Start off right with your rooster; respect their status.

[joebryant]

I no longer follow the advice of so many on here about dealing with roosters. I've learned to never make my rooster jealous of me and to always shower him with respect for his status, allowing him to do what roosters do without any interference from me. I let him know that I know my position is merely the provider of food/water and care for him and his hens.

I made mistakes with my first rooster, and he became meaner than a snake. This stuff of trying to prove that I'M the head rooster is just plain nonsense. I always try to make it look like the treats come from him when I let him eat out of the birdseed container, dropping a handful down in front of him so that he can call his hens over, and he knows what I'm doing. I treat the young rooster the same way. Neither has ever acted aggressively toward me.

 

[lurky]

Great post!!!! I agree totally. I had to work hard to get my husband to understand that being aggressive and thinking your the boss only makes it worse.
Sometimes they can make it difficult, but we pick him up and carry him for a few minutes nicely and then when we put him down he is fine.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I like this post. I've read several posts about how you handle your kids and your dogs, and I have alot of respect for you based on those things. I agree that this is the best way to deal with a rooster. I don't coddle them as chicks either. The girls I will handle alot, but not the boys.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

I'm the first to admit, I really don't have very much experience with roosters, however, the first rooster I had, a Barred Rock, was also "meaner than a snake"! Many much more experienced folks than I suggested it was the breed. I do know things DEFINITELY got worse when I started fighting back. He'd kick me, I'd kick back - and he just kept coming. It got to the point where he was attempting to prevent me access to the coop!!! He'd attack me at the door. And he was vicious. He actually nailed me in the chest one day - WAY too close to my face. I obviously had to cull him. (Hardest thing I've EVER had to do. My chickens are all serious pets.)

Now I have two lovely Easter Egger roos that are very civilized - with me and with each other. They do their fancy rooster dance with big blown up necks every morning but I've never seen them come to blows. And they each have their own group of hens - and they share from time to time. There were three of them but I don't have enough hens to handle three (only 12) so I re-homed Anthony.

I can't help but think growing up with other roos has helped my cause with them as well. They are fully used to sharing the hens - with me and with each other.

 

[prancie]

yes, i give my rooster a wide berth. he watches over the hens and does a good job, he doesn't like my 3 year old but it's my job to watch over my son.

 

[Nostalchic]

Interesting take on this. I have 2 young Maran roosters - about 15 weeks old now - and I really want for us to all get along! We've had BR and RIR roosters in the past - nasty, mean critters that my kids were scared to death of - and one scrawny little Polish that turned into a brute, too, without any particular effort or systematic approach on my part. My Maran youngsters were raised by a hen, so they aren't particularly friendly to me, which is fine. But I'm curious, Joe. How many roosters have you had that you tried the "I'm the Boss" method on, and how many the "you're the Man" system? You sound pretty convinced! I'm thinking I like your reasoning, just wondered how it came about beyond what you've said in the post.

 

[suzettex5]

Very interesting concept- I kinda like it! I do have a coupla questions though...

How does he act when you pick up one of his hens, if you make a hen kinda sqwak a bit, does he come after you? Or just kinda investigate you then back off?

If he is not used to your attention, how do you handle him if he has an injury or needs some kind of treatment that needs hands on attention?

I pretty much leave my roo to his duties, he's not one of my fav chickens (but he's a good boy, now) but he used to come after me and the kids till I grabbed him up and dunked him in water a couple times. Now we all leave each other be and I like it that way.

 

[Yazzo]

You say that trying to prove that you're the head rooster is nonsense, but it sounds like you're doing that anyways! By just not being scared of him, and being confident around him you ARE the head rooster. Inferior roosters will submit to the lead rooster, and move/act in a way that makes sure he knows they're not the boss. That's not something you're doing, so he does see you as superior.
Even if you are the boss of him though, he'll still act the same way: showing the hens food in front of you, etc, but still respecting you. If you're confident when around your rooster, not afraid of him, he'll sense that and see it in the way you act and move, thus seeing you as the boss, even if you didn't intend it that way. With my lead rooster, I don't even have to do much of anything and he knows I'm the lead rooster, although in a different sense than if I actually was a chicken: he knows I'm the boss, and yet he never tries to challenge me, and he acts 'roostery' in front of the hens. I also feed my rooster and let him show the hens the food, but apart from making him superior, I think it just helps reinforce the fact that I am the superior rooster.
Just so you never let him make a move to attack you, or 'dance' around you, you should be fine, although he may see other people in a different light.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I had several to choose from when I chose the one that I tried to dominate (and never did). I don't "You're the Man" or kiss his rear end. I merely leave him to do his job, and he allows me to do my job.

 

[itsmyobsession]

I have four roosters, a Black Copper Maran named Romeo, a Lavender Orpington named Prince, a Black Austrolorp named Doodle and a Speckled Sussex named Foghorn. They each have their own pen and "girls". Everyone in my family, including the miniature dachshund, my 2 kids ages 6 and 8, my husband and myself go in and out of the pens to feed, water, clean and collect eggs several times a day. None of us has ever had any trouble in any pen with any of the above breeds of Roosters. They dont even act threatening to us, we hand feed them and love on them the same as the hens. In fact our Lavender Orpington is sick and had to be moved into his own cage just yesterday, we picked him up gave him a shot ( my 8 year old held him while my hubby gave the shot) all of this with no problems. We love our Roosters and treat them as such we respect them and they respect us. Noone has ever had to prove who is in charge or is the "head" rooster it is just a natural order at our home. We are not chickens and they do not treat us as such and they are not humans and we dont treat them that way. They trust us so we trust them.