I have a 4 1/2 mo silver sussex roo. He has not started to mate (he has 5 pullets). He has been fine up until the last 2 weeks. We keep them locked in their run at night and let them out in the morning to free range all day. The first sign of trouble is when my husband let him out for me one morning, he walked out of the run and bowed up at my husband. My DH stepped up to the rooster and he backed down and walked away. Then my 10 yo son let him out for me, the roo raised his hackles and chased him across the yard. We decided to just give him a chance and have the kids spend more time hand feeding him and to make sure that they speak to the roo before opening the run. Then yesterday my 5 yo daughter walked past him and he bit her pants and started pulling her. This morning I let him out but didn't speak on purpose just to see what he would do. He walked out, dropped his shoulder as he walked past me, changed his mind came back to me, raised his hackles and bit my robe and held on. I said "Kai-Roo NO!" He dropped the robe and I pushed him down into the ground for a second and then let him up to see what he would do. He walked away. I walked after him and called his name to see if he would come back at me and he walked away faster. Not long after that the dog walked past him......the dog has never been aggressive with them and they have never acted afraid of him......and the rooster attacked my dog. He jumped up and attacked. My dog just dropped his tail and walked away. I want to know....do I have to rehome him or this fairly common behavior for a rooster that is just getting his hormones? My kids are really sad because I told them that he was going to have to go. I am really concerned because I am thinking that once he starts mating he will get even more aggressive. I also have a 2 year old and that is a real concern. Is there anything that we can do to stop this behavior before it gets out of hand? Culling him is not an option. He is also a really large bird but his spur hasn't come in yet. Here is the offender......
It sounds like he is just a "trouble maker" rooster. Sometimes no matter how much you handle them and be nice to them they just get a bee-in-their-bonnet and are over protective or confrontational. All the rooster I have had have either never showed this behavior or act like him and I get rid of them. I have a beautiful Silver laced rooster who is part of my breeding program and he is exactly like your boy. You can make them, back off but you always have to watch your back when you are around them because they will take a chance to kick or bite you. My best efforts have been when ever he attacks me or threatens to do it I catch him and hold him, pet him and talk to him. It has helped but I still don't fully trust him. I swear he knows I can't get rid of him and that's why he's mean! One way to make roosters more gentle with out the aggression is having a older rooster who is boss and is gentle to humans. Introducing cockerels at a young age with this rooster lets the adult put them in their place and they learn from the top rooster that being nice to humans is a good thing. If you have a small flock this wouldn't work because I doubt you want a bunch of roosters but it is one thing that I have found that helps and drastically reduces aggression in my roosters. If you do want a friendly rooster I'm sure you can find one on Craigslist. I always see friendly pet roosters on there. I would try catching him and holding him to calm him but I don't think it will fully solve them problem. Best of luck to you!
