Time to 'walk the walk'

[Camelot Farms]

Well, I am always one to comment about a naughty roo who takes on a kid and my advice is always...' freezer camp'.

Well, today DS (age 15) tells me 'you better check 'Pretty Boy' for a concussion'. Gah... I ask him if PB fell off the roost. He says 'No, I bashed him in the head with the hoe handle when he came at me.'

Apparently DS was out doing chores and PB came up behind him and jumped on his back. DS spun around and PB fell off but then came at DS so DS grabbed the hoe and cracked him cause he couldnt get him to stop.

Egads! Until today PB has been a perfect roo. He free ranges on our 2 acres with all of his girls and has never bothered a soul.

After having talked the talk to so many others about thier naughty boys, its time for me to walk to walk. Or in this case... time for DH to walk the walk and send PB to freezer camp.

Drat! I love that roo. Why must these things happen?

 

[EweSheep]

Sometimes they are testing your son. Good thing he wacked him!

If he does it again, freezer camp or one chance, freezer camp!

 

[buck-wild-chick]

If its his first time...

I penned my mean rooster up,with the intentions of getting him fat and eating him.After a few weeks of being penned up,mom let him out of the coop, not knowing any better.Well by the time the other roosters got ahold of him,he had lost all his rankings in the group and was banashed...Well hes been hanging out on my porch for months waiting for bread.Yeah I'm a softy and started feeding him.... He hasn't spurred anyone in months. Its so weird tho because,he was ALWAYS a mean rooster even from birth,he would fight with his siblings.Now he comes in the house for catfood

(And yes,he does get "chicken food")

 

[tryingtohaveitall]

Interesting. This is a good time for me to read this thread. Our rooster has become quite aggressive and attacks everyone. My DH has sending him to freezer camp on his to-do list, but maybe we'll try caging him first. Do others agree this is effective?

 

[cmom]

I thought this might be of interest...

Rooster reform page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior

 

[SC_Hugh]

Talking the Talk prior to Walking the Walk is very important. Cmom, that is a good rooster page

I hope I never have to perform the Upside down by the legs rooster submission.

I am my rooster's alpha, I've cared for him since he was three days old, that little guy is mine! So I will care for him with calm-assertive energy while enforcing my Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations (The Cesar Millan way). I know that chickens are not dogs and that you can not treat them exactly the same, but I think that all 4 of my young chickens (3 pullets and 1 rooster) know my Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations...a few of them listed below.

1. My chickens can do whatever they want in their coop and run. They poop anywhere they want, eat inside or out, stay up late, wake up early, BUT we decide what time they are let out in the morning into their fenced/covered run. After sundown, my wife or I always check in on them, say good night and lock the windows and pop door...every night.

2. We decide when and how many chickens get to free range and for how long, we guard the entire flock while they are out and we put them back in their enclosure with calm-assertive energy (slow movements, soft chicken talk encouragement and one long PVC stick used as an extension of my arm - my next video assignment). I never hit them with the stick, I just use it to direct them and tap the ground to keep them moving as I stand up tall and use my stick as a really long arm (like the long arm of the law). None of my chickens are allowed to roam behind the coop area, only the area between the coop and my other shed. If my rooster starts stomping around and chasing all the girls, then he stays in the run and the girls free range, not very often, but often enough that he knows we are in charge, my wife and I are the flock leaders and there is no need for us to fight about it.

3. My Little Ricky (7+ month old rooster) gets picked up every time he free ranges (my turf). He used to get a little too anxious when I picked up his favorite pullet (the only one that is laying eggs and also the only one that he is laying). I respect that he has rooster feelings about his girl, so I pick up him instead

One hand under his breast with his legs and feet dangling while I pet him with my other hand and watch that semi-crazy look in his eye that says "what is this guy doing? And why does he want to scratch my neck and massage me and talk softly...am I going to freezer camp"? I hold him for 5-10 minutes and when I kneel down to release him, I let go of him so gently that he doesn't even walk away right away...that is our quality time.

4. Treats are offered every few days, inside the run or out in the yard. Usually out of my hands with two birds eating from each hand. I really like feeling their wattles on my hands while they eat.

5. So far, only my wife and I guard the free-ranging flock because my teenagers are not interested in letting them out of their run, all is good...so far.

Chicken health and happiness are more important than egg count. If these don't produce well, then I will expand my flock with some better egg laying breeds next time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

--Hugh

Here is that look in Little Ricky's eye!

 

[speckledhen]

How old is your rooster? Usually, temperament does not become plain till he's mating the girls and the hormones are flowing. Then, again, things are not always so black and white. An event can change a rooster's personality for the good or the bad at a later age. My own Dutch is a wonderful rooster and is a year and a half old. He used to come up and stand to be picked up till just a few months ago when we'd hold out our hands and call him. Then, for reasons to do with protecting his injured wattles and comb from fights with his brother, we began putting him in a separate coop every night so the girls could not pick at him and keep him bleeding and scabby. Sometimes my DH would take him and put him away for the night, sometimes I would. This went on for two or three weeks.
Then one day as I was setting him in the separation pen, after he stood still for me to pick him up and carry him over there, he whirled around and bit the crap out of my hand. Couldn't figure it out at first, but we feel it was because he was resenting me personally for separating him from his ladies. Then later, he would on occasion run at me, just me and never my DH. For some reason, in his pea brain, I was the cause of his distress. He was banished to another pen with only 10 ladies, rather than his usual 30, and not allowed to freerange except on rare occasions. Lately, he hasn't done it, but now, I don't trust him. He is on very thin ice here and I may yet rehome him, since it's not overall aggression, just a thing with me that developed late in his life. Normally, I'd say cull the jerk, and that is our policy, but as you can see, it's not all black and white with roosters. He's still never flogged me and will still eat out of my hand with no problem.

 

[jjparke]

Eat him! It will be the best choice you ever made. Your kids will be a lot happier too. Think of it this way- you decide later you need another rooster they are literally a dime a dozen. Life's to short to have to deal with a questionable rooster.

 

[adorable]

once they start. Never turn your back. He will do it again sooner or later. Send to freezer camp.