Rooster Training Advice

[Chickassan]

Actually he sees you as mom, they tend to try their man moves on her or their hatch mates.
It is one of the weirder unintended consequences of a trusting relationship with your rooster, he starts to think you're easy.

Roosters sure are interesting. Mine was rushing up over the past week when I was wrangling chicks (rehoming them) to see why they were hollering so much. I figured he was backing off once her saw me because he knew I wasn't hurting them, but today he tried to mate with my leg, so I guess he just thinks I'm one of his hens lol

 

[FowlWitch]

Actually he sees you as mom, they tend to try their man moves on her or their hatch mates.
It is one of the weirder unintended consequences of a trusting relationship with your rooster, he starts to think you're easy.

I rescued him from being snake food when he was somewhere around 4 or 5 weeks old. He was my only chick for a week or two and then only had my 3 hens for company. It makes sense that he's think I was his mom lol

 

[Chickassan]

I remember him! Oh my goodness I bet that is a funny sight lol.
How is he doing?

I rescued him from being snake food when he was somewhere around 4 or 5 weeks old. He was my only chick for a week or two and then only had my 3 hens for company. It makes sense that he's think I was his mom lol

 

[FowlWitch]

I remember him! Oh my goodness I bet that is a funny sight lol.
How is he doing?

He's doing so well! I absolutely love the little guy. He's very gentle but stern, so I let him teach my chicks manners. I plan on breeding him if I can get some more bantams to hatch; I tried the EE eggs I thought he may have fertilized, but nothing developed.

 

[aart]

ersonally, I find that my roosters do still come investigate when I pick up a hen. Their behaviour does not read as aggression to me, it's concern about their hens. I ignore it or perhaps move into him a step (or maybe just lean towards him) to switch his interest away from the fact I have a hen. It's very subtle movement. Not confrontational at all

This^^^

I handle my birds just enough for them to know they 'won't die' if I touch them.
I handle females more than males, but the males learn 'noone will die' and will come up to investigate a females squawking then relax as soon as they see their girl is in good hands.

One of the best examples was when I picked up a pullet and she made a huge fuss, Woody came racing into the coop and literally slid to stop when he saw it was just me.

The subtle and confident movements and a calm voice really helps when 'training' and handling birds of either gender.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-viewpoint-on-keeping-roosters.74690/
In case you're not confused enough already, here's the post I wrote up for someone else that wanted some input on their cockerel.

Haven't read this in it's entirety, but @BantyChooks has always had pragmatic views filled with copious common sense.

 

[BantyChooks]

One of the best examples was when I picked up a pullet and she made a huge fuss, Woody came racing into the coop and literally slid to stop when he saw it was just me.

Exactly. This is how my mature cock birds behave. It amuses me to see them recalculating their original thought of the situation and then sheepishly wander away.

 

[aart]

Exactly. This is how my mature cock birds behave. It amuses me to see them recalculating their original thought of the situation and then sheepishly wander away.

I Know, Right!?
He cocked his head at me with a bit of stink eye,
and I swear shook his head(not really) as he walked back out of the coop.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Exactly. This is how my mature cock birds behave. It amuses me to see them recalculating their original thought of the situation and then sheepishly wander away.

@aart @BantyChooks ok this convo makes me feel better. I was considering rehoming him and assuming I couldn’t handle a rooster right now if he’s going to attack me, but he’s only just started acting this way. Maybe I can regain his trust and not let him see other people picking up hens. Should I still hand feed him? Should I continue to casually pick up non-fussy hens? Or lay off of that for a while? Should I let him mate in front of me?

If he does jump at me what method of punishment should I use?

 

[centrarchid]

@aart @BantyChooks ok this convo makes me feel better. I was considering rehoming him and assuming I couldn’t handle a rooster right now if he’s going to attack me, but he’s only just started acting this way. Maybe I can regain his trust and not let him see other people picking up hens. Should I still hand feed him? Should I continue to casually pick up non-fussy hens? Or lay off of that for a while? Should I let him mate in front of me?

If he does jump at me what method of punishment should I use?

Is there a purpose for having the hens handled by other people?

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Anyone that dispenses information from this point of view is someone to listen to.... about anything they’re willing to talk about

Chicken keeping, gardening, hay cutting, raising cattle, bee keeping, and on an on... there are too many variables for definitive answers to most of the questions...

...there are best practices to follow and then there is personal observation related from experienced folks... that’ll get us through 95% of anything...

The folks that provide the best information in these types of pursuits always seem to recognize that while their own experience might provide value to others, there are too many variables to suggest that their experience is an exact answer for another person, at a different time, under different conditions... and so they seldom push their experience as a definitive.

In contrast to BantyChook’s well measured perspective... I was talking to a fella the other day about the hay season... and so much of what he had to say was, “this is the way you gotta do it...” and “...those other folks got it all wrong”...

... it was clear to me that he really didn’t know what he was talking about, not because of what he said, but just because of how he said it.

In any case, well done BantyChooks!

(Edited out some typos that made a couple sentence nearly unreadable... yikes!)