The Taming of the Roo....

[Camelot Farms]

While this is a story of a Mille Fleur Cochin roo, I imagine that it could be applied to a roo of any breed.

In our MFC pen, I had 3 young roos and 8 hens. The dominant roo has fabulous coloring and type considering he is a project bird. Recently I began allowing them out of their pen to free range.

Within an hour of being released, Roo Hefner (as my son calls him) turned into a tiny terror and had attacked both myself and my daughter and later that evening, my son and husband. Fortunately he can only lift his little self off the ground about 4 inches and with fully feathered legs, his spurs are nearly harmless. This behavior continued for several days even after being carried around in a rather undignified manner, given a smack down with several garden implements and a few other creative (yet harmless) punishments.

By now my daughter will no longer go to the barn by herself which is very inconvenient for all of us since the chickens are mainly her project.

After one extremely annoying attack, I threatened to drop him in with my 2 very very large Coronation Sussex roosters. But alas, I remembered that he contains my best project bird genetics and I need him alive. *sigh* But....why not drop him in my layer pen that is closely guarded by a bantam faverolle rooster of great experience. I should mention that my layers are standard size birds...RIR, EE's, Marans and some other odds and end birds. SHAZAM!! In he goes.

Upon hitting the ground running, he had a brief glimmer of 15 fabulous hens all there for the taking. Until Black Bart stepped out of the shadows. A mere 2 minutes later, Roo Hefner was a quivering mass of panting feathers. No blood shed, no injury. Just a short lesson for Roo Hefner on his place in the world. He has now been in the layer pen with the girls and Bart for about a week. He still hasnt quite lost that glint in his eye when I walk in the pen but Bart stands for no antics. Any quick movement from Hef and Bart is on him like white on rice.

Hef will be staying in the pen until he loses that glimmer of hope that he will be the King of Barnyard.

So the next time you find yourself with a Roo you can not tame or break, considering turning him over to his own kind for a short lesson on manners in the yard.

 

[terrilhb]

May I send my RIR roo to you. He used to be sweet. I think he was the bottom roo. Had him with 2 others. (they were to much for my girls.) So he is left. Now he has turned into a monster. Flying at me trying to attack from behind. He will be there tomorrow. LOL

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

That fixed his little red wagon.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Sure...He can be penned with those monster Sussex Brothers. I swear they could see what I was thinking before I came to me senses and dropped the spitfire in with the bantam fav. They were like dogs thinking they were getting a piece of meat. Geesh. LOL

Ya know. I may be on to something. Rooster Training School. Send me your Naughty Nasties and they will come back in one of two ways....Gentlemanly and Mannerly in a 'Lives' shipping box or plucked and processed on ice. Either way...you win!

 

[terrilhb]

That is really awesome that you have such a sweet roo. Mine used to be. I am determined he will be again. Or else.

Good luck

 

[tinychicky]

nice job lol! he sure learned his lesson! terrilhb, try picking him up everytime he attacks you and forcing him to put his head down. by putting his head down, you force him to submit to you and though involuntarily, it is still effective. if he's good, reward him, by tapping his face, always below the eyes, and plucking at his neck feathers with you fingers. hens do this as a way of adoring thier boys. roosters love it. pretty soon he'll be treating you like a doting hen instead of a nasty intruding rooster. some of mine even call me over when they find food! the trick to roosters is not to physically dominate them, because in that there is always the chance that they can decide to fight again. you have to make them love you and treat you like one of the flock. if you are a "hen" in the flock, he will never attack you because roosters don't attack hens, as a general rule. part of this method of respect is that if you pick him up, always be willing to let him go if he wants to because holding him back is a threat. eventually he will learn to trust you hands and let you hold him for a longer period of time. hope this helps!

 

[sourland]

Umm, have you raised any of Roo Hefner's sons yet?

There is a strong genetic component to human aggressiveness in roosters.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Once you get Roo Hefner into Beta mode, you need to make sure he understands you are Alpha.

Think for a moment how you would feel if a black SUV followed you everywhere you went for 10 minutes a day, even when you tried to evade it. Every day. Every time you left the driveway. You would feel intimidated, right?

Same thing here, with animal kingdom modifications.

Speed-walk after Roo Hefner. Aim to run him down, and do so if he stands his ground. Follow him everywhere for 10 minutes or so. Do this every time you are around him, several days in a row.

It is better to do this with no tools or weapons so that he associates you with a threat. After a few days, and he stops challenging you should ease up. You are looking for respect, not terror.

You can read more about Handling Rooster Aggression here .