Rooster troubles!

[speckledhen]

Cynthia you know that they do...how many second and third generation roos have we seen that came from a nasty roo turn into complete jackarses? Unfortunately they are gorgeous but just s pure butthead. I say off with his head and be done with it.

Yes, we have seen that, especially when folks are trying to create new colors/breeds and they are spending lots of time on developing that and do not cull for temperament. To my way of thinking, that is a huge mistake. That leads to lots of pretty and popular birds with very nasty tempers and then you have to halt your progress on color and conformation to breed out the butthead gene.


I do not allow a rooster to dance at me. That is as punishable as biting! I am NOT one of his women and he'd better get that into his little walnut brain super-quick!

 

[OnceAroundTheBlock]

Although it's only been a little over 24 hrs. since I re-homed that bugger rooster back with my daughter and swapped out with a different one, I can see a big difference in the coop/run already! It's almost Zen-like.

This rooster seems on the shy side and will move over to the other side of the run from me as soon as I enter it. He is friendly but will give me my space, as I will him also and I have no plans at all of letting him eat out of my hand or holding him and cradling him like a watermelon under my arm or dangling him like a purse....all attitude adjustment drills I desperately tried with the re-homed one. Even his crow seems a little on the shy side compared to what the re-homed rooster's was. The re-homed one would really dominate the hens but this one is just happy being with them. He quietly goes about minding his own business...just call me "Buddha Baby".

My daughter said while he was still up at her place, he once in awhile would get on a chicken and perform his duties but mostly he stayed off by himself. He seemed content, never tried to flog anybody, and unlike here, was free-ranged coming and going inside the coop as he wanted. He was the first one into the coop at dusk last night, the 2 hens were the ones not so sure they wanted any part of being next to him in close quarters....lol.

I've talked with my daughter today and she said the re-homed rooster has been causing problems all day long! He's got all the hens and 1 rooster scared to death of him and they won't even come near her to get their daily treats. He's tried to pick a fight with the game rooster who lives with all the game hens in a separate run, thru the fence! So far, no flogging but I'm pretty sure that dude will be in the crockpot hot tub before long.....

*interesting note....this gentle rooster had the same father as that re-homed meanie had.

 

[speckledhen]

As I said in a previous post, 100% of a good rooster's sons won't be the same temperament, just most of them. My first rooster was a doll, pretty much a rescue. He was a complete gentleman to the hens and to me, not a mean bone in his body. Most of his sons were like that, however a couple did meet their end in a bad way for aggression. I recall one of them I hatched right here started out very skittish, unlike all the other chicks, just unusual from the start. He acted scared to death of every human, would fly around the coop like we were trying to eat him, couldn't get him in the coop at night without a chase so I rehomed him, with full disclosure that he was flighty, but had so far not been aggressive. Of course, as he hit his maturity, he did turn nasty and was culled.

So, nothing is 100% certain, but if you start out with a nasty, mean son of a gun, you can almost bet that's what you'll get out of him in the future for the most part.


See what I mean, though? A good rooster who is not aggressive to the humans who care for the flock is such a joy!

 

[ldutch123]

I pretty much leave my roosters be. They run from me and I would rather have it that way. Now my rooster that I got when he was grown (Floyd) my tophat I snatch him up if I can catch him but maybe it's different because he is already grown and knows I'm the food lady. He doesn't think I'm one of the hens.

 

[ragnar1107]

At 7 months old the rooster is a stupid teenager . You can't take aggression from a rooster our it will get worse. He's trying to put you under him in the pecking order, you have to be the top rooster in your flock. My RIR tried that stuff here when he was about the same age as yours. When he charged me I charged back if he tried to bite me I gave him a little kick. Never let him mount a hen in your presence, those are your hens. Also make sure you handle him so he knows you can, you have to show some tough love. A rooster will kick your butt, it can seriously hurt you. So stop being a wuss and go take control of your flock.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I am having the same problem with my Rhode Island Red rooster. I just have to be there and he comes flying at me and attacks. It doesnt matter if I am standing still or moving (thought maybe he was taking me walking around the hen as aggression so I tried opening the pen and just standing there) Wrong!! I have kicked him numerous times because thats the only reaction I have when being attacked by him. I am the only one he does this to. He turns and runs from my husband. As far as picking him up and cradling him...no way!! I'd be tempted to snap his neck!! Maybe I will try chasing him around to let him know I am in charge. But the only problem is he doesnt tend to run FROM me, he runs towards me!! Help!!!

Hi.

I'm new too. So much good advice here. I understand your frustration with your rooster's selectivity in his attacks. All I can say is that the language of male hormones seem to communicate between species. I call it Testoteronish. Male animals can be sensitive to the difference between men and women, and will often show different behaviors. My family raised Thoroughbred horses when I was young, and our stallion definitely reacted differently to my mom and me compared to my dad and brother, even though we all handled him routinely. Unlike your roo, our stud horse was actually more of a gentleman around us "girls" and was a bit more spirited with the menfolk.

As for your rooster, give 'em hell. Grab him, pin him down, humiliate him. Show no weakness. And if that doesn't work, bye-bye to him! (Please give us updates

)

 

[Chickiemom25]

My americauna is really flighty.. I don't particularly like her. I have had excellent experiences with barred rocks. They follow me around the yard, come sit in my lap, and are great birds.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

oops! post above, I misspelled "Testosteronish". Another feeble joke falls flat!

Thank you OnceAroundTheBlock and SpeckledHen (from post #28, page 3). Sounds like genetic predisposition is mostly going to determine whether my EE cockerel will be a nice guy or someone's dinner. None of my animals are allowed to show aggression toward people without consequences, so that will be the game plan, and we'll hope for the best.

When I was a girl (...long, long ago

) my folks always kept a mixed bunch of chickens running around the barnyard, and in over 20 years, we never had an aggressive rooster, unless it was with another rooster. I was shocked the first time I saw a rooster attack a person, up the road at my friend's house. Her mother entered the coop, armed with a stick, and this psycho rooster jumped on her head and tried to gouge out her eyes! It was violent, and he wouldn't stop. I can still picture it. Don't know why the lady kept him around. I'm a huge wimp when it comes to killing anything, but if a roo attacked me like that, it for sure would only happen once!

So that brings me to my next question about rooster aggression. I'm wondering if there's a difference between those allowed to free range verses those kept cooped up? Our chickens were locked up at night and fed in the run, but daily roamed farm and ranged over about 7 acres. Our neighbor's psycho roo was kept penned up most of the time (with the hens). I know this is just one anecdote, but has anyone noticed a difference? Does allowing free ranging reduce aggression? Any thoughts?

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: Well, I think the more room a rooster has, the more pent up energy he can release elsewhere and not at you, but it doesn't necessarily "change his spots", so to speak. My Blue Orp rooster was penned most of his life, only occasionally allowed to free range (he's a homebody anyway), and he's even more laid-back than my Delaware.

 

[peepmommy]

I have really enjoyed reading these posts. I recently culled my roo (RIR) because he attacked my son and I don't have the patience for that... I am working on some chicks now, but I was thinking of getting an older roo after the chicks have been established into the flock. I also have a broody sitting on 12 eggs (from that RIR). Now I am really curious how many roos I end up with and what their temperment will be. What ever the case, I will never let that happen again! learn from our mistakes!!!!