Small flock with one rooster

[Mrs. K]

These are the red flags for me:

• He readily comes toward me with confidence. He should just move away from me, giving me a circle of respect of about 5 feet. A lot of people see this as friendly behavior, to me it means no respect.
• He crows incessantly when I come to the coop.
• He fluffs up at me
• He jumps on things to be taller that me or at face level
• He sneaks behind me
• Stink eye- he glares at me
• If I am distracted, carrying something, or bent over and he charges toward me, and then acts all innocent if I call him on it.
• He flys at me.

They don’t do all of these at once, but I start paying attention when I see a few of them. It is my humble opinion that if they have become aggressive, it is too late for training.

Mrs K

 

[Geira]

These are the red flags for me:

• He readily comes toward me with confidence. He should just move away from me, giving me a circle of respect of about 5 feet. A lot of people see this as friendly behavior, to me it means no respect.
• He crows incessantly when I come to the coop.
• He fluffs up at me
• He jumps on things to be taller that me or at face level
• He sneaks behind me
• Stink eye- he glares at me
• If I am distracted, carrying something, or bent over and he charges toward me, and then acts all innocent if I call him on it.
• He flys at me.

They don’t do all of these at once, but I start paying attention when I see a few of them. It is my humble opinion that if they have become aggressive, it is too late for training.

Mrs K

Thanks so much for the info. I'll be sure to keep a look out and correct as soon as I see it as he is only 17 weeks now and so far I have not seen any of this. When I let them out to free range, they all just file out including him. He's never charged me. There is a point in the afternoon that they all come to me, but that's pure Pavlovian response as that would be the most likely time I would be giving them a treat. Great info.

 

[Geira]

So an update on day 5 of only one rooster. So far, he has let the girls leave the coop first, enter the coop first, eat first and stood sentinel while they ate. On the occasions that he has tried to mate with them, if they squawked, he immediately let them be and gave them space. Today, he saved them from a hawk and they were allopreening his beak while he just stood there and let them do it. He maintains his distance from me unless I invite him over with a treat and lets me hold him once I have him to check feathers. So far, so good, I think. Fingers crossed he continues to be a good boy.