Rooster starting to get aggressive

[ChickyWhicky]

Dirtbag roosters go in the freezer. No reason to risk your safety.
Can he be "trained" or age out of it, maybe. Sometimes they are just plain mean and no technique or method breaks it. Your choices are to try to cope and wait it out (maybe try the taming methods at your own risk) or cull him. No sense in rehomimg a safety hazard. Good luck!

 

[LaFleche]

This often happens when chicks that were raised by humans become hormonal and see their human caretakers as equals and in case of attacking them as a rival to their pullets attention.

All the good intentioned advice regarding the taming and rehabilitation of human aggressive males will rarely work in case the bird in question was raised by humans from day old chick with no adult birds around to teach them manners. Their hormonally inundated brain will not rewire just because we want it to.

With you being new chicken owners, I would advise to invite him to dinner. Aggressive cockerels taste best.

You rarely ever see a cockerel that was raised by a momma hen in a multigenerational flock attack their human caretakers.

 

[Tired old Rooster]

First off clothing. Always wear sturdy footwear and trousers. For heavens sake not flip flops or open toed sandals, or even your hens will be teaching you how to tap dance.

Running away is a huge no no, because you just got owned. (sturdy clothes negate that need).

He is a tyke who is just starting to get hormonal. You need to set the relationship with him. Remember, they are HIS hens, not yours. He is the boss of the flock and you are that big thing that brings him tasty stuff he can bribe hens with. remember, bribery usually works better than coercion.

You also need to be patient. As he grows up, many changes will happen and he will likely calm down.

If at a year old, he is still trouble, I hear that year old roosters are extra tasty, so not all is lost. If he washes out, let the hens get to adulthood and try again with a young cockerel that the older hens can set on the right path.

 

[LaFleche]

Maybe look into @Shadrach 's article as well: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

With Rhode Island reds it depends on the rooster. I had two that were aggressive but I have one right now he is 3 years old and he loves himself some cuddles and loves to be petted and follow me around - but when you buy Rhode Island Red roosters from a hatchery they say most are aggressive.

 

[Bananabread]

An aggressive rooster will completely sap the fun out of your experience and your families and possibly compromise your relationship with all of the chickens. I recommend salt and pepper

 

[ssferret]

Apparently there are as many different ways to try to tame roosters.

Here's an article by Bitchin' Chickens that helped me.

This article talks about why a rooster most likely becomes a "bully" when interacting with people. In my case I actually tried this on a rooster that had what you could say was the opposite problem. He was aggressive to his girls but not people. I couldn't believe this actually worked.

 

[SE_Gardener]

I keep two breeding flocks and everyone gets along. I've only had two roosters that met the processing cones in nearly 10 yrs. I hatch 40-50+ eggs per year but don't really dawdle over the chicks. I do handle them when I weigh each week and make it a point to be slow and deliberative avoiding sudden movements. I do speak to them training them to my voice and do call them at each feeding For those chicks that are blended back into the breeding flock I don't spend a lot of time with the chickens, they are not pets but harvestable eggs and raise for meat. Both roosters were handled/treated the same as others but around the 20week point hormones start to build and breeding the hens becomes a priority for the rooster. The most recent rooster (last year) was quite friendly as a cockrel but it was like a switch that went off and he was constantly flapping his wings to let me know he was in charge. I never turn my back on a rooster but if I did, he would have charged me. I live in the south and heat/humidity make for two rounds of mites so dusting is a routine - no chicken likes being dusted. I separate the hens in two small groups and bring one group out of the run into a small narrow temp fenced area to free range and use a couple wire panels to herd the hens to one end and one by one I dust them and then return them to their pens one at a time. Typically it's no big deal. There's always a cry baby hen in the bunch and that set the rooster off. When I returned with that hen to her pen, the rooster charged me. He became human aggressive when his protective instinct got out of line. His aggressiveness continued unto I was not able to enter the pen. He then began bullying the rooster in the next pen - I had to put up a 3ft high privacy screen between the pens. That rooster simply became disruptive to both breed flocks, egg product was impacted as well. At that point I waited till 11:00 pm went into the coop with a flashlight and removed him. I kept him overnight in a wire dog crate and processed him the next morning. I won't tolerate an aggressive rooster. I know people claim to "train" them, but once a rooster comes at you and flies at you with claws held straight out, there's no de-escalating that behavior. In my experience the short period those two roosters' behaviors escalated and pushed me to dispatch then, there was impact on the hens which requires extra effort to regain their trust. unless you're breeding, I encourage flock owners to not own a rooster. Chicks are too easy to access and the hens are much more docile without the rooster constantly wanting to mount them.

