Taming a Rooster?

[TCFarm]

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.

 

[TCFarm]

I have had a similar issue. A fav Roo was headed for soup unless he stopped attacking my knees with his spurs! I read an awesome article on this forum, written by a young chicken farmer. I did what she says and I still have the guy! (He's not in the breeding flock any longer but he's a great pet in my horse barn and a favourite of one of my granddaughters who regularly plays with him and pets him!)
Basically her method involves catching him every day and holding him by the feet upside down until he calms down. (I just carried him around while doing some chores.) Once calm, flip him upright and rub his wattles, cheeks, under his 'chin' and set him back down on his feet! Do it diligently each and every day until he's nice with you.
I think the gals method suggested a lot more in terms of a time period and several other ideas too, so it's worth a search through old articles (2015 at least that long ago)
For my guy it was just awful the first few days and then he calmed right down! I kept it up about once a week of whenever I thought of it all that summer, and problem solved!

 

[jdlx4]

I don't tolerate roosters in my flock. They are a waste of time trying to keep them in line, and I dont get anything in return for the food they consume. All roosters that I get go to freezer camp when they come of age. I have 16 sweet, gorgeous, spoiled, beauty queens that look to me for protection and I deliver.

 

[MomJones]

I’ve discussed culling him a few times with my husband and he’s very hesitant to do it. I’m worried that come summertime when I’m outside with my 2 year old that he will fly out of the fenced in area, and that’s the last thing I need is to have to worry about my son getting attacked.

I agree with Mrs. K. I keep a couple dozen laying hens (our rooster died) and I plan to get a couple dozen more, hopefully with a new rooster in the mix. Our last rooster was such a prince and everyone got along well (including us humans). In my humble opinion, our hens need and deserve a fairly peaceful environment. Our six dogs leave them alone, our cats leave them alone and I like the fact that we get a lot of eggs from our girls (13-18 eggs per day). The deal is this: if any single animal threatens the well being of the "family", it probably needs to go. Examples include aggressive dogs and overly aggressive roosters. Otherwise it's just constant tension and chaos.

I hope your situation improves. Blessings upon you!

 

[microchick]

Wait, just above this line you say you cannot associate human behaviors with chickens; then above that you do exactly that and make a statement that been proven incorrect.
Chickens apparently do know who is a related individual. I suggest you do some research.
Lots of creatures mate with their relatives; it's just not an accepted in most human societies.
I don't think chickens know about 'happier' though and go around beating their chests at the removal of one of their kind or dance with delight.
I think you've got human behavior and chicken behavior all confuzzeled.
Disagreeing is fine, but really if you wish to be taken seriously the above posts you've made aren't going to help.

I think if you read over some of my posts concerning dealing with Marek's disease you will find that people have no problem at all taking me seriously. And no, I am not confusing humans with animals. They taught me the difference when I went through nursing college.

I have my own writing style as you are within your rights to have your own unique style. I'm not going to make this a personal attack. If you disagree with me that is your right, but let it end there. Lets play nice and agree as I said to disagree.

 

[teresa toth]

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.

 

[teresa toth]

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 had a rooster like that. I tried everything possible. A lot of the advice on this site was not possible, like "grab the rooster and do x". What planet are these people on that they can easily catch a rooster? Is it a slow rooster with a broken leg and wing--that's what I would like to know. Anyway, if the advice was physically possible (catching the rooster in a 1 acre fenced yard was not), we tried it. Nothing worked. And since I had little kids terrified to use half our yard because of this rooster, and because it attacked me one too many times (last straw was getting attacked after giving it canteloupe its favorite food) we killed it. Did not give it away, as we figured anyone from craigslist would read "aggressive rooster" and use it for fighting.

 

[Cryss]

There is a view I often read that states you do what's right for you in your circumstances. It's not a view I agree with.
My view is try to do what's right for the chickens you keep. I doubt many will agree but it is my view.

My view is keep the chickens that you can do right by.
I bought my first small flock of 4 very young pullets from a reputable breeder. He guarentees gender if that is what you require. I only wanted pullets. 2 of the 4 ended up being cockerels. True to his word he exchanged them for pullets. Actually I decided to keep one of the cockerels. The breeder insisted on still giving me another pullet since he had guaranteed gender. I keep this rooster because I can do right by him. I would not be able to do right by more cockerels and roosters. If I decided to hatch and add to my flock size I would not keep cockerels because I couldn't do right by them. If I couldn't find homes I would have to do what is right for my circumstances.

 

[tomfromsc]

A lot of good advice here ,I think you try as many suggestions as you have patience for and if one works great if not you do what you have to knowing you tried every thing ...good luck

 

[Fluffnut]

What I usually do is I always refuse to tolerate any aggression. If the rooster walks sideways around me, like he's trying to show off I stamp my big leather booted foot near him to make him jump.

If he ever tries to peck me or slash at me I grab his neck and pull it down to the ground, and with the other hand I push his body down to the ground so he is basically sitting. Lean over him and don't let him get back up.

When you remove your hand and he no longer tries to get back up, he has at least "accepted" you as something not to easily mess with.

If the rooster is breeding a hen push him off with your foot. That's your hen and he can't breed your hens when you're around since you're the "head rooster". He may still be a mean rooster, but he'll be less likely to assault you.

Thank you! I'll try that tomorrow!