Topic of the Week - Aggressive Roosters: What is the best way to handle them?

[Mrs. K]

No, not all roosters are this way. I would suggest, though, that if your daughter wants chickens as pets, you avoid getting another rooster. In my opinion, a good rooster avoids all contact with me. He moves away when I come near. My last rooster would herd the hens away from me, too. I think your daughter will have a better chance of keeping her hens as pets without a rooster for that very reason. They will depend more upon her than him. Kids are resilient - if you can tell her in a very matter-of-fact manner that Rocky has to go, she'll deal with it much better than if you act like it's a tragedy. It is, in fact, a part of chicken keeping. Sometimes you have to "manage your flock".

You might ask her to think about this rooster attacking her friends or a smaller child.

 

[sumi]

Thanks for the info....since she does treat them like her pets I can understand why a rooster wouldn't be a good fit in the flock. I assumed because they are free range a rooster would be beneficial, but as I am reading the through the threads itseems as tho they're not truly needed.

Roosters CAN make good pets. If you have one with the right temperament they can be amazing additions to the flock. I had a number of roosters over the years, some were fantastic, some so-so and one stood out, that was a lot like yours. Mine was raised by me, from day 1 and he was wonderful at first, he loved sitting on my lap, followed me everywhere etc. Then one day when he was about 4-5 months old, the switch flipped and he turned into a monster. He took bites out of my legs and arms, attacked the hens viciously, attacked our visitors… I thought he'd grow out of it, he didn't. After about 3 weeks we rehomed him. On the flip-side, around the same time I raised another rooster who was absolutely amazing. Very tame, tolerated everything, fantastic with the hens, great with kids, good flock protector. He spotted predators from a mile away and attacked dogs and everything (predator or potential predator) that visited his yard and threatened his ladies. A rooster like that can be an asset to the flock, not needed, but they can certainly earn their keep if they're good.

 

[cdreamer698]

You might ask her to think about this rooster attacking her friends or a smaller child.

Yes, good point I think what helps is seeing what he did to her dad last night, she was able to see it first hand.

 

[TheFoxyChicken]

We remove ours from the flock for a week or two. This sometimes shifts the dominance. Then I reintroduce. If the rooster is still aggressive, we try another method of housing. If in a pen, we free range. Or visa versa. If still a mean bird, I go full blown love farmer. After getting him into a pen, I will pull him out daily and love on him. This means, holding him tight enough to prevent getting out. I rub on him and tell him he is a good boy. Then put him back in the pen. A week or two of this normally changes the temperament as it establishes that I am the dominant one. Put on gloves and a helmet if you have to. But, eventually he needs to have you whispering in his ear "I got you"

Some say this works on kids too.
Just kidding, please don't call the state on me.

 

[MollySunshine]

I noticed something bothersome the other day. One of my male bantams is very alpha. He plays a duel roll with my RIR alpha in some ways. I'm watching carefully how this will play itself out. When its time for everyone to enter the coop at night he too is one of the last to enter and checks the area to be certain all are in. I noticed a couple weeks back that when it's time to go into the coop for the night, he chases one of the female bantams in. It happens every time! The other night, he was quite aggressive doing it. He's chasing her and she's frantically trying to get away from him. He went as far as to grab her neck and she got tossed around a bit. It got to a level that I thought I would need to intercede. Fortunately, she got away, went into the coop and he continued with rounding up the troops. My question is this, why does he appear to be so aggressive to this one female? They are both young, both approximately 16 weeks of age. Raised together since day one. Is he just in love with this little girl????

 

[islandgirl82]

I noticed something bothersome the other day. One of my male bantams is very alpha. He plays a duel roll with my RIR alpha in some ways. I'm watching carefully how this will play itself out. When its time for everyone to enter the coop at night he too is one of the last to enter and checks the area to be certain all are in. I noticed a couple weeks back that when it's time to go into the coop for the night, he chases one of the female bantams in. It happens every time! The other night, he was quite aggressive doing it. He's chasing her and she's frantically trying to get away from him. He went as far as to grab her neck and she got tossed around a bit. It got to a level that I thought I would need to intercede. Fortunately, she got away, went into the coop and he continued with rounding up the troops. My question is this, why does he appear to be so aggressive to this one female? They are both young, both approximately 16 weeks of age. Raised together since day one. Is he just in love with this little girl????

I'm guessing your RIR is the true alpha and your bantam is competing with him. When a cockerel is raised with pullets, they will choose to dominate them first over older girls...it's easier for them. Then they'll try to work their way up to the top.

