Rooster troubles!

[Kikiriki]

i haven't been there, done that yet.  my roo is 6 wks old.  i'm thinking about this quite a bit.  my first tactic is going to act like they do.  i see them mock challenge each other alot.  sometimes they get physical.  sorting out the pecking order & all that.  i'm going to use whatever is at hand to back him up & not turn my back on him.  if i have to take a broom into the run with me, so be it.
i'm going to back him up even when he's minding his own business - just like they do each other.  i'm going to make some kind of dominant posture toward him every time i go in the run to remind him that his pecking order isn't at the top. i'll nudge him off the feeder/waterer, off his perch, make him move.
if he comes at me, i'm going to over-react, make big noise, throw my arms big & wide, make a big deal out of it & make it an unpleasant experience for him.
i think in the animal world, running is the worst thing you can do - it reinforces the behavior, and don't turn your back - face him off.

their brains have limited storage space, so i figure they need frequent reminder of who's boss.
i'm probably going to be eating my words  - but that's the plan at the moment.

You painted some very interesting mental pictures! I cant wait to hear how this turns out for you... And video would really nice, too!

 

[ldutch123]

Well, you may not be able to. A docile rooster may not be so docile when another one is in his territory. In fact, I would never try that without putting in a youngster to "sneak" him into the main flock and hope the guy in charge will think of him as a kid and treat him as such, then let him grow into the flock position as an underling. I personally would never put a mature rooster in with another mature rooster.

I'm about to intro the son of my main flock rooster in about 3 weeks. He'll be 12 weeks old and I hope Dad will accept him. If not, then will have to rehome him.

The roo I want to introduce is about 14 weeks old. I have 35 girls in with my one tophat roo now and wanted to introduce the EE roo

 

[speckledhen]

Well, he's a teenager, then, so it could work. Really, it depends on the rooster in charge.

 

[ldutch123]

When I let him out to run with all the girls he acts all scared and that makes the girls attack him. They have seen him for 3 weeks now in a segregated area in the coop. I just don't know what to do anymore. It doesn't seem like Floyd (tophat) even notices him. But my girls are mean

 

[speckledhen]

The adult hens will be mean-there is no getting around that; it's the nature of pecking order. Eventually, he will start feeling his hormones kick in and they will be the ones running from him.

 

[ldutch123]

Oh he has his hormones. He poor EE girls that r with him hate him. They sqwack and fly into the other area with the tophats and silkies that they grew up with. The last time I introduced was with 26 hens to 11 hens and one roo. It went pretty smooth because the newbies had the numbers lol

I would ideally like if my silkies and tophats and laying girls could all free range together. I just don't know if I want to embark on that though because my ffrizzles are bantams And I'm worried they are still really small.

My only experience with Roos is Floyd and he is a big sissy. But all the girls are cool with him. Then again he has a lot of girls to spread around his hormones so they don't get over humped lol

 

[OnceAroundTheBlock]

I just re-homed a flogging 7 mo. old mutt rooster today! I've been having trouble with him flogging me ever since he figured out what a rooster is supposed to do.

I tried all of the suggested attitude adjustments but they would only work once or twice. Today he flogged me while I had my back turned cleaning out their waterer and when I slowly walked towards him, he stood his ground this time and jumped up and flogged me in my face just missing my eye.

I think the main problem with him was genetic, his father was a hateful rooster that my daughter owned until he met his fate and was recently found dead in their pasture one morning.

The little bugger, glad to be rid of him. My daughter has him at her place, with her other 2 roosters who will put him back in his place REAL soon!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Lots of good advice on this thread. Thank you. I was wondering if occasional handling of a non-aggressive cockerel might prevent aggression toward people later on. I have a "was-supposed-to-a-pullet" EE cockerel, about 11 weeks old, that I plan to rehome when he's older (unless he turns out to be a non-crowing freak of nature, in which case I will happily keep him). At this point, he is not very roosterish, but is obviously respected as alpha by the 9 pullets he was raised with. The girls never challenge him, and he is rarely involved pecking order squabbles and never mean. He was handled twice day until about 9 weeks of age, which was only to move him to and from the daytime ground cage to the safe night cage in the garage. He's in the finally-finished coop now. He does not like to be picked up, but calms quickly (if you can catch him). Never shown any aggression toward, and moves away from people, and is leery even of taking treats from my hand.

So, should I make a point of handling him every so often? Has anyone tried this before they get aggressive? Could it have a negative effect?

I know the hormones are coming! Just want to give him the best chance for a good and long life, rather than being a main course.

 

[OnceAroundTheBlock]

Well since you asked......this rooster that I re-homed today was hatched up at my daughter's place and was handled daily. Even when she gave him to me at around 4 months old he was still being handled daily and I followed up with it. I even had him eating mealworms out of my hand.

The problems started when he became a teenager. I've been hoping he'd straighten out because I really do love my chickens but after today I decided that was it for me. I still think he had a mean streak in him like his daddy did and nothing would have tamed him completely where he could be trusted not to flog.

Actually, I swapped out roosters with my daughter (she has 3 of them) and this one she gave me today is so gentle. He's been here before when he was alot younger and we thought he was a pullet. When it was obvious he was going to be a rooster, I traded him for one of the pullets I've got now because I wanted 2 hens.

 

[speckledhen]

Oncearoundtheblock, you see that temperament went from father to son there.

You must be able to handle a rooster to provide medical aid, to worm, to trim toenails, to just do things to him when needed, but you should never treat him like a pet after the chick stage. It won't change who he is, either way, but he has a serious job to do and it's not to be a lap chicken. Give him his space, but never back away from him.

When the hormones kick in in the "teen" ages, around 15-18 weeks of age, that is mostly when you'll start seeing the seeds of aggression start up, if they are going to. If it starts with biting, that may only be boundary testing and you snatch him up, hold his beak shut for a few seconds.

Ike was never really handled much as a youngster because he was in a large group of chicks I was trying to choose a breeder rooster and pullets from. Isaac bit me a couple times when he was at the feeds at around 14 weeks old, before he was actually mating the pullets and before I had chosen him as my keeper Delaware breeder.

I did that "aversion therapy" and boy, he really hated it! He'd freeze in my arms. Only had to do that twice. He is the BEST rooster you can imagine, though he really hates the BR hens, LOL. Keep saying, "Buddy, will you look at your own tail feathers???"

He follows me around like a puppy, comes when called, loves a chest scratch on the roost, just loves to listen to me talk to him; that is, when he's not in perpetual motion running here and there to keep up with his 23 hens.

Isaac came from a line of true Delawares, known for their temperament, selected for temperament, though even breeding is not a 100% guarantee of that. You still must cull for temperament, even in the best lines, and you can't know what they will be until they are of breeding age because the influx of hormones changes everything.