Stopping Mean Roosters

[thornwing]

As the title says....HOW?

First, it pisses me off when people say "soup"... that is NOT a solution. Second, these are bantams, they were not bred to be eaten, they were bred to be pets and beautiful, colorful birds for people to enjoy. Second, yes, I have read Shilala whatever her name is's thing about roosters and I don't like it. Plus, this is a full grown rooster and she talks about fixing the problem when they are chicks...

So, I have a bantam splash rosecomb rooster that I am not willing as far as hell to kill EVER...and I won't give him away because he is pure bred and cost me 10 dollars as a chick because "he" was sexed to be a female so ultimatley I spent 3 extra dollars when I shouldn't have. He was a very nice chick. The other rooster that was meant to be female scared me because I thought he would be mean since he didn't like me when he was a chick (he is a golden sebright). This rooster really liked me! Smut, as he was called, would enjoy or at very least, tolerate my presence. I would sit in the coop and he would jump up on my leg and sit down while I would stroke his giant earlobes and his face. One day, he just stopped jumping up on my leg and ignored me. I noticed he was for some reason getting to be a lot meaner, chicken wise....he would fight with the Alpha, a little mixed mutt, and mate with his hens a lot more. Eventually, he kicked Red, the Alpha, down to BEta and Smut became Alpha.

Then I noticed, everytime I went to enter the chicken run, he was there first to "greet" me. He wouldn't do anything to me, but he would watch my feet and follow me closely. Sometimes as I sit in the run, he still wouldn't sit on my knee, he would sit at my side and play with my shirt or pants. He used to do that alot too, but now it was alot more aggressively. After that I would stand in the run and he would always be at my feet, pecking my shoes and toes more curiously than aggresivly. When I went to the other side of the run to sit, he followed quickly. Then it got worse...days after, I would have to wait till he wandered away to move because he would get ready to attack my foot if it moved (I could tell my the way he looked, the way he stood that he was about to attack..) Only a couple times, did he actually attack it. Just yesterday, I lifted my foot from the ground and luckily it was the bottom of my shoe that got the force of the attack.

Today was a whole different story. I was crouched in the coop (he and the other 2 roosters and most of the hens hang around outside) and I was dealing with a problem with a broody hen that had just gone broody on another broody's nest after she had been sitting for about 2 weeks. I saw him at the "doggy" door between the run and the coop watching me, he would come and go, ignoring me. All of a sudden, I feel my side get flogged and I look over and see him in attack posture, glaring at me. I stood up slowly and he came after my leg. I was so scared...only once had I had a rooster that attacked over and over. My roosters usually attacked once and were out the door. He was about to go at my leg again when I grabbed the stick that propped up the door and pushed him back. He tried to come at me again after I swatted him, so I pushed a broody hen box between us, and I swatted him with the stick out the door to the chicken run. I opened the door of the coop and ran out, and he watched from the run. I splashed him with water as a last measure and went inside, where I looked for about an hour for mean rooster solutions....help!

 

[equusvilla]

Gosh - that sounds really scarry. I would not go back into the coop or pen without a stick to defend myself. I am interested to hear the answers to your question...but be careful in the mean time. After all - you only have one set of eyes. I say that because I know of a rooster who flew up and too 'hold' of a womans face. No rooster (or animal) is worth that kind of danger....but as always ..that is JMHO.

 

[Neilette]

Soup.










...No really, just trolling!

Sounds like you're coming to the table already angry at the hypothetical people trying to help you. Just FYI, not the best way to encourage responses.

New to chickens, but I work with behavioral conditioning daily. The first rule of thumb is to be aware of limitations. E.G. You're not going to teach an elephant to jump! One detail I've noticed is that, in general, people keep a lot more hens than they do roosters. And yet, the hatch rate for roosters is higher. Methinks there is a lot of culling involved even in the banty sector. Roosters are not designed to be cuddly; and it seems to be the rare rooster that gets kept on as a pet. Working with what you're given, it may be that you don't have that rooster.

Really, really basic conditioning largely involves controlling reinforcement and punishment. (Reinforcement increases a behavior; punishment decreases a behavior.) When the rooster is acceptably "nice", good things happen to it. When he is "not nice", bad things happen to him. There are other considerations, like instinct: is kicking the rooster going to be interpreted as a challenge, and therefor a reinforcer?

But remember the elephant. You may not be able to make anything out of this except 'soup'.

Luck.