 

[dekel18042]

I noticed something bothersome the other day. One of my male bantams is very alpha. He plays a duel roll with my RIR alpha in some ways. I'm watching carefully how this will play itself out. When its time for everyone to enter the coop at night he too is one of the last to enter and checks the area to be certain all are in. I noticed a couple weeks back that when it's time to go into the coop for the night, he chases one of the female bantams in. It happens every time! The other night, he was quite aggressive doing it. He's chasing her and she's frantically trying to get away from him. He went as far as to grab her neck and she got tossed around a bit. It got to a level that I thought I would need to intercede. Fortunately, she got away, went into the coop and he continued with rounding up the troops. My question is this, why does he appear to be so aggressive to this one female? They are both young, both approximately 16 weeks of age. Raised together since day one. Is he just in love with this little girl????

A good rooster will be the last one into the coop at night, and I have seen roosters herd the hens in when they think it is time to go to bed. I've never had any get aggressive with it. Perhaps yours is just learning and overzealous.
BTW, I find it interesting that I had bantams growing up then several years ago we added a few to our flock. Never in my life have I had an aggressive bantam rooster. We have Old English Game Bantams and they rule their little kingdom but are fine with other pets and people. If I'm throwing treats out and the little bantam hens can't get near it, I've seen the roosters run in, grab some and bring it back for a hen. I have one little hen who limps from an injury and I've seen the bantam rooster go after a large hen if he figures she is too close or makes the little one squeak. When he goes into protection mode, the big hens race away from him although they are at least four times his size. I'm thinking of the time a big hen tried to take a treat away from the little hen. Wasn't going to happen on his watch.
While we've had an occasional aggressive rooster (only one really bad one) the worst were the leghorn roosters my mother had when I was a child. We NEVER had a nice one. (To this day I still dislike the breed) Finally all were culled, but we didn't have problems with the brown egg layer roosters. (When I was a kid chickens were usually referred to as white egg layers or brown egg layers. Only RIR's got their own breed mention.)

 

[snywalker]

[COLOR=1D2129]First time chicken mom here so I need some advice ......We have a 5 month Old English game bantam cockerel that we have had since he was a week old.Over the past month he has gotten VERY aggressive with humans and our 4 hens. He is a cute miniature 2 legged feathered terror. He chases our guests, and everyone in the family. Anyone who goes near him, the hens or even outside gets flogged, bitten or challenged. Although hes going to stay a little guy, my biggest concern is my 8 year old daughter who adores him, she has been the ONLY o[/COLOR]ne able to hold him or be close to him. That abruptly changed over the weekend,as he started showing signs of aggression towards her as well. The last straw was last night while we were sitting on the porch he ran up and attacked my husband scratching and biting his hand and left nasty marks. My daughter loves her chickens, and spends time feeding them and caring for them daily (her four girls are the sweetest), so telling her that her beloved Rocky is a nightmare and needs to go will be hard for us and for her but I refuse to let him get the opportunity to hurt her. My question is .... Are all roosters this way? If not, what breed of rooster can we get to protect my hens but wont get aggressive with us or the kids? My husband is ready to throw him on the grill for mauling his hand....

Like others have said, not every rooster is like that. I will not go roosterless again because I like how much more peaceful everything is with a GOOD rooster. But you do have to sift through them to find one worth keeping. But I also have kids and that type of aggression cannot be tolerated. I won't do bantams anymore because the roosters seem to be the worst. And I just had to post a picture of my 2yr old (oh and the rooster too)

 

[arent87]

Our rooster, Chanticleer, was the only rooster in a group of 6 baby chicks we bought last year (our first chickens ever), so we've tried to read up on roosters, and see that they are generally less friendly than hens. He's pretty intimidating, and has pretty good size... roughly the body size of somewhere between football and basketball, and close to 2 feet tall. I have never had a problem with him. He and I (so far) seem to have an understanding that we leave each other alone.



When I bring treat to the chickens, I toss it on the ground for the hens, but enjoy hand-feeding him. He's extremely gentle when he plucks food out of my hand, as opposed to ALL the hens, who peck hard and deep and hurt like heck! I'll crouch down in front of him, hold my hand out and he will nibble while I tickle under his chin - although sometimes he just decides he doesn't want to be within 5 feet of me...

We recently relocated all our chickens into their new, larger coop (yes - we've owned chickens for just over a year and are already excited about expanding the flock - LOL!)

So the big question was - how the heck are we going to move Chanticleer from the old coop (seen below - with the added bonus of a young black bear who likes to snoop around now and then because we're stupid and always forget to put our bird feeders away) to the new coop?

(all the trees around the coop above have been cleared to make room for orchard, new coop, etc)

After watching my wife struggle to coax a couple hens into a wire frame dog crate, I decided to just go for it. I prepared myself for the fight of a lifetime and went into the smaller coop, cornered Chanticleer, put one hand on his back and one on his chest, and gently pinned him to the ground. He squawked a bit until I tucked him under my arm, then he relaxed and let me carry him over to the new coop (seen below). So with me - he's fine. I had to pick him up and carry him around a couple times that day, and he did just fine with me.


On the other hand, he decided one day to open up a can of whoop-*** on my 28 year old daughter who entered the chicken yard with treat. He managed to get a hold of her thigh and draw a bit of blood somehow, without ripping her jeans so she no longer goes in with the chickens.

And a week or so ago, my wife went rushing into the chicken yard with a small tin pail full of treats for them. She walked down to the end, sprinkling treat, then back up closer to the coop, where, apparently Chanticleer decided it was time for her to leave the premises and went after her from behind. She turned in time to block him with the pail, and he went after her again (jumped up, both feet aimed at her) so she blocked him again. Then he just calmed down and walked away.

So, to make a long story longer, even though my wife was already planning on leaving the chicken yard, she decided to let him know that he had not chased her out. She she walked back down all the way to the end of the run again, towards him, stopped and lingered, then slowly walked out as he walked a few paces behind her, escorting her to the door.

She makes it a point now, to walk right up to him when she goes in with treats, tosses his treats to him and strokes his back - which he barely tolerates, but now it's their thing I guess.

 

[speckledhen]

Some roosters are really amazing flock members that knows their place and looks after their flocks without ever causing issues, or show signs of aggression towards his hens, or humans. But sometimes a problem rooster crops up that shows either excessive aggression to his hens, or attacks humans. In this thread, please tell me your thoughts on how to best manage an aggressive rooster, specifically:

- What was your experience(s) with aggressive roosters and what did you try/do to remedy it?
- Should aggressive roosters be rehabilitated, rehomed, or invited for dinner?

The short answer to an aggressive rooster is get another rooster and get rid of the mean one. You can invite him to dinner, which if often a rooster's lot in life or you can rehome him with FULL disclosure but, IMO, you cannot truly rehab a mean rooster who has it in his genes. You might make him more leery of you if you scare him, but he will bide his time and get you when you least expect it if he's predisposed to actual aggression.

Temperament is heritable-the males pass that down most of the time, good or bad, and it can be selected for like any other trait. I know, after a line of non-human aggressive Orpingtons and Delawares. Their sons, grandsons and on down the line were pretty much just as easygoing and intelligent as both Suede and Isaac were. Nothing with an animal is 100% guaranteed, but folks used to get roosters from me because of the good ones I raised and I did nothing special except keep the best, cull the rest (but I think I've only eaten one, really, in all these years). I could do anything to their hens and they would only watch with interest but never would they make any aggressive moves to either my husband or myself. Their progeny is all over this country and others tell me the same thing, that they love how wonderful those boys are.

Doesn't matter if you pet them, don't pet them, genetics will win out. Aside from influencing situations that may change behavior very late in a rooster's life, they are what they are. If you baby one and it's not genetically aggressive, it won't become aggressive to you. If he is prone to that anyway, does not make ANY difference what you do-he will attack you when his hormones start flowing.

I do believe when roosters are to the point of mating hens and watching over the flock, you need to back away from your "baby" and let him be the protector he is, but NEVER put up with aggression towards YOU. NOT EVER. Hatchery stock is not selected for temperament so they are all over the place, breeds aside. I've heard of aggressive Silkies, aggressive Cochins and aggressive Orpingtons, etc. But I've also seen non-aggressive Rhode Island Reds. Males from my Barred Rock/Delaware line are not aggressive to people. I have a different line of BR now in addition to my own and I'm watching an almost 12 week old cockerel who is extremely dominant to see if his aggression ramps up when his hormones kick in. My line is a known quantity but this is the first time with this new line.

And it also can be an intelligence test, in my experience. The smarter ones do not attack the bringers of food and water and they realize that the human caretakers are in charge, ultimately, not them. To quote my sig line, "you don't breed stupid".

To handle one showing some aggressive signs, don't baby or pet him. Push him around with your knees/body, invade his space, pick up his hens, but don't "fight" with him. If he can't calm down, he needs to be replaced.