Rooster

[loran507]

I have a 1 y/o silver laced wyandotte rooster, that according to my husband show aggresive behavoir towards him, I have never witnessed it. but now he wants me to get rid of the rooster. This is my 1st rooster and I don't know if you can stop this type of behavoir. My 12y/o daughter is now afraid of it also.

 

[Illia]

It isn't uncommon for it to happen with hatchery birds (which I'm assuming he is) - Our first rooster we ever had was a Wyandotte too, MEAN and dumb! There's only two solutions. . . Show him who's alpha, which works maybe 60% of the time, or get rid of him.

The thing is, you need to see proof that he's aggressive though. That or if you truly believe him, then, there's your proof.

 

[tennesseeckn]

I had a hatchery SLW roo who started with just showing aggression towards me. It wasn't long, though, until he started with my husband. He never bothered my kids, 9 and 11, but he didn't get much of a chance, either. He was our first roo and we worked for four months trying to rehabilitate him. We carried him, we squirted him with water, and we bopped him with a yard stick. He just never "got it". We gave him to a farmer that was much more experienced than we were with the understanding that if he didn't shape up, he was dinner.

I never regretted letting him go. The girls started laying two weeks later and are so much happier. My kids can go outside and play unsupervised.

If he's your first and you want to try, there are plenty of threads on how to rehabilitate them. I wish you luck and hope he's smarter than mine. If it doesn't work out, though, don't blame yourself. There are some really, sweet, docile, awesome roos out there looking for a great home...

Good luck.

 

[gritsar]

OMG! Not everything in the world can be blamed on a chicken being hatchery quality! I have two hatchery quality roos, plus the offspring (three cockerels) of those hatchery quality roos.

Not.a.single.one.is.aggressive! My adult roos are excellent providers and protectors of their flocks.

If your child is afraid of it, I would definitely cull the roo and try another. Note: The word "cull" means to remove from your flock, not necessarily by eating. If you do decide to give him away, you do need to do the ethical thing and warn the new owners that he may be aggressive. There are tons of nice roos out there needing good homes and I'm sure a great majority of them come from hatcheries.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Whoa, calm down there, I'm just making a point - That YES indeed they are unpredictable. Take a look at Rhode Island Reds for example and the difference in behavior with production vs heritage. It's called production breeding, nothing more, thus behavior is ignored.

I didn't say ALL are bad, and neither would I think 4 roosters total to be a solid argument to prove me wrong in saying some can be bad.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Whoa, calm down there, I'm just making a point - That YES indeed they are unpredictable. Take a look at Rhode Island Reds for example and the difference in behavior with production vs heritage. It's called production breeding, nothing more, thus behavior is ignored.

I didn't say ALL are bad, and neither would I think 4 roosters total to be a solid argument to prove me wrong in saying some can be bad.

You assumed that the OPs bird was HQ, though the OP didn't mention that. You make alot of assumptions about peoples birds, being as how you are a breeder and everyone knowsssssss your birds are so superior in quality. There are BREEDER quality roos that turn out to be nasty little boogers too, but you don't want to talk about that, right?

Also, I have 5 roosters total, counting the cockerels, not 4. I also had a commercial quality cornish X that was a sweetheart. My roosters aren't the only roos I've ever dealt with either.

I just think you need to give your breeder snobbery a rest Illia and I know from reading replies that I am not the only one that feels that way. You only like BQ birds? That's fine, that's great. Lots of folks just want a nice, productive backyard flock though and don't deserve you running down their birds.

 

[tennesseeckn]

I didn't mean to imply that all hatchery roos are aggressive. I've just seen several people post that there hatchery SLW roos were aggressive, but have talked to serious breeders who tell me their SLW roos are docile.

Based on my experience I feel that in this particular breed at least one hatchery was not culling for aggressive behavior (or intelligence for that matter).

I'm glad you have breeds that are nice. I wish I had been that fortunate.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I wasn't referring to your reply, sorry if it seemed that way.

 

[tennesseeckn]

Thanks for apologizing. No offense taken.

I love my hatchery girls as much, if not more, than my breeder Orpingtons, since they got me started. I just didn't want the OP to feel like they had done something to cause the behavior if it was a result of a hatchery having different objectives than people that have to live with these critters day in and day out.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
And you accuse only me of making assumptions? I have hatchery birds too, and love them just as dearly as my non-hatchery, whom I never said are superior in quality, if anything, they're a work in progress. In fact if you claim so much to know about my opinions and claims, perhaps you'd know that I too come across an occasional mean bird, and that I too have had nice hatchery birds. You'd also know that I use hatchery Polish for my "breeder quality" Tolbunts (what's that supposed to mean anyway? all chickens are breeder quality if we really want to talk) So if you're going to get upset about the way the conversation has turned, perhaps take a look at where it started. . . . You chewing me out for your disagreement. Instead, there's a thing called Private Messaging. If you have a problem, take it there.