Sad day, I will have to rehome...

[Nuggetsowner:)]

I believe it may have been rooster red as well as others that told me this. I will keep looking. It had something to do with the fact that you alone should be seen as the alpha roo and therefore a rooster should not be allowed to mate in front of you. I will go look for that original thread again. It was along time ago, almost a year. If it wasn't rooster red I will let you know!

 

[tiffanyh]

I posted as the same time with you...my post is just before your here.

Red rooster is very good with aggressive roos from what I have heard and a lot of people have used his advice.....

 

[tx_dane_mom]

I totally understand rehoming him IF he hurts your kids....but I wouldn't rehome him if you don't see signs of aggression. It sounds to *me* as if you might be over-reacting. But of course everyone has their own opinions. I don't know who told you the rooster mating thing. It may have only been applicable to your other rooster? I personally would be concerned if I DIDN"T see my boy courting my girls...I'd think he was broken

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

Maybe I will try to back off for a little and not carry him as tiffanyh suggested. Maybe I will just stop the behavior from him and then see what happens.

 

[Henrietta23]

I've been dealing with an aggressive young rooster too. After reading this I'm wondering if letting him mount one of my hens may have started the aggressive behavior. I'll stop him from now on. I've had some success this week by just walking right at him if he looks like he's even thinking of challenging me. He's gotten me from behind a few times, but not since I started just calmly walking at him to get him to back off. Holding him and carrying him upside down didn't seem to help as much as this did. The interesting thing is that he has never challenged my son, who frequently picks up the pullets and walks around with them. He also will walk after the roosters trying to pick them up. He's seen the bigger one try to mount the hens once or twice and has instinctively made him stop. Maybe it's not a coincidence that he doesn't get challenged!

 

[Toast n Jelly]

I have read the same as you about how to handle roosters and I've tried it with various roos but now I handle them way different then at the beginning.

I ignore them from the time that I recognize them as males and make my choice of which one (s) to keep. I ignore them from then on and stride through them as though they were not there and this works for me to date.

I found that if you baby them and make friends they will try to dominate you. Best to let them do their job as long as they don't threaten you. Being aggresive with them leads to a continuing war as that is what they are meant to do especially if they have a strong character. Hope that you can keep him.

 

[Gindee77]

Quote:
I disagree with this statement. I think God put roos on the earth for 4 things...protecting the flock, propagating, and eating ...AND POOPING! LOL

This is a very interesting thread. I don't have any roos but I'm interested to find out what the outcome of this is.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I would think that interrupting a roo while mating and then carrying him around would make him MORE surly & irritable, more inclined to feel defensive & attack, and less happy to see you around.

From what I've seen, a roo's temperment is a combination of nature & nurture. I don't think you can really change the nature of a roo predisposed to be aggressive, or not very much, no matter how much you coddle them. However, I think that mistreatment can push an otherwise genial roo to be aggressive due to feelings of fear and mistrust.

I've met enough nice mannerly roos that I won't waste much time trying to reprogram an aggressive one. To me, it's not worth the trouble trying to convince a roo that he's my subordinate. I find that a nice long, hot bath really relaxes even the nastiest of roos. I'm talking about a 2-hour simmer in a soup pot...

 

[Katy]

I've never heard that and I've been around chickens my whole life.....and that's a long time!! I can't imagine that interrupting him when he's trying to do his job is going to make him a better roo. He's doing what his hormones are telling him to do.

 

[gritsar]

Candus, I am one that believes you should never allow the rooster to mate with the hen in your presence, but I feel like maybe that should be amended a little bit in the situation you mentioned. I don't allow my roos to attempt to mate the hens in my presence, but I am with my chickens and they are free-ranging when I stop them. Obviously my roos still try it when they are alone with the hens and I can't exactly play chaperone 24/7. This has been my policy ever since my alpha roo started showing his hind end about 2 months ago and it's worked fine. So he can be the big roo and mate when I'm not around, but him and his brother mind their manners when I'm there. The hens know it too. When I'm out with them and one of the roos tries to mate, the hen that's being persued comes and jumps in my lap, like "ha! ha! Mom's here and you can't have me." Sounds silly, but I swear it works. No need to rehome your roo if he can learn to behave in your presence.