 

[Newchickenmama1723]

I am a new chicken owner and my chickens are 20 weeks. We have 1 rooster and 5 hens. (all same age). 3 of our hens just started laying and we let our chickens free range the yard when we can so they don't feel cooped up in the run (they always try to escape lol).
Yesterday, I was calling them to go back to the run since it was getting late and I couldn't be out with them and they all started following me (rooster in front as always) and while I was walking to came up right on my leg. It didn't hurt but I got scared/startled. Then I was like hey! And moved away from him and he came at me agai more aggressive and started pecking at my shoe and then I freaked out and ran away and he started chasing me
So I stop cause who's bigger yenno? And he stopped and we just stared at each other. Lol so then I got my husband and our rooster attacked him twice and kept leading the girls away. Finally I went back out and was able to get them all in but it took alot of work and treats....
Can I expect him to continue to be more and more aggressive? Is this normal? How can I get him to stop or what should I do?
I've noticed the chicken at the bottom of the pecking order is soooo timid all of a sudden and is quite smaller than the others, can this be from the roosters behavior?

I am going through almost the exact same thing. My chickens are six months old roughly, and they’ve been laying eggs for about two months now. My rooster has tried to attack everyone but me… Until today. I had been out of town for like 10 days, I also had brightly colored shoes on which I usually don’t. But I have raised these chicks since they were one day old, and he never tried that with me, and it did startle me. A couple of times when it was real cold and I was bundled up head to toe, he acted like he was gonna do something to me but as soon as I said “Henry!“ He was like oh, that’s her and didn’t do anything. Today he snuck up on me in the backyard and tried to flap and kick me, and I ended up having to throw an empty milk jug at him to get him to quit. When he finally left me alone, I backed away into the house and just in the short amount of time that I turned around to walk in the door, he flew up the back steps and was trying to come in the house and attack me! I don’t know what to do about this. I do not want an aggressive rooster. I have a two-year-old a four-year-old and an eight-year-old and a whole host of cousins that come over. None of them wanna go outside or come over because of the damn rooster. Any help is appreciated. On a sidenote, four of my girl hens got killed. That’s when this behavior started. I know he’s just doing his job, but I don’t know how to make him stop. I’m a new chicken owner as well. My husband ordered these chickens without doing any research and then told me the day of delivery that we were getting chicken so I’m learning as I go. Is it too late to train him and what do I do? He doesn’t have any big long spurs or anything yet, it’s mostly more scary than anything. He has scratched my daughter threw her pants, but it didn’t draw blood, but I just don’t know what to do. Do I need to get rid of him? We are currently incubating eggs And then also if they are roosters, what am I supposed to do about that? Sorry for the long post I just don’t know what to do.

 

[NorthernHomestead]

*mental note* Never get a RIR.

Read this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/need-rooster-advice.1652427/

Keep your young children away, it's not a fair fight. Young chickens have more new hormones. That said, read my notes in that thread and see if it helps.

He's an *animal* with basic animal instincts for survival. Lay down some animal rules until he matures. If he can't learn your pecking order, he's done. Sadly, get a new roo. Buff Orps seem to be much calmer/smarter.

Not trying to sound uber chicken smart; I got lucky. The first chicken that hit all my checks last year on the Tractor Supply website was Buff Orps. RIRs were third on the list. I just lucked out.