Taming a Rooster?

[Awestruck]

View attachment 1693221 Is that even possible? I have a black sex link rooster that I have a love hate relationship with. He’s so beautiful but he is such a jerk. Hes just so mean. This is the only real good pic I have of him and my husband took it.

I honestly think that each rooster is going to respond a different way, and you need to work with him to find out what works best for you and the rooster.
I posted a message like this one time, because I have a mean Rhode Island Red rooster. He was supposed to be a girl chicken (pullet) but turned out to be a male. I got all of my girls in the same month, so all of them are bonded pretty well, and the rooster definitely knows he is the king of the group.
What didn't work for me was when I would defend myself by putting my foot out like I was going to kick the rooster. When I showed the bottom of my shoe to the rooster (mainly to defend myself) he just became more aggressive. I tried a variety of different things that didn't work.er
But what did work was to, first of all, show no fear of the rooster. Let him know you are not afraid of his antics (easier said than done!). When he attacks me now, I get down on his level and actually, I talk nice to him, and address him by name. I walk toward him and act like I am going to pet him. He usually just walks away when I do this.
I don't show him anger. That seems to make it worse. For the past couple of days, I had been screaming for different reasons (one was because we have a puppy, and I was yelling at him to get out of the garden. The next day, a squirrel jumped on my back and I didn't know what it was so I screamed (again). Both of those activities triggered the rooster into attack mode.
He has attacked me the past 3 days. But if I can calmly address him and get down on his level, and calm him down, it seems to work. I think, because spring is coming, the roosters are going to be more aggressive now, and we need to be proactive. When I go out there, I intentionally look at him and talk to him, as if I am having a conversation. It doesn't solve the problem, but it does seem to calm him down.

 

[TheFarm41]

I have not found roosters to be trainable, I tried with our first rooster, he was mean. I tried being nice, tried being the alpha rooster, nothing worked. I kept sticks in every corner of our farm for protection. Once they are not scared of humans, they keep attacking, ours even stocked us. Now we have a policy on our farm - roosters that are mean to humans or the hens get eaten. There are too many polite and friendly roosters to keep a nasty one around. Besides do you want to breed that mean genetic into your future offspring? We currently have 3 roosters, all are nice. One has his own flock of about a dozen hens. The other 2 share a flock of about 50 hens. The 2 spat now and again, but have worked out some kind of rooster hierarchy and even sleep in the same coop.

 

[perezjm12]

youll never tame him or make him nice by being mean. he MAY not attack you, but he sure wont be friendly.
but you CAN tame roosters - heres the link to an article i followed and ended up with SIX friendly roosters. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/raising-roosters-to-be-family-friendly.66749/

 

[oldload]

I honestly think that each rooster is going to respond a different way, and you need to work with him to find out what works best for you and the rooster.
I posted a message like this one time, because I have a mean Rhode Island Red rooster. He was supposed to be a girl chicken (pullet) but turned out to be a male. I got all of my girls in the same month, so all of them are bonded pretty well, and the rooster definitely knows he is the king of the group.
What didn't work for me was when I would defend myself by putting my foot out like I was going to kick the rooster. When I showed the bottom of my shoe to the rooster (mainly to defend myself) he just became more aggressive. I tried a variety of different things that didn't work.er
But what did work was to, first of all, show no fear of the rooster. Let him know you are not afraid of his antics (easier said than done!). When he attacks me now, I get down on his level and actually, I talk nice to him, and address him by name. I walk toward him and act like I am going to pet him. He usually just walks away when I do this.
I don't show him anger. That seems to make it worse. For the past couple of days, I had been screaming for different reasons (one was because we have a puppy, and I was yelling at him to get out of the garden. The next day, a squirrel jumped on my back and I didn't know what it was so I screamed (again). Both of those activities triggered the rooster into attack mode.
He has attacked me the past 3 days. But if I can calmly address him and get down on his level, and calm him down, it seems to work. I think, because spring is coming, the roosters are going to be more aggressive now, and we need to be proactive. When I go out there, I intentionally look at him and talk to him, as if I am having a conversation. It doesn't solve the problem, but it does seem to calm him down.

I talk to my rooster as well, I think he knows his name. I think he knows when I'm being stern. I let him rule his territory but I think he knows I'm just there to help. Honestly roosters aren't near as aggressive as drakes but drakes are just funny. I have 2 drakes one named Ninja and the other named Duck Norris. I let them think they're bad azz. They're way more aggressive than roosters, just not near as dangerous.

 

[CannedMonster]

I talk to my guys as well.
All of my birds.
Especially if I’m wearing unusual clothing.
People forget that chickens can see in color.
Mine know when I have a different coat on.
My rooster becomes suspicious and investigates.
I stop and just stand still and talk to him in a low voice.
He’ll look at the new coat on me and then at my face, back and forth, over and over again.
After a couple of minutes (sometimes less) he will decide its me and that I’m not a threat and move away.
The same thing if I have a hat on.

My husband refuses to do this (I just think it’s reasonable) and he gets flogged a lot.
My roo also hates my husbands cordless drill. He’s convinced it’s a threat and he must attack it!

