Roosters

[Grind Hard Farm]

I have a rooster who is fully grown and who is a year old. We named him Chanticleer, and now I honestly regret it! He does not live up to the name, lol. He tries to attack me but I challenge him. He is a australorp. Whenever predators come around he flees and leaves all the hens behind.

 

[16 and me]

The ones that turn out nice have been ones that I handled only as needed

This seems to be common with Roos, They need a certain regard for humans. Kind of like wild animals that have a healthy fear (I prefer respect) for humans are much less likely to be problematic.

. Basically, he's insecure - thinks I'm going to take his hens

I suspect this comes from having a stronger more dominant Roo around, always keeping the other(s) feeling less than Alpha. I can't seem to keep a beta too long (1 1/2 yrs is the longest) before the insecurities show up.
I'm no expert, just my opinion based on obsevation.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

I have a rooster who is fully grown and who is a year old. We named him Chanticleer, and now I honestly regret it! He does not live up to the name, lol. He tries to attack me but I challenge him. He is a australorp. Whenever predators come around he flees and leaves all the hens behind.

I almost named one of my roosters that name! I’m not sure what Royal would do if a predator attacked the hens!

 

[Checomock]

I have a 1 year old boy named Doodle, and he is wonderful. Part silkie and ???.
Then one of my hens started brooding and I got 4 eggs for her to sit on. Then she died from sour croup. So I put them in an incubator and hatched out 2 of the 4. The others were not viable. Both turned out to be boys. One has since died of unknown causes, but James Bond is still with me. He was hatched in Sept, so 7 months old. He is a bully to me and has attacked me full body shots 3-4 times. At first just pecked my legs, now higher up as he flies and lands on fences.
So I now attack him if he gets too close, or looks like he plans to attack me. It works. I am leery of him and careful not to turn my back.
I have 5 hens that are a year old, and one who is a granny. And yesterday got another 8 pullets from the co-op. If he does not behave with the new girls he will be in freezer camp!
No more hatching of eggs for me. LOL
Picture of the two boys coming in the house and of James Bond who survived. Gold Finger was found dead in the coop a few months ago.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

I have a 1 year old boy named Doodle, and he is wonderful. Part silkie and ???.
Then one of my hens started brooding and I got 4 eggs for her to sit on. Then she died from sour croup. So I put them in an incubator and hatched out 2 of the 4. The others were not viable. Both turned out to be boys. One has since died of unknown causes, but James Bond is still with me. He was hatched in Sept, so 7 months old. He is a bully to me and has attacked me full body shots 3-4 times. At first just pecked my legs, now higher up as he flies and lands on fences.
So I now attack him if he gets too close, or looks like he plans to attack me. It works. I am leery of him and careful not to turn my back.
I have 5 hens that are a year old, and one who is a granny. And yesterday got another 8 pullets from the co-op. If he does not behave with the new girls he will be in freezer camp!
No more hatching of eggs for me. LOL
Picture of the two boys coming in the house and of James Bond who survived. Gold Finger was found dead in the coop a few months ago.

He’s got that look in his eyes with Almanzo he would just glare at you! I could tell if he was gonna be fine around me or if he wanted to attack me! Both boys are really pretty! Sorry you lost Gold finger!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Do any of your roosters go into the nest box and call your hens to it? I love when Royal does that it’s so cute!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Here’s Royal with Tilda the silkie and Lily the jersey giant who is not so giant!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Here my sweet roo! He's just such a good boy. Whenever I feed the chickens treats he'll always do his little chuckle to call them over. He'll grab the treat and spit it out for the hens .
Sometimes when I go out to sit on the bench in their run he hops up next to me and kinda nestles his head under my arm for a cuddle.
His name is Alek and he's a Speckled Sussex. I think he's really pretty.

he sounds like a great rooster! I think he’s beautiful!

 

[McChooky]

Do any of your roosters go into the nest box and call your hens to it? I love when Royal does that it’s so cute!

One of my legbars does this too lol

 

[dreamofwinter]

I love roosters and would keep them all if I could. Mine are handled from day 1, but I don't put up with bad behavior. If they show any aggression toward me or other humans, I pick them up and football carry them for a while. This doesn't always work, and I'm not hesitant to cull for human aggression, even in very young cockerels.

My current 5 guys each have their own flock of varying sizes. In spring, like now, they all have to be kept separate, but by midsummer I'm able to free range all flocks together. The senior roo, Sweet Pea, my big Blue Orpington, keeps everyone else in line. My Brahma/Ameraucana cross Ursa just wants to stay out of everyone's way. My big Brahma boy Rocky has been my most challenging - he's a biter - but he's settling as he grows up (just turned 1 year old). And my two Bantam Cochins, Patsy and Meatball, well, they have little guy syndrome. Meatball wants to fight everyone he sees, but loves to be snuggled by humans. Patsy is less rooster-aggressive but similarly human-friendly.

I do think that if you keep more than one rooster, you have to have a tolerance for the occasional fight and a willingness to rehome or cull if the fighting goes beyond mild territorial squabbling. I still haven't successfully kept a bachelor flock, and Rocky and Meatball, once the best of friends, now have a deadly feud because they've discovered girls. Sigh.

My current dilemma is that I've hatched a gorgeous splash Brahma-Ameraucana cockerel and may need to figure out how to keep him. My patient and enduring husband has said, sure, I'll build you ANOTHER coop...