Rooster Psychologist Needed!!

[bobbi-j]

I also agree. Where I differ with most is how that rooster got to that point in the first place.

Just to clarify - your opinion is that cockerels/roosters become aggressive because of how they are raised? I don’t necessarily disagree with that, either.

 

[bobbi-j]

OK - I went back to page 1 and read again. I will respectfully disagree that the rooster is in charge and not me. It’s my flock and my space. He can be the flock leader and do all the things that entails. But if I want to walk among the hens or pick one up for some reason or another (which I rarely do), I will do so and he won’t challenge me. That’s a good rooster in my opinion.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have not had a problem w/roosters. I enjoy them, but they always defer to me. Once a bird knows his place he is happy. I do have some hens who challenge me, Kato- a spitzenhauben, and Assassin, a silver penciled rock, partly is for attention, and sometimes they get jealous, I had one LO hen sharpen her beak on my butt today when I squatted to set down a waterer. She wanted me to "notice" her ... I did.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have 2 rooster that are young, 10 weeks or so, They give me "love bites" I pet their chests... I will see if they get mean. RIR names are Tikal (small comb) and Tabasco (big comb).

 

[roosterhavoc]

OK - I went back to page 1 and read again. I will respectfully disagree that the rooster is in charge and not me. It’s my flock and my space. He can be the flock leader and do all the things that entails. But if I want to walk among the hens or pick one up for some reason or another (which I rarely do), I will do so and he won’t challenge me. That’s a good rooster in my opinion.

No you’re still missing the point. He *thinks* he’s in charge. You still can go pick up hens as most people should to look them over from time to time. You are the human of course you’re actually running the show unless somehow the rooster brings the feed bucket?
We can just agree to disagree. For anyone else if you have to constantly kill roosters because they’re mean you might take a look at how you do things.

 

[roosterhavoc]

If a rooster is attacking the owner they have given him a reason to feel threatened by their presence.

 

[Geena]

Seems to me the reason these rooster threads become so contentious is because there just isn't any one size fits all best way to deal with cockerels/roosters.

There are show, game, pet, production and hatchery bred birds, with completely different temperaments depending on how carefully they are bred.

Birds that weigh anywhere from 2 to 20 lbs, some that can REALLY hurt you, the others not so much.

We have roosters housed by themselves, in small breeding groups, in tiny TSC coops, in spacious pens or pastures and free range.

They might have 2 hens or 200 hens to themselves, they may be the only rooster or there are lots of different roosters and cockerels, pullets and hens around. Some have plenty of room, others are all crammed together.

Some are babied and snuggled with and handfed from the day they are hatched, others come up hardscrabble getting their butts kicked everyday by other birds and/or humans, having to fight for their food and position from day one. Then there are the lucky ones that get to grow up just being chickens in a plentiful, stable environment.

All these birds come from a different place and have vastly different attitudes based on how they were bred and raised up. What works for one rooster, might not work at all for another rooster in a different situation.

IMO the main thing to keep in mind when dealing with cockerels is that there's not so much going on in those tiny little brains as some people seem to think there is. They didn't suddenly turn on you, they're not plotting against or out to get you, they don't hate or love you, for the most part they aren't even thinking about much of anything, they are just acting on instinct.

No need to get your feelings hurt, wage war against them, or institute any elaborate training programs. Let them be a rooster and do what roosters do, if for whatever reason they become dangerous to humans or other animals, eliminate them, no muss, no fuss.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Seems to me the reason these rooster threads become so contentious is because there just isn't any one size fits all best way to deal with cockerels/roosters.

There are show, game, pet, production and hatchery bred birds, with completely different temperaments depending on how carefully they are bred.

Birds that weigh anywhere from 2 to 20 lbs, some that can REALLY hurt you, the others not so much.

We have roosters housed by themselves, in small breeding groups, in tiny TSC coops, in spacious pens or pastures and free range.

They might have 2 hens or 200 hens to themselves, they may be the only rooster or there are lots of different roosters and cockerels, pullets and hens around. Some have plenty of room, others are all crammed together.

Some are babied and snuggled with and handfed from the day they are hatched, others come up hardscrabble getting their butts kicked everyday by other birds and/or humans, having to fight for their food and position from day one. Then there are the lucky ones that get to grow up just being chickens in a plentiful, stable environment.

All these birds come from a different place and have vastly different attitudes based on how they were bred and raised up. What works for one rooster, might not work at all for another rooster in a different situation.

IMO the main thing to keep in mind when dealing with cockerels is that there's not so much going on in those tiny little brains as some people seem to think there is. They didn't suddenly turn on you, they're not plotting against or out to get you, they don't hate or love you, for the most part they aren't even thinking about much of anything, they are just acting on instinct.

No need to get your feelings hurt, wage war against them, or institute any elaborate training programs. Let them be a rooster and do what roosters do, if for whatever reason they become dangerous to humans or other animals, eliminate them, no muss, no fuss.

I totally agree. I do believe a lot of problems are caused by the way they’re kept and raised. Not so much anyone is doing something wrong but they’re inadvertently making things more stressful for the cockerels.
In the end for an owner to pick the gentle rooster over the other two that are aggressive is the smart choice. What I’m saying is more than likely all 3 would have been fine if solo. The dynamic is changed based on how many birds and especially multiple roosters.
The easy answer is to cull the mean ones and keep/breed the more manageable roosters. My problem is nobody ever goes into why there’s so many issues it’s always just get rid of the mean one. That kinda goes without saying. Nobody wants to get lit up constantly by a rooster that can hurt you.
I would think people would try to find out why it happens instead of eh just kill em.

 

[Geena]

I would think people would try to find out why it happens instead of eh just kill em.

For sure, but then they'd have to examine themselves and question why they feel the need to be so over involved in their chicken's lives or have 50 chickens crammed into a pen/coop suitable for 10 at the very most because they LOVE chickens.
You see the same sort of thing with dogs, cats, horses, pretty much any other animal that people keep. The owner is most often the problem and the animal suffers for it. As Aart said, it's usually the keepers that need a psychologist, lol.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Hello-
Need help understanding my rooster's behavior. I hatched this handsome guy, hand fed him, held him and have been around him every single day. He is 28 weeks old and was introduced into my larger flock of 20 hens and one older rooster about 3 months ago. He is definitely rooster number two and gets chased/shooed away by the older rooster but the pen is massive and they have heaps of room. Very stress-free area. We are in Hawaii so year round warm weather. Anyway, today I did the usual. Fed everyone and started cutting open some papayas. I feed many of the hens by hand then place the papaya down in front of them. As I turned my back to get another papaya my rooster lunged at the back of my legs I guess (I didn't see it but felt it). I turned around and he was standing there. My instinct was to posture back to let him know I am the boss so I charged at him and he ran off. WHY on earth would he attack me? This has never ever happened and I am in shock. Advice welcomed and appreciated!

How is your rooster now?