Rooster with aggression problems? Too stupid to live?

[Maddcatter]

Hey, so I have 2 roosters, currently. One is an Orpington, and sweet as can be. One is a Welsummer, and aggressive toward humans, sometimes... Though nice toward his charges. The boss rooster is the Orpington.

I don't want to kill the Welsummer, because he's super pretty and later this summer he's going to have his own coop with his flock of Welsummer hens (so I can breed more Welsummers)... But I also am tired of him attacking me and my people. He seems to only look at the shoes, and if the shoes look different (pants tucked in one day, or combat boots vs cowboy) he thinks it's a threat and attacks.

Is there a good way to fix this? I have tried bribing him, and petting him, and it all doesn't seem to matter because the shoes aren't bribing him.

Advice would be appreciated, thank you.

 

[fluffycrow]

It's hard to fix an aggressive rooster. In addition, aggression is usually passed down to the offspring, so I wouldn't recommend breeding him

 

[fluffycrow]

If you're specifically looking to breed Welsummers, it's better to get another rooster. If you're more interested in just breeding, use the BO

 

[Maddcatter]

It's hard to fix an aggressive rooster. In addition, aggression is usually passed down to the offspring, so I wouldn't recommend breeding him

So... He's more confused than aggressive... He's trying to do his job. He just can't see to recognize the shoes he fears are connected to people, and I don't want to kill him for being stupid.

That being said, "too stupid to live" is a thing. It's there a way to train him out of the fear of shoes?

Also, thank you for responding!

 

[3KillerBs]

Don't breed an aggressive rooster. It's not your shoes, it's him.

His sons are likely to inherit his aggressive tendencies and no one wants that.

 

[Sussex19]

How old is he?

 

[NatJ]

So... He's more confused than aggressive... He's trying to do his job. He just can't see to recognize the shoes he fears are connected to people, and I don't want to kill him for being stupid.

That being said, "too stupid to live" is a thing. It's there a way to train him out of the fear of shoes?

Regardless of whether it's aggression or stupidity, if you breed him, all his chicks will inherit half their genes from him. Do you want a large number of chicks that inherit whatever combination of aggression and stupidity he has?

Even if you can train him that shoes aren't a problem, would you want to have a whole bunch of chicks that also need the same training?

I don't want to kill the Welsummer, because he's super pretty and later this summer he's going to have his own coop with his flock of Welsummer hens (so I can breed more Welsummers)... But I also am tired of him attacking me and my people.

I would probably try to get a different Welsummer rooster, one that doesn't attack people. A different rooster of the same breed should be just as pretty, and just as good for producing pure Welsummer chicks.

 

[Maddcatter]

How old is he?

About 9 months

 

[Maddcatter]

Regardless of whether it's aggression or stupidity, if you breed him, all his chicks will inherit half their genes from him. Do you want a large number of chicks that inherit whatever combination of aggression and stupidity he has?

Well, thus why I'm asking for advice. If this is "there's nothing to do, it's just how it is." No, I don't want to add more to the problem. I understand that the rooster is trying to do his job.... But that doesn't mean I should be possibly giving a problem to another home that can't handle such a thing.

Even if you can train him that shoes aren't a problem, would you want to have a whole bunch of chicks that also need the same training?

Well, there's 2 things I consider there. If I can train him out of it, it's possible I trained him into it, and I need to know that. Also, if I can train him out of it, it's learned behavior and I can probably make sure the chicks don't pick it up. If that means I train a batch or 2 of chicks while I'm getting the rooster squared away, I'm ok with that.

I would probably try to get a different Welsummer rooster, one that doesn't attack people. A different rooster of the same breed should be just as pretty, and just as good for producing pure Welsummer chicks.

I do appreciate your take, thank you. I'm new to the chicken thing, and it's looking like your answer is probably the right one.

 

[NatJ]

I do appreciate your take, thank you. I'm new to the chicken thing, and it's looking like your answer is probably the right one.

I've noticed that in many areas of chicken keeping, the "right" answer is different from one person to another. That's why I put several of my points as questions, because sometimes there are cases where working with the same rooster is better than the alternatives (example: when another rooster cannot be found because the breed is rare, someone might raise many sons, and select the best-behaved of them to replace his father.)

I understand that the rooster is trying to do his job.... But that doesn't mean I should be possibly giving a problem to another home that can't handle such a thing.

I agree that giving him to another home is not a good idea.

Well, there's 2 things I consider there. If I can train him out of it, it's possible I trained him into it, and I need to know that. Also, if I can train him out of it, it's learned behavior and I can probably make sure the chicks don't pick it up. If that means I train a batch or 2 of chicks while I'm getting the rooster squared away, I'm ok with that.

Yes, that is a good point. It makes sense to check whether changing your actions or the conditions would solve this problem and avoid it in future. But you did say you have two roosters, and only one is a problem. If you raised them both the same way, they obviously learned different things from your training.

An anecdote from my own experience: I once raised 7 males with 40-something females, and one of those males would attack me regularly while the other six would not. Since they were all raised together in the same pen, and I tended them all the same way, I decided that individual roosters really do respond differently to the same conditions. Since that point, I haven't bothered trying to train individual roosters, because I'd rather have ones that don't need it.

I have seen stories of people who re-trained roosters, and the roosters behaved well after that. I have seen more stories of people who tried to re-train roosters and failed. I haven't been able to spot any consistent way to predict which ones will fail vs. succeed.

So I've decided what's right for me (just butcher the problem rooster, if it's fairly easy to get another of the same kind), but I recognize that there can be different "right" answers for different people and different situations.