Start off right with your rooster; respect their status.

[joebryant]

Quote:
I am NOT a rooster, and my wife and I make no pretense of being a chicken. I have no wish for my roosters' seeing me as "superior" or the "boss". Neither has ever danced around us or made a move to attack us. I have learned that I should only want my roosters to respect my position, and they want and get my respect for their position.

 

[DTchickens]

I agree.. I do believe that kicking them can work, but as much and as hard as it would take to kick them to make them realize they couldn't take you, might as well kill them. I grew up around games, so if a rooster was aggressive the advice was always handle him and treat him kindly. If you can't take it- get rid of him. Being rough with games will only worsen it for sure, but it also applies to other breeds unless they do back off and submit.

-Daniel

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'm going to have to try this approach- thank you for posting this. I'm going to stop hunting my roosters down in the coops each night to pet them. They don't like it and I don't like it.

But I thought I had to do it to maintain a relationship with them. So they would know that I am the boss.

 

[KCchickens]

I absolutly love this post!
Roos have always been my favorite. There beautiful coloring, they way they treat there ladies, (most of the time well). And protect the flock. I always have treated them with respect. Even when I was growng up my dad would fight with the roos and mom would hit em with the broom, but I always did my best and treated them like the boss of there girls!
Please people treat the roos with some kind of respect.

They are just doing what they do, you need to "become the chicken" ... Well not maybe that far. But at least try to see it from the roos point of view.

 

[DTchickens]

Quote:
Pet them all you want lol.. Petting won't do anything, it's more of the approaches people suggest often "Hit him with the broom! Kick him around and hold him to the ground to hurt his "feelings" and make him feel disrespected!" etc.. I sometimes wonder if they're just talking or actually do the stuff they suggest?

I handle/pet my birds often, I believe it keeps them gentle and calm and is also a time to check for mites/weight loss or if they're overweight etc. If I couldn't do so, then I wouldn't own them because I hate a "wild" rooster (or hen), especially if they're games they're supposed to be confident but gentle towards me. I believe that aggressiveness, though it can just be pure hatred on the roosters part, is mainly a lack of trust.

-Daniel

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
If I have to pick up a hen, I lock him out of the run and pick up the hen in the run.
If I have to pick him up, e.g., my wife and I had to give him his pills morning and evering for a week after he returned from being at the vets for a week, I locked him in the run, caught and held him while Anne shoved the pills down his throat, just like the vets had been doing. He did not get upset with our doing it. Also, when I dipped them for mites in a five-gallon bucket of Sevin/water, I dipped the roosters first and set them outside the run. That way they knew what I was doing to the hens one at a time and did not become upset because I also put the hens out with them soaking wet but unharmed. I would not have left them in the run with the hens because their instinct would have been to "attack and defend" immediately with no chance to recognize/reason somewhat the futility of his trying to interfere.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Joe, I think my approach has become just like yours. (Although I do hand out a plethora of treats, to hens AND roos ...)

I also had to wonder as I was confidently fighting with my Barred Rock roo daily; aren't some low roos determined to rise up? Were the daily fights not his attempt at moving up the ladder? Just waiting for that day when I would become old and infirm and give in? (Or kill him, as it worked out!!!!) He was a HUGE boy, actually probably a show quality Barred Rock. Just too bad for him that he ended up in my back yard.

 

[Yazzo]

Quote:
I am NOT a rooster, and my wife and I make no pretense of being a chicken. I have no wish for my roosters' seeing me as "superior" or the "boss". Neither has ever danced around us or made a move to attack us. I have learned that I should only want my roosters to respect my position, and they want and get my respect for their position.

I just said that you DON'T have to be a rooster in any way. It just that if you aren't scared of him at all, he probably sees you as his superior on some level.

 

[Highlander]

Quote:
I am NOT a rooster, and my wife and I make no pretense of being a chicken. I have no wish for my roosters' seeing me as "superior" or the "boss". Neither has ever danced around us or made a move to attack us. I have learned that I should only want my roosters to respect my position, and they want and get my respect for their position.

I just said that you DON'T have to be a rooster in any way. It just that if you aren't scared of him at all, he probably sees you as his superior on some level.

Perhaps not superior, but just not a threat? This is the approach I take my with roos too. They all mate in front of me and I don't stop them. I am not there to be head roo, that is their job. My job is to provide food and shelter and care. I have always thought that giving them a kick every time they go past me would be counter-productive.

 

[Ironmaiden]

Wow what a thread! I have one of each kind of Roo. A nice one that will take treats, one that doesn't get too close, and one that seems to absolutely hate me! Makes me wonder if we project human feelings and traits onto our birds....Gotta love it!