Rooster wranglin'

[kinnip]

My roo has recently developed a penchant for aggression. He doesn't actually do any violence, he just threatens. The last couple of times I've picked him up and carried him for a couple of minutes. I guess I should do it for longer, but that's not my question. He's really quick and hard to catch. I've had to grab him by his tailfeathers to stop him. Is that a really bad idea? I don't want to make him mean, or bald-butted.

 

[chad]

To whom is he being aggressive? Another rooster? Hens? You probably know you can only have one rooster successfully in a barnyard. If it's the hens, is it aggression or mating behavior? (My wife complains that our rooster likes rough sex...)

Roosters do a lot of posturing. If he starts to injure the hens it's time to put him in the stew pot or the dog food. But until that time I'd say "no harm, no foul."

Oh, and I wouldn't carry him around. Good Lord!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Not necessarily so. Lots of people including some here on BYC keep more than one roo successfully, including me.

The secret is having enough hens for the number of roos.
kinnip, my alpha roo I can pick up easily. My other roo avoids me at all cost, of course because to him I'm the alpha roo and he's afraid he's about to get a butt whoopin. If you can't get close enough to grab the body, try for the legs. As a last resort, see about making a chicken catcher. Eggcartons.com has one on their site to give you the idea of what one looks like. I have one that's over 30 years old. Still does the trick. It snags them by the leg and keeps em still long enough to get a good hold on them. Good luck!
P.S. My alpha tried to dominate me at one time. One of several techniques I used was picking him up, holding him firmly and carrying him around. That, combined with the other techniques, worked like a charm.

 

[kinnip]

He's posturing in my direction. I have another roo in there with him and they hardly ever look at each other. For those two roos, I have 16 hens, so they have plenty to keep them occupied. I think Carmine has just hit another bump in the path to adulthood. His girls are starting to lay and his rooster drive is going full throttle. I just received my chicken catcher from Meyer. I haven't used it yet. I should probably keep it in the run. Usually the roo antics are early in the morning and I don't have the wherewithall to go get the catcher, come back and then humiliate the rooster. I think I'm a little grumpy in the mornings too, which is why I do have the wherewithall to chase that punk till I can get a hand on him then make sure all the other chickens see him being carried around like a football. Those girls don't seem to like it much when I grab their man. They all crowd around my feet, and this morning one of them actually took to pecking my toes.
When you use the catcher, do you wait until they're standing relatively still, or just grab them mid-stride?

 

[Wynette]

Good thing you're beginning to deal with it now, while he's still just posturing.

Another thing you can do WHILE CARRYING HIM, is to feed treats to the girls. It's another way of showing that YOU are in control...of who gets treats. Let them all eat first, and THEN allow him to eat. You sound like a smart cookie - I'm sure you'll have him whipped into shape in no time! Good luck!

 

[kinnip]

Quote:
I like that idea. Ultra-mega humiliation!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I agree with wynette. Since BYC made our personal page stand out (and mine is blank) I'm thinking of doing a page later on today about how I handled my alpha roo when he got difficult.
As for grabbing them with the chicken catcher, I try to get him cornered first. Again, I don't need to grab him because he's being bad. He's the best roo with the ladies, but there are times when he does need to be picked up for health inspection.

 

[ebonykawai]

What is he doing that's threatening? Are you sure it's a threat and not that he's courting you?

 

[BJ]

Something about those chicken catchers...we currently don't have a roo (we had 2 of them previously). They "respected" the catcher. We would hold it out for them to see if we felt threatened by them and they would "stay away". A lady that fed my chickens for me when we were on vacation LOVED that chicken catcher! Murray McMurray sells them too. I actually use the catcher now to corrale my girls into the run when they are free ranging in the evening. When they don't want to budge, I get that catcher out and they march like little soldiers into the coop!!

 

[AllChookUp]

Rooster-Red has a good page on Rooster Behavior as well. Not that yours won't be great, gritsar.

Here's Rooster-Red's:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior