Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rooster.

[NewChickenmama06]

View attachment 1733557
Meet Debbie. We thought he was a girl when he was young because he was a little behind the other cockerels in coloring and such, hence the name Debbie. Debbie is, to put it lightly, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rooster. He’s the beta of the flock and has, thus far, attacked me (his favorite person to try to spur), both of my sisters, my boyfriend, my sister’s boyfriend, and my cousin whom he had never met before. He luckily has very short and dull spurs, however my patience has grown thinner with time. Today he has finally done the one thing I said would guarantee his demise: he broke skin. I was giving scratch to everyone, with some poultry conditioner added because my old highschool’s ag day is coming up and my sister and I plan to take some of my chooks to show the kids. All I did was walk around him, I wasn’t even looking at him, and he attacked feet first. He got me good enough to leave scraped and welts and one place he did, in fact, break skin. Debbie has been doing this since a couple months after the flock was well established and five of the other roosters were sold off, which was in July or August of last year. I’m sick of it. I don’t necessarily want to kill him but in that moment I did and had I been able to catch him, I would have. I don’t know what to do. I’ll kill him if I have to, I’ll rehome him if someone wants him, I just can’t deal with him anymore. I’m at my wits end. This is a rooster I hand-feed treats (like raspberries and blueberries and such) and he STILL attacks me! Any advice?

We at one time were living with a couple who had a Plymouth Rock roo decide to make their yard his home. They think he came from the farm down the street. He was great with my 10 year old daughter, but not the rest of us. He attacked both of the owners of the house and got into the back porch and pooed all over the womans clothes! The last straw was when I was picking dandelions for my chinchillas and he came up to me raised his wings and kicked both his legs up and kicked my arm so hard it knocked me over and left feet marks on me. It hurt so bad my eyes teared up.
Needless to say that rooster was gone the next day back to the farm whence he came. So I would say get rid of Debbie.

 

[seminolewind]

what I've learned from near a hundred roosters in 10 years.
You can never back away from a rooster. If he comes at you, you come at him. Wear jeans. Make him move off the spot he's standing as often as you can. Brooms and sticks are a challenge to a rooster. It depends if you want them afraid of you are just respect you and aknowledge you as alpha roo. See if you can keep him away from the food for 10 minutes. All this is easier with a younger rooster. Always look straight at him and come directly at him. See if you can get him to look away as you look at him. First one to look away is the loser. He must also never walk exactly toward you but he must come up to you sideways.

This is what I've seen roosters do to roosters. I've only had one bad roo who was a nasty bantam. The rest have been respectful. I have gotten rid of some that eat before their girls do or chase them away from the food.

If a roo doesn't modify his behavior, or you have kids, or he draws blood, I would not keep him. My grandkids from 5 years on have been around my roosters without a problem.

I would love to see the look on your roo's face when he comes at you and you come at him and make him back up. You'll really confuse him!

 

[chicksandchores]

what I've learned from near a hundred roosters in 10 years.
You can never back away from a rooster. If he comes at you, you come at him. Wear jeans. Make him move off the spot he's standing as often as you can. Brooms and sticks are a challenge to a rooster. It depends if you want them afraid of you are just respect you and aknowledge you as alpha roo. See if you can keep him away from the food for 10 minutes. All this is easier with a younger rooster. Always look straight at him and come directly at him. See if you can get him to look away as you look at him. First one to look away is the loser. He must also never walk exactly toward you but he must come up to you sideways.

This is what I've seen roosters do to roosters. I've only had one bad roo who was a nasty bantam. The rest have been respectful. I have gotten rid of some that eat before their girls do or chase them away from the food.

If a roo doesn't modify his behavior, or you have kids, or he draws blood, I would not keep him. My grandkids from 5 years on have been around my roosters without a problem.

I would love to see the look on your roo's face when he comes at you and you come at him and make him back up. You'll really confuse him!

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely keep that in mind!

