Rooster wranglin'

[The Chicken Lady]

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Actually, Gail Damerow, in her book Chickens: A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing, suggests doing just that. I believe she says to "Pick him up and rub his wattles. Roosters like that." I remember that part because the first time I read that, I started laughing. It does seem to work, though, with calming them down.

 

[the1much]

a fishing net!! works wonders, and not much "aiming",,,,,,and if its you he's aggressive to you,,,, EVERY TIME he does,, chase him round, catch him,, and be ROUGH,,,NOT hurt him,, just handle him rough,, tell him very sternly how you'll make dinner out of him,, and throw him in the coop,,, leave him there for an hour,,,,then let him out. if he does it again,,,,,, do it again,,, i'll almost guarantee after a week of that he'll stop.

 

[ella]

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I am SHOCKED and appalled!

You do that too?

 

[gritsar]

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I am SHOCKED and appalled!

You do that too?

I think kinnip just might have turned us on to a new chicken activity. I did it to Zeus tonight just to see if I could really make his mouth move up and down. I can and he's not happy about it.

 

[kinnip]

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The way I handle Carmine's aggression is similar. I pick him up and do the sicky waddle talk, when he stops fighting for about 2 minutes, I let him go. I do let him mate freely (the other roo is too young to be a competitor). He's a little smaller than most of the hens (an Andalusian amoungst many large American girls), and can't keep a grip on them well. I let him eat treats, since he's on the approximately the same competitive level as some of the hens. He doesn't share anything with the hens willingly. He has many tidbits taken from him at beakpoint. I think that's why his harassment of me didn't seem so bad, he's just venting. Nevertheless, he doesn't get to vent with me. I have too many animals to get soft on one (o.k. maybe one, but it ain't the roo).

 

[the1much]

now there is a difference in "calming" him down after he does his thing,, then stopping the aggression, isnt there?
almost all roo's will calm down after holding them a few minutes and ( this dont feel right saying,,hehe ) stroking his waddles,,, but that doesnt stop their aggression the next time you go to him does it? it teaches them that if they get aggressive, they get stroked,,, which in turn makes them do it more? i thought we were talking stopping it,,, hehe

i refuse to stroke my roo!!



while anyone is watching,, hehe

 

[gritsar]

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Oh Zeus is very good about catching something and then making his "I have treats" announcement that gets the girls running.
I felt so bad for him yesterday though. He caught a big fat juicy cricket, made his noise, and unfortunately for him Lil'Bit got to him first. Lil'Bit is partially blind.
She pecked him in the head four times and once in the eye before her beak connected with his and he was able to give her the cricket. Such a good roo! He never flinched.

 

[the1much]

i have a blind roo,,,, he is the BEST babysitter ive got,,,if the chicks make that cry,, he comes charging, and whatever he touch's gets a chunk taken out of them,, ive seen him run smack into the coop, get back up, and head for the poor chick,, he makes us pay attention! hehe

 

[pbjmaker]

Did I read somewhere not to squat around them? Everytime I squat down to give my birds some hand fed treats my 21 week old RIR roo starts doing a sideways walk up to my back to peck me. He has got me twice before I knew what he was doing - but he didn't peck me hard. Now when I see him walk sideways I turn and face him head on and tell him I'm gonna pet him (he hates it when we get close enough to pet) he tends to walk off. I worry that he is no good at sharing with the hens- in fact he stomps at everyone and pecks until he is done eating. I am hoping it is because the hens are still only 13 weeks old and he just became alpha roo with the removal of another roo that was crazy.

 

[Corgan33]

I started raising my first chickens this summer and it has been a blast. Of course I ended up with a Roo in the pullet bin. Since the day I suspected that she was actually a he, I have made every attempt to hold him when I go in to feed treats. I always lure him out of the pen with mealworms (man they love those things!) and then snatch him up. I then make him watch as I throw a handful of them down for 14 girls. I have to hold him tight though because he knows what they are. Once they eat them all, I give him a few. This way he isn't bullying them away when I throw them down, plus this shows my dominance over him. They are 19 weeks old, and he hasn't shown me any aggression yet. I know that once he starts his "male" thing with the ladies things may change, but I believe I've done the best I could do with him up until this point. Anytime he chases any of the babies away from treats or whatever, I pick him up and hold him firmly. As long as I am in the pen, I make every attempt to let him know who is boss. This summer has been a nice adventure with my new chickens, and I'm not sure what I would have done without this website lol. Good luck with your Roo.