But I will say that I had 3 cockerels that were raised together and two went in the freezer and we kept our current one because he was the most skittish of humans and less aggressive than the others.

I like to recommend bantam roosters to people who want a rooster for a flock lookout.
Bantam roos can still be aggressive but I’ve had good luck with them.
None of mine were aggressive.
They’re also not as intimidating as an 8-10 lb rooster.
Another bonus is that they don’t usually cause feather loss in the hens when they breed with them.

Good luck!

 

[chickenmeadow]

My experiences with different breeds of roosters has taught me that aggression & sparing is their type of game & they all seem to challenge me to various degrees at some point. They love that kind of stuff.

The first advice given to me years ago was to be aggressive back to show who the boss is. Well, it got me nowhere & I just wanted to get rid of that stubborn rooster, it turned into a fun game for only him.

Then I read about embarrassing the rooster by picking him up & it only took two times before he stopped. So, now I just put long sleeves on, watch my face, choose a quiet time for surprise, pick the offending rooster up, hold him with arms around snugly so theres no flapping & not being hurt, walk him around for 5 minutes in front of his flock girls, then gently put him down. Just be brave & stand around til the right moment for surprise. Havent had to get rid of a rooster since. In fact, they often learn to trust my occasional stroke on their back. Best wishes.

 

[jonaeselaye]

I agree that a lot of it will depend on the rooster and how much time you put into interacting with him.

We have an Australorp x rooster, we are unsure of his exact age but the vet estimates he is around 11 months old now. He has never attacked or pecked us and he has no problem with us picking him up, patting him and putting him on visitor's laps for them to pat him any time we want.

The thing is though, when we first got chickens we were very new to chickens and were very much dog people. So after we took him we would pat him and cuddle him for hours every day. Then when he first started crowing, we kept him in our bedroom for 2-3 weeks and watched TV with him every night until while we decided what to do with him. We still pat him a lot and talk to him, he knows his name (Maya). Sometimes when we pat the hens and they get annoyed, Maya would look at us suspiciously but wouldn't do anything about it. Even when we take him to the vet, he is very calm and doesn't mind the vet and the nurses giving him a thorough inspection.

I'll also add though that asides from treating him like a puppy when he was young (which I now know is not recommended), he is administered the suprelorin implant every 3 months. This probably has a lot to do with him being a bit more docile around humans.

 

[ajhaig]

I had an aggressive rooster wander into my back yard, let it stay for awhile till I was being attacked too much. So until I could arrange his adoption or incorporation into chicken soup, I made a chicken wire skirt to wear in the yard.

 

[jsr5]

I don't get attacked by our roos. My wife has problems often when I"m not around I can't figure it out has to be somthing in her body language. We have found water spraying or splashing. Preventing them breeding in her presence. "shaming" by pickeng them up and carrying them around while tending to girls and not letting them put their head up while we do it. or even bringing them in to the house while we have a break and just holding them and keeping their head down. and pet them cuddle em love up on em for a good while befor etaking them back out to the girls. This works on all so far except one americana that got the name buster brown he wasn't one we raised he was given to her by her sister. Buster brown was eaten with noodles. we also control how many roos are out with the girls and keep extras penned separate until we do a butcher and we cull them and eat them. Having extras has been handy a couple times when our good roos were taken by predators and we needed replacements. Anyway I"m drifting. If any of them come at me sideways like they do I will put one arm up like a raised wing and dance sideways at them too. so far they always stop and walk away and I let em usually talk to em tell em they are a good roo. and maybe bring him and his girls some scratch. I strongly prefer to raise up my own roos. from babies. this seems to get us good roos but does make it a little harder to kill them Of course the really great ones get named and those will just retire at some point and be buried in the chicken grave yard where the specials go. raising chickens makes you crazy like that.

 

[Sandy W.]

I adopted my rooster a year ago from the local SPCA to care for my hens. My hens love him.

My birds free range during the warmer months and stay in their coop & run during the cold season. So this winter I have been taking advantage of the birds' confinement and working with my rooster to trust me and not see me as a threat to his flock. Each day, I hang a "tether ball" of a head of lettuce, spinach, or other greens for the birds to peck at, and I sit with them for 2-3 min at lunch time. My rooster with stand sideways right in front of me, scratching and pecking at the ground while the hens are pecking at the tether ball. I know he's watching me but is not taking a protective posture as he always did before. As soon as he turns his back to me, I stroke his tail feathers. He turns around quickly and looks at me as if to say "WTF?!", and I slowly put my hand out with a handful of meal worms. He pecks at the snack calmly (vs. fast jabs indicating lack of trust), so I know I'm making progress. My plan is when they're free ranging in the summer, I can approach the flock without him seeing me as a threat.

In the past, if he saw me as a threat and looked as if he's preparing to lunge at me, I slowly wave my hand over his head and to the side to distract him from his "target" and disarm him.

I ALWAYS wear my muck boots, so if he has jumped or pecked at me, a) it doesn't hurt; and b) I don't budge.

Patience is key, but each situation is different. This is working for me so far. Keep trying!