generation to another. His grandparents are still part of the flock too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. How likely is it that they will exhibit some of his traits having never met him?

The age old question. How much of behavior is genetic, how much learned. In a fantasy there would be a simple answer but this is reality. Each individual is an individual. With some individuals genetics has a large influence on certain behaviors. With other individuals learning could be the significant impact.

A couple of stories. Years ago on this forum a gentleman had a rooster that had been great with his hens and was not the least bit human aggressive. Then one day that rooster started attacking the man's 5-year-old son. If that rooster saw the boy a long distance away he would attack. A total change of behavior. It turned out that man thought it was cute the way the boy was chasing the hens around. The boy was having so much fun. But the rooster saw that as a threat to his hens and changed his behavior. Genetically the rooster was keyed to protect his flock. Most of us consider that a good thing but not when he learns that protecting his flock means attacking a child.

Rhode Island Reds have a reputation on this forum with some people for being aggressive, either to humans or to other chickens. One gentleman on here bred RIR's for show. It pained him to read some of those posts. His RIR's did not act that way. He purposely bred them with behaviors in mind. Certain behaviors were not allowed to breed. He also knew how to handle them so he did not teach them to be aggressive to humans.

I’m concerned a bit about his progeny acting like him. I’m looking at, at least 3 chicks that I think he may have sired. If they’re hens, I’m wondering if they will be flighty like their aunts were.

They might be, they might not. The only way to find out is to try. I know I say this a lot but you really do not get guarantees with chickens and their behaviors. Anything can happen.

2. I spoke with the breeder about replacing some chickens that I lost. She says she has more of his breed. The two hens I had like him were flighty and were both killed. I’m under the impression that the parents of these birds are not the type of birds I’m looking for. On top of that I think they all have the same parents. Can you share some specific questions that you think I can ask the breeder about this line without offending her?

Three chickens is not a strongly statistically significant number but it is all you have to go by. If I got three chickens from a specific source that all had a physical fault, cross beaked or curled toes for example, I would not get any more of that breed from that source. Obviously you really want some of that breed. I'd consider a different source. But to answer your question, I'd explain what my issues were and see what she has to say.

IHe stopped doing it when he was repeatedly chased off my the first male.

Kind of sounds like learned behavior, doesn't it. I wonder how many cockerels lose their lives each year because of something like this?

 

[redinator]

Kind of sounds like learned behavior, doesn't it. I wonder how many cockerels lose their lives each year because of something like this?

Neither of my males are human aggressive, so I had no 'good' reason to cull the second other than his behavior towards the girls.

Adding the divider fence was a bit of a test to see if the second male's behavior would change if he had access to the girls without constantly being chased and pummeled by the first male.

It took a few weeks for him to settle down, but now he courts the girls rather than forces them into submission in a hit and run fashion.

It also isn't a set group of girls. When I open the divider gate whichever ladies (6-7) choose to follow him out are his for the day.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Ridgerunner Well I have my eye on a few of Hawk’s offspring. I’m not so keen on that variety, but their white color helps in this heat. And 3 is a small sample size, but that is all I bought from her along with my BCMs. The BCMs turned out to be good looking and laying birds to me.

I like RIRs. My first flock was a small group of reds. I realize that you were addressing another member, but I am particularly fond of an aggressive rooster, or most male animals. As long as they don’t pose a lethal threat to humans, I can deal with it. Aggressive bulls with whom I’m not well acquainted make me nervous, but I have effectively dealt with a couple of them.

When it comes to roosters, I prefer aggressive over docile. My aggressive boy tried to sneak me this morning. I know his habits, so I know what to expect from him most days. I think he is really good for the flock. I’ve seen him stand up to predators and he backed down a good sized dog. He’s been humbled some, but he still has some spunk in him. Roosters that run and won’t stand their ground can’t stay here long. A balanced personality is most desirable, but aggressive is not bad. I prefer that an aggressive rooster is aggressive towards everything, but hens. The ones that will consistently attack me and don’t abide by verbal commands or fussing have to go too.