Ugh... hurt my roo tonight. *Update* He attacked DH.

[Desert Rooster]

i use a squirt bottle filled with water on my roo, when i see that he wants to attack, i give him two squirts of water on him and he backs off and stops, now when i think he wants to attack, i show him the bottle and then he thinks twice

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
I don't think too many 'perfectly good roosters' are being killed. My hens don't get petted, shown to children, or hand fed treats. My chickens are livestock. I HAVE to handle the hens now and then to examine for parasites or any number of other things that need to be done to ensure good health. I cannot tolerate being attacked for this. I've found that if a rooster isn't smart enough to see that I'm not hurting his hen simply by lookin at her butt, then he probably isn't smart enough to be a flock leader in my chicken yard.
And, I never read about exceptional roos and decided I wanted all of mine to be that way. I had chickens for 40 years before I read anything at all about them. Experience has taught me what I know about chickens.

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

I don't think too many 'perfectly good roosters' are being killed. My hens don't get petted, shown to children, or hand fed treats. My chickens are livestock. I HAVE to handle the hens now and then to examine for parasites or any number of other things that need to be done to ensure good health. I cannot tolerate being attacked for this. I've found that if a rooster isn't smart enough to see that I'm not hurting his hen simply by lookin at her butt, then he probably isn't smart enough to be a flock leader in my chicken yard.

Exactly what I feel too. I did not have a roo to protect my hens. I didn't want a roo. He was a 'mistake' in a hatchery order of pullets. We thought we would try to raise a roo to see if we would be able to handle it. I do not want to make my chickens pets. They are here to provide eggs to me but as a responsible animal owner I also need to be able to handle them as needed for health checks. Sometimes that means even the roo has to be picked up to be checked over.

We expect some of our hens to go broody (some are already thinking about it - I had to push a buff off a nest for the past two days) and then we will buy eggs from someone else and allow them to hatch eggs. The roos will go into a roo pen and be processed just like we process our excess drakes. Now I get meat and eggs and I'm not going to worry about being attacked while doing my chores or gardening. My DH was walking the fence line when he got attacked and when he flogged me last he ran clear across our yard (we have over 7 acres of land) and there were NO hens near me when it happened.

BTW, just checked on the hens and for the first time in two months they are actually in their own pen eating. They have either not left their roosts or went to the duck pen in the morning to avoid being jumped by the roo repeatedly in the morning. So far, it doesn't seem to me that they miss him at all.

 

[AlbionWood]

I'm with dogdollar, a lot of these roosters seem to behave quite normally - from the rooster's perspective - and getting killed because we humans misunderstand their perspective. Certainly there are some that are just plain mean and aggressive and can't be safely kept, but most of these stories don't sound like that kind of roo.

From a rooster's perspective, there are basically four kinds of animate objects:
1) Hens
2) Other roosters
3) Threats to the hens
4) Everything else

Hens of course are to be protected from (2) and (3). Other roosters must be challenged and fought until they accept their place. Threats to hens must be faced down, attacked, and driven off. Everything else can be ignored.

So, if you act like a rooster, you get challenged and possibly attacked. You can fight back, confirming that you are indeed a rooster; if you win, he may accept his status as second-fiddle, and things go well. Or, he may wait for another chance to try you again - if he's a strong, dominant type, he may never accept the secondary role, and you'll get challenged repeatedly, unless you change YOUR behavior and convince him you aren't a rooster after all. This shouldn't be that hard.

If you act like a threat to the hens, again, a strong roo will attack you to defend his flock. There must be ways to check hens for health without making it look like an attack. Also this is probably related to flock size and confinement; expect more aggression if you have less than 10 hens per roo, or if they are confined in a small area.

Not everyone here agrees with this approach, but I find Robert Plamondon's analysis convincing:
http://www.plamondon.com/faq_roosters.html

 

[Yazzo]

You may want to take a good look at this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=63850-the-definite-guide-to-roosters. If you're good with dogs, horses, etc, it shouldn't take long for you to learn to handle roosters. Just you wait!

And contrary to what some people say, you CAN act like a rooster: like a dominant rooster. I make dominant rooster sounds at mine, and it works.

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

You can fight back, confirming that you are indeed a rooster; if you win, he may accept his status as second-fiddle, and things go well. Or, he may wait for another chance to try you again - if he's a strong, dominant type, he may never accept the secondary role, and you'll get challenged repeatedly, unless you change YOUR behavior and convince him you aren't a rooster after all. This shouldn't be that hard.

So basically the fact that he attacked my DH who does not work