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- #11
Good points. Thanks for commenting, varidgerunner.It is possible to have a rooster to fill all of the roles of flock protector very well, AND be nice. Sometimes attacking humans is just the product of having a screw loose. Of course any of them can be made mean. I have two and three year old roosters that I can walk up to and pick up their hens with no problems. Won't let a predator do it, but humans are off limits. Takes a lot of breeding, and that breeding is not present in birds that have been selected for eggs, meat, fluffiness, or whatever, regardless of temperament. Most people that BREED chickens, don't deal with them in a backyard type setting. They throw a rooster that is the right color in a breeding pen with some hens, collect eggs and if they have a mean one, no big deal, throw some feed in the feeder mounted outside the pen, reach through the egg door to get eggs, and hang a clean waterer. Most times it will never be an issue if you aren't hanging out there a lot. If it does become an issue, how many hundreds of eggs from that rooster have already been put in an incubator? Most hatchery grade dual purpose breeds have a fair chance at being human aggressive if handled a lot. Many breeders simply don't handle their males any more than necessary, leave them half wild and scared of people and it is never an issue.
But, it is possible to breed human aggression out of roosters, while leaving them still quite roosterish. Also possible to handle and tame a rooster from hatching and never have any aggression issues towards his owner..
The rooster in my story was a factory grade Barred Rock that was one of millions produced by that hatchery. I doubt that temperament was ever a factor in their breeding choices; preferring instead to focus on egg production and color.
Now that we've had chickens for several years we are much more selective about where we purchase chicks if we decide to add a new bloodline.