 

[Naughty]

When I was growing up - we had a beautfiul barred rock roo - sweetest thing you ever saw - until the day he died...and he lived a long time... actually lived in our front yard w/the many stray cats, a terrier, and an irish setter (we never told him he was supposed to be a bird dog - he didnt know) Many times we would come out and find them ALL in the dog house...

the reason the rooster had to be in the front yard was our OTHER rooster... a white leghorn... started out much the same... sweet and friendly - was my pet.... until.... he started getting aggressive... and sneaky... he would sit in the corner of the coop - pecking at something...leaf - stick.... until you turned your back - and then he would come at you - spurs up... and attack the hck out of your back! my brother got in the habit of taking a stick in the coop - hitting the rooster with it when he came in - and then hurrying to get the eggs while the rooster was dazed... it was the only thing that worked... at least we knew the hens were safe from predators -but we got rid of him- can't have an animal that won't let you in .... we couldn't even go in to pet our girls...

Funny side of this... my brother and dad told my mom this rooster was mean... but he never attacked her for the longest time... so she told them "it's all in your imagination" until the rooster attacked her one day ... she came out screaming at my dad... quote" your IMAGINATION is working overtime.." the rooster was gone the next day... he was a beauty - but in our home - people always come first - and no animal is allowed to attack a person..

 

[teach1rusl]

Have you tried the approach of, any time he hints at being aggressive toward you, picking him up and carrying him (tucked under your arm like a football) around for quite a while??? That's one I've read about. I wouldn't have a people aggressive rooster myself. But if you're set on keeping him and nothing else works, then I would build him his own little pen.

 

[chicmom]

Chicken and Dumplings? I'm sooooo sorry! I couldn't resist either!

Seriously, you need to show him that you are still flock boss. If you can, as you enter the coop or run......here's what you do, go straight for him, grab him up and hold him under your arm and walk around with him like that. If he's extra mean, you could hang him upside down and he will immediately relax......then carry him around a bit like that. It doesn't hurt him.....and he will stop rushing at you.

I had a very mean BCM rooster.....he was HUGE. It was a big problem with him....he got very agressive after he learned to crow......I had to keep a rolled up newspaper in my posession (back pocket) at all times, so that way I could swat him off of me without doing any damage.

Good luck!
Sharon

 

[thornwing]

The other rooster that I mentioned was also just as bad was a Mille Fleur, weird, since they are known to be quite calm and gentle. His name was Truffle, and he started off as a very sweet rooster. After, he began to attack my legs so I would carry a trash can lid in with me to shield myself, which didn't work because he'd get around it or under it or he would fly up to the perch so he could jump out and reach my torso. He turned out to be the worst rooster in the history of my keeping chickens. I underestimated him too...when he was at the head-level perch, the "roosting perch" I would duck under it so it was feet above me to stay away from him and deal with eggs. He launched himself off the perch and hit my head full force....I screamed and was in the corner of the coop as he kept coming after me after that. I swear, this rooster wanted to kill me!

But anyways, I would pick him up quickly and hold him like holding a football like a lot of people say to do. Truffle would peck very aggressively at my chest and my neck...if he could, my face. It got to the point where I was so devastated, and I didn't know what to do (before my discovery of BYC forums). I loved Truffle because I remembered him as that gentle calm roo he used to be and how cute he is and beautiful (he was a pure bred mille fleur for crying out loud! who can resist them!?). I didn't want to get rid of him and I spend months sticking my arm in the door and throwing food in, pouring water through the wire door, and dumping food in the run through the roof....I couldn't even step inside my own chicken coop! I finally bagged him up and sold him to the local feed store, telling the owner to give him to a good home that would enjoy his protection for their hens or breeding (def. not as a pet!). He agreed and I left Truffle, crying still because even though he was out to kill me, I loved him...

I don't want that to happen again...it's just, Smut is very squirmy and I'm afraid that attempting to hold him, he'll fight and wiggle his way out, scared, and then he'll end up hating me even more....and holding him upside down...won't that make him an angry ball of feathers? Won't he be flapping around everywhere, panting, fighting to get loose? I'm afraid it will emotionally hurt us both...

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

I don't believe in rehab, I have too may nieces and nephews that love to be in with the chickens. If I can't trust him, he's gone. But for you I would try dropping feed every time you walk near him. He will associate treats (cheerios, scrambled egg yolks and cooked rice seem to be a favorite with my chickens) with you. You could catch him and cage him and make him dependent on you. This will piss him off at first but after a week or two he will be okay with you when you open the pen to add feed. Other than getting rid of him this is the only thing I can think of.

So you know your not alone, I know more people with mean bantam roosters than full sized roosters, it's the Napoleon syndrome of little men, err, I mean little chickens.

Good luck!!!

 

[daproper]

A friend of ours who has had chickens for eons swears by those little red and black (I think they make yellow and white too) electrical covers (the ones that screw onto the ends of live wires) I'm sure there is a professional name for them but I can't think of it right now. Anyway she swears by attaching them to the spurs on an aggressive roo. After a short time it ends the aggressive behavior and she can remove them.

 

[Wynette]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=131593