Rooster problems!

[KateR]

Long story but Ill try and make it quick, I have 37 hens and 3 roosters. My buckeye rooster is great, my americana is new hes been in a cage inside the coop for the last 6 days till he gets used to everything. My road island red rooster nicknamed "Mean Jean" is my orginal roo and he was fine for the first 6 months hes good to the hens and him and my buckeye roo get along fine but for the last 4 months he has attack me multiple times. Yesterday was my final straw he attacked me after I feed everyone and I was waking outta the coop he ran in the coop flogged me in my right knee I fell to the ground and he proceeded to flog me 3 times in the back of the head! He finally walked away and now I'm all black n blue. So that night I took the Americana out of cage and put mean jean in. This morning I let them out and my Americana is all beat up and bleeding my buck eye roo is now chasing him around the yard and not letting him eat. Pleaae tell me this will sort itself out once the get rank established?

 

[Chicken Momma T]

I have a polish rooster that is very mean, we bought him at an auction. He seemed dossel until we got him home, he killed one of our silkie girls and beat the crap and bloodied of our other sweet rooster. We have another rooster we call big boy. But he never messed with him. The mean polish is in a cage now, we haven't let him out for a week. Hoping he will settle down. He's pacing, I think he's wanting out, but I'm afraid to take a chance on him killing anymore of our chickens. Can u help me? I would love some ideas!

 

[KateR]

I've only been raising chicks for a little over a year and I've never had a roo kill a hen but if I did the rooster would be Sunday dinner. Mean Jean my road island red only attacks me and I've tried working with him for several weeks kept him in rooster jail for 9 days once and he attacked me again the same day I finally let him out. But in your case id cull him and move on no sense in losing good hens over a problem rooster.

 

[Chicken Momma T]

Well we don't eat our chickens. That's our problem as well. I can't go there mentally. They are pets n for eggs. I honestly think he was a fighting rooster. He has 2 inch spurs. I am not sure what to do.

 

[KateR]

I know what u mean we don't eat ours either love them too much even if hes really mean. What I'm doing with mine is keeping him locked up till June when I can sell him at auction. You said u bought him at auction sell him.

 

[tinah]

Keeping an animal locked up for 6 weeks is not an act of compassion.

 

[VT Chick]

I used to have a RIR rooster that started out very sweet. Sometime around the 6 month mark, he became very aggressive and my son used to carry a tennis racket with him when he went out to collect eggs or tend to the coop because the rooster would constantly attack him. Even though it really irritated us all, we kept giving Dixon a break because after all, he was just doing what "roosters do". One of my sweet little EE's was completely bald because of Dixon's "attention" and still...we kept him because "that's what roosters do". One day Dixon knocked my son to the ground and the next day he attacked me so bad that it was hard to walk back to the house afterwards. As hard as it was, I captured him and locked him up in the dog crate while I tried to rehome him to someone who did not have children and could deal with an aggressive rooster. Sadly, no one wanted him and my husband sent Dixon to "birdie heaven". Even after all of the bad behavior, my son was very sad and insisted that we give Dixon a proper burial (which we did). We now have 8 new chicks that will be joining our two hens this summer and I am hoping that at least one of them is a rooster that will be calm and most of all, friendly with us. This was a very hard lesson for us, as much as we were attached to the boy, aggressive behavior just cannot be tolerated. I was wondering if Helen and Athena (our two hens) would miss him but to be honest, they are much friendlier now. Athena's feathers are growing back nicely and in general, it is so much easier now to tend to the girls. My advice for what it's worth is to at least keep them long enough to try and see which one is compatible with your flock and family and then try to find nice homes for the rest.

 

[Chicken Momma T]

Thanks, he may go back to the auction, I just hate to think of someone killing him.

 

[Meanstreak]

I swore I thought I read on here about someone carrying the mean roo around with them while doing other chores. Restraining them under an arm and going on one handed with a roo under the other arm. I think I might research the other threads before attempting that though. Might be nasty if I'm referring to a different post.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Rhode Island Red roos are famous for being mean. I haven't tried the breed, because I read all the mean rooster stories. Now that doesn't mean all RIR roos are mean, but there are a lot of people who have mentioned it. There are a lot of RIR lovers out there- maybe some of them can chime in.

I did have a terribly mean roo of another breed (Wyandotte), who drew blood on my youngest child and tried to kill me. My DH put him down and we were so sad to have to do that. We treat our chickens as pets.

If a roo has gotten to the point of flogging you, I'd say he is beyond the point where you should try to rehabilitate him, in my opinion. I worry about eyes, especially- he can whop you so fast and catch you off guard. Also, you don't want to breed his mean genetics into your flock for future generations.

You might try another breed of rooster to see if you have a nicer one.

We have a young Buff Orp. roo right now who I have pinned high hopes on of being a nice boy. So far so good.

Brahma and Cochin roosters have the reputation for being nice. Of course in a breed there is the range of nice to mean roos, but in general those breeds have that reputation. I think I read good things about Speckled Sussex roos as well...there have been threads about rooster temperament if you wish to search for them.