 

[jp0318]

View attachment 1733557
Meet Debbie. We thought he was a girl when he was young because he was a little behind the other cockerels in coloring and such, hence the name Debbie. Debbie is, to put it lightly, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rooster. He’s the beta of the flock and has, thus far, attacked me (his favorite person to try to spur), both of my sisters, my boyfriend, my sister’s boyfriend, and my cousin whom he had never met before. He luckily has very short and dull spurs, however my patience has grown thinner with time. Today he has finally done the one thing I said would guarantee his demise: he broke skin. I was giving scratch to everyone, with some poultry conditioner added because my old highschool’s ag day is coming up and my sister and I plan to take some of my chooks to show the kids. All I did was walk around him, I wasn’t even looking at him, and he attacked feet first. He got me good enough to leave scraped and welts and one place he did, in fact, break skin. Debbie has been doing this since a couple months after the flock was well established and five of the other roosters were sold off, which was in July or August of last year. I’m sick of it. I don’t necessarily want to kill him but in that moment I did and had I been able to catch him, I would have. I don’t know what to do. I’ll kill him if I have to, I’ll rehome him if someone wants him, I just can’t deal with him anymore. I’m at my wits end. This is a rooster I hand-feed treats (like raspberries and blueberries and such) and he STILL attacks me! Any advice?

I used to have a rooster with this behavior. I still liked him though. (I love your rooster, he looks like one I have right now.)

 

[Caileys_Chickens]

Have you tried to mount him? You grab him back the feathers on the back of his neck and hold him against the ground. Do this everyday for a week and hopefully he should realize you're the leader. If not, you might just have to cull him/get rid of him

 

[chicksandchores]

Have you tried to mount him? You grab him back the feathers on the back of his neck and hold him against the ground. Do this everyday for a week and hopefully he should realize you're the leader. If not, you might just have to cull him/get rid of him

I did try that once but I can’t get close enough to him when he’s not in the coop to do that

 

[StefanThunder5]

Once it starts it never ends you will have to get rid of Debbie

 

[animalcule]

I’ve read a lot about roosters, just starting out with chickens and would like to breed my own. I’m a softie but I have sworn to myself that I will cull (and enjoy eating) any aggressive roosters - to hens or people - I may turn up with. It’s not worth being injured by your own animal or perpetuating those genes, there are plenty of nice roosters out there who understand that their job is to protect their hens from real threats. If you want another rooster, with him gone you’ll have room for another well behaved one in future. I wouldn’t feel guilty about removing him from your flock!

 

[chicksandchores]

I haven’t culled him; I am however considering either selling or eating both of my current boys. I hatched a clutch sired almost solely (I think) by my Rhode Island Henry, but both of my current boys are terribly aggressive when mating the ladies (they’re all either completely bare-backed or partially!) and I’ve read lots of good things about roosters that were brought up with only the hens. The only thing is, I have a broody with chicks under her (maybe a week old but I can’t remember exactly), and ~23 chicks coming up on nine weeks old. I don’t want the ladies and babies to be without protection.


One thing I have noticed, in addition to the somewhat better behavior, is that this training has caused problems between the boys. I’m treating Henry the same way I’m treating Debbie; both are my subordinates. Before I began this treatment, Debbie NEVER challenged Henry for ANYTHING. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve caught him undermining Henry when there are treats present, crowing closer to him, openly mating in front of him, and challenging him intensely every time Henry himself mates a lady. Henry used to just bully Debbie but now they fight CONSTANTLY it seems! Another drawback... I’ve noticed debbies spurs becoming quite sharper and more typical for a rooster. I fear someday he will turn on me with those and cause some real damage, or he and Henry will get into a fight and one of them will end up killing the other. I believe he didn’t realize he was Henry’s subordinate before I started challenging and bossing both of them, and now he’s fighting for top roo as far as the flock is concerned.

I feel terrible for the ladies right now. On Saturday morning I noticed an atypical poo symptomatic of coccidiosis, so all chooks are up for today and the next three days (treatment was started Sunday) with only momma hen and babies separate so nobody gets hurt or trampled. I hate having the girls in with both of the roosters but I don’t have the space/containment/waterers/feeders to separate them as well

 

[Morrigan]

I feel terrible for the ladies right now.

I think the sooner you remove those roosters, the better. Like in a few hours, not a few days. Your ladies deserve better then this, and you are the only one who can help them. Trust me, after it is done, you will have no regrets and wonder why you waited as long as you did.