Rooster Question

[ClareScifi]

No, rehoming him is not an option. I will not go through that trauma again. No way. I don't send my loved ones to the stew pot. :>)

I don't want another rooster. There will not be a next run.

I am responsible for this rooster for life, and he is happy with his hens, and they like him. He's very gentle with them, chivalrous, even. I can tell that they are all very happy. So how can I best make this work? Try to let him drive me off but not let him do so? Maybe I gave up on this approach too soon, earlier? I am not nearly as persistent and perseverant as he is. :>)

No one is going to take him, anyway, with his man-fighting personality, unless they plan to kill him, and I won't allow that. I have to work with the situation as it is.

What do you mean by at least one party would be happier? You think he'd be happier dead? I don't think so at all. He enjoys his hens and his food very much, and he likes me to rub his chest through the mesh, by poking a finger into it.

 

[centrarchid]

No, rehoming him is not an option. I will not go through that trauma again. No way. I don't send my loved ones to the stew pot. :>)

I don't want another rooster. There will not be a next run.

I am responsible for this rooster for life, and he is happy with his hens, and they like him. He's very gentle with them, chivalrous, even. I can tell that they are all very happy. So how can I best make this work? Try to let him drive me off but not let him do so? Maybe I gave up on this approach too soon, earlier? I am not nearly as persistent and perseverant as he is. :>)

No one is going to take him, anyway, with his man-fighting personality, unless they plan to kill him, and I won't allow that. I have to work with the situation as it is.

What do you mean by at least one party would be happier? You think he'd be happier dead? I don't think so at all. He enjoys his hens and his food very much, and he likes me to rub his chest through the mesh, by poking a finger into it.

Bird is causing you stress with present pattern of interactions. You could look into tethering him when he is out and about so he can interact with hens but will not be able to get to you unless you allow it. System is kind of like using a leash on dog. It is my preference to using a pen that allows bird to do more foraging, especially for greens.

 

[ClareScifi]

What a great idea, Centarchid. Now that's a solution I can live with. I didn't know it was possible to tether chickens.

Frankly, I have had a lot of stress my entire life. I think I have an anxiety disorder, from my brother dying when I was 5, and seeing my parents grieve the death of their only son (lots of tears), and then my own similar loss later in life. I'm 52, so I've weathered this sort of thing for many years now. I am a melancholic personality, which is that of writers, artists, musicians.

Also, it's a good thing I'm a masochistic personality, too. I don't get very riled/ruffled by the rooster's behavior. I am not a hothead, and I am a very patient person. Lucky for Baby! :>) I'm not sure where my pain tolerance falls on the scale. Probably pretty good pain tolerance, but his pecks have made me squeal. That's the worst part, I think-- the physical pain. But I don't have to deal with that in my current approach of keeping apart from my rooster.

So this rooster stress is VERY Minor, compared to the other stresses in life I have endured. If anything, this rooster adds great fun and excitement to my life. I love him. I'm used to being surrounded by perfect people, superbly well mannered and behaved folks, and his bad boy ways are a little teeny bit refreshing. LOL And challenging, to say the least. I guess it's like the good girl marrying the bad boy? Opposites attract?

 

[katescountryfarm]

We had a rooster that I hand raised from a 3 day old chick. I handled him daily until he started to crow. He became VERY aggressive. "Roo" ended up spurring me so bad he scratched my leg bone. after that I decided he had to go before he hurt my kids or anyone else. We culled him at 18 months. It was very emotional for me since I viewed him as a pet. I don't think they grow out of it. We now have a Sultan roo that has been doing sneak attacks at 20 weeks

 

[ClareScifi]

I have heard many similar stories, Katescountryfarm. Thanks for sharing this with me. It seems to be a common problem with the hand-raised roos. Who would have thought? Just my luck that my hatchling turned out to be a boy. I guess hand-raised hens don't have these problems?

Gosh! Scratching your leg bone. That is pretty severe.

I hope my chicken babysitter fares okay while I am gone. I have warned him about my Baby and how he has to make sure the rooster is confined to the run before he collects eggs and cleans out poop. I'm pretty sure he understands how badly he might get hurt. I hope he doesn't get mixed up and forget to shut the sliding door.

I hope he secures the fence tightly. I will reemphasize this before I leave. He seems conscientious.

I can't imagine how awful it would be to have to cull your baby like that. But if you have kids, they would have to come first. Luckily, I don't have kids.

I'm thinking that as big a pain as it is, maybe I should make sure the padlock on the run is locked. A child might sneak up and open the door to the run sometime. It hasn't been a problem, but it could happen...Someone could cut the mesh with wire cutters, and he could get out that way or a terrible windstorm might detach the staples and leave it open. I must warn the babysitter of all these eventual possibilities and have him keep a keen eye out for trouble.

 

[keesmom]

I have yet to feel sorry for culling a human aggressive rooster. I only keep ones smart enough to leave their handler alone.

I've got one now that sealed his fate this morning, when he went for my face. So you may want to watch for more than attacks on your legs.

 

[centrarchid]

I have heard many similar stories, Katescountryfarm. Thanks for sharing this with me. It seems to be a common problem with the hand-raised roos. Who would have thought? Just my luck that my hatchling turned out to be a boy. I guess hand-raised hens don't have these problems?

Gosh! Scratching your leg bone. That is pretty severe.

I hope my chicken babysitter fares okay while I am gone. I have warned him about my Baby and how he has to make sure the rooster is confined to the run before he collects eggs and cleans out poop. I'm pretty sure he understands how badly he might get hurt. I hope he doesn't get mixed up and forget to shut the sliding door.

I hope he secures the fence tightly. I will reemphasize this before I leave. He seems conscientious.

I can't imagine how awful it would be to have to cull your baby like that. But if you have kids, they would have to come first. Luckily, I don't have kids.

I'm thinking that as big a pain as it is, maybe I should make sure the padlock on the run is locked. A child might sneak up and open the door to the run sometime. It hasn't been a problem, but it could happen...Someone could cut the mesh with wire cutters, and he could get out that way or a terrible windstorm might detach the staples and leave it open. I must warn the babysitter of all these eventual possibilities and have him keep a keen eye out for trouble.

I hand raise enough to say decidely your conclusion is invalid. Your handling technique as a whole needs to be revisited so that you can actually have people friendly birds interacting with you. Bird has been spoiled rotten. Both you and bird need to change habits, just like with spoiled children and parents. It can be done even though concept of it likely hurts more than actual process.

 

[katescountryfarm]

We have a total of 7 roosters and plenty of hens....I think he was just a mean Roo. I have never had one that bad before.

I think everyone needs to remember they are still animals not humans.

 

[ClareScifi]

No, I wouldn't say I spoiled him at all. Just gave him good care and love. Maybe that IS spoiling a rooster. I don't know. He was an only child, so to speak.

Strange that Katescountryfarm and I had such similar experiences, as have many other hand-raisers of roos. Yes, perhaps it is the technique of excess TLC that causes hand-raised roosters to "go bad?" Maybe that does spoil them, like you say. At any rate, those are the roosters I am not talking about, not the type that you have hand-raised with the different technique.

Goggles. I will invest in a good pair of goggles. Thanks for the great tip, keesmom! :>) At least I have a birthday wish list, now.

Clare, looking on the bright side

 

[ClareScifi]

Did you hand-raise any of your other 7 roosters, Katesfarm?