Roosters--aggressive or nice?

[Coffee N Chickens]

Last fall I bought my three pullets and cockerel, and my cockerel (soon to be a roo) is very good natured. He has never shown any signs of aggression. On this forum, I see multiple threads about rooster aggression toward people, and am wondering if this is a common problem, or if it's only a minority of roosters who are causing all the fuss.

 

[Tonyroo]

I think aggressive behavior relates mostly to breed type. My Swedish Flower rooster and his 4 sons are not aggressive at all. His kids challenge each other but no feather or blood results from it.

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Roosters are all individuals, they each have their own personalities! I find that hand raised roosters can be a little more aggressive, although when they're raised by a broody hen (one whose high on the pecking order preferably) they turn into lovely little men. Not affectionate, but not aggressive. Good to the ladies, passive to humans, a good balance.

How they're raised can also impact them, just as it could any other animal, just as 'training' would impact them. A rooster chased around by little kids or dogs may not be too friendly towards them once older for example. Everyone's got their own ways of raising good boys, others just buy good boys from other people xD I'm sure genetics could come into play as well, I personally feel like any animal (be it cow, horse, dog, chicken or fish) shouldn't have babies if it's aggressive. Limit the possibility of aggressive babies, I saw too many nervous dog moms make nervous puppies, and heard too many stories of mean dogs and livestock (bulls are too big to be human aggressive in my opinion!! scary!!) having mean babies.

Sounds like your boy is probably past any troublesome teenage stages he would have had, hopefully he stays a good man for you!!

And lastly, I think the reason we see more posts about mean roosters is that... theres more of a reason to complain about them! Ask most people and they can name off a teacher from high school they hated. But many won't remember the ones who were nice, humans tend to remember the bad more than the good, and when it comes to asking for help or sharing on a forum, people need more help with the bad roosters than the ones who are friendly! : D

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Spoil the roo, and he'll be mean.
I've gotten a lot of great roosters over the years who would never attack.
2/3 of my OEGB roosters were mean. It's probably part of their genetics, but I also spent a little too much time with them.
I guess it's kinda like geese. Ganders get mean during mating season like a lot of animals do during mating season. Now, everyone is scared of geese. My geese would come when called and ate out of your hands. They were fine till mating season. Even with on my first OEGB rooster, when he was young, he was only mean during breeding season and nice during winter. Eventually he out grew that, but he didn't have spurs, so no fear there.

 

[Ryguy3684]

My older, Buff Orpington, rooster is very docile, but doesn't care to be handled much, unless you have a hand full of mealworms. His son, about 12 weeks old, sits up on my shoulder every time I'm out with them. I think a lot of it is up to the individual personality of the bird. I wouldn't keep a mean rooster, anyways.

 

[DobieLover]

My guy started out insecure and under competition from a dominant cockerel.
Once the dominant boy was re-homed, this guy started challenging me. I kept him over the other boy because he exhibited all the traits I wanted in a rooster. I put up with a lot of crap the first 16 months with him. Too many floggings to count. He never hurt me because I always dressed for it.
The worst of our relationship happened during the construction of my coop and run. When that was complete, I worked on rehabbing him. It took many months but he's a great guy now. He's always on guard with me but gave up flogging me long ago.
None of his sons have been remotely aggressive. Rather flies in the face of the theory that bad boys have bad sons.

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

View attachment 2617169
My guy started out insecure and under competition from a dominant cockerel.
Once the dominant boy was re-homed, this guy started challenging me. I kept him over the other boy because he exhibited all the traits I wanted in a rooster. I put up with a lot of crap the first 16 months with him. Too many floggings to count. He never hurt me because I always dressed for it.
The worst of our relationship happened during the construction of my coop and run. When that was complete, I worked on rehabbing him. It took many months but he's a great guy now. He's always on guard with me but gave up flogging me long ago.
None of his sons have been remotely aggressive. Rather flies in the face of the theory that bad boys have bad sons.

He is gorgeous! Easy to see why you worked with him.

 

[L0rraine]

Last fall I bought my three pullets and cockerel, and my cockerel (soon to be a roo) is very good natured. He has never shown any signs of aggression. On this forum, I see multiple threads about rooster aggression toward people, and am wondering if this is a common problem, or if it's only a minority of roosters who are causing all the fuss.

We had a very small porcelain d’uccle rooster who was VERY aggressive. My granddaughter still doesn’t like to help feed the chickens because of him. His son, who’s mom was a silkie, wasn’t aggressive at all. He was all business protecting his flock from real danger. They’ve both passed on from old age now. I currently have two silkie Roos, that don’t seem to be aggressive, but they make a terrible commotion running around hysterically when anyone goes into their pen .

Just a week ago our English Orpington chicks arrived. Some will be roosters and it’s said that, even though they are large, they are quite docile. I’m hoping that’s true. I have friends who have had very friendly roosters and I’m hopeful we may have a friendly one too.

I just remembered that one of our first silkie roosters was also pretty friendly. He would follow us around and ‘talk’ to us. An eagle severely damaged him and when I took him to the vets they were in awe that, even though he was on deaths door, he kept ‘talking’ to everyone trying help him. It made our vet sooo sad that he couldn’t save him.

 

[Saaniya]

Last fall I bought my three pullets and cockerel, and my cockerel (soon to be a roo) is very good natured. He has never shown any signs of aggression. On this forum, I see multiple threads about rooster aggression toward people, and am wondering if this is a common problem, or if it's only a minority of roosters who are causing all the fuss.

I raised only roosters , I would say that they are fantastic intelligent pets if u keep them pets and overprotective dudes for their flock but they becomes highly aggravated when testosterone hit them once they settled they come back normal this is mostly visible in 6-1 year age then they become really smart and mature and care for their flockmates

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I’ve had aggressive roosters, friendly roosters, and standoffish ones. Genetics definitely is a part of it. I believe that aggressive tendencies can be passed on the same way flightiness and docility can be passed on (for example, leghorns are known to be flighty and silkies are known to be docile). All the old English game bantam roosters I’ve had (six in all) have either been aggressive or went through an aggressive phase. In my personal experience, how they’re raised isn’t as much a factor as their individual personalities. Though a friendly rooster can be turned aggressive and an aggressive one can be worked with.
One aggressive rooster I had I got from a friend. This rooster was raised in a hands off way. He wasn’t pet or tamed. However, he was completely unafraid of people and often tried to spur me. He never became less aggressive towards me.
I was able to work with another aggressive rooster until he no longer attacked me, but I still never trusted him around children.
Another rooster I had (who’s history was unknown since I found him in a parking lot) showed all the signs that are typically associated with an overly bold aggressive cockerel. He would follow me around, do the wing dance to me, crow and flap his wings while I was nearby, and fly onto elevated things to be near me. He never attacked or pecked me or anyone else. He just really liked being around people and enjoyed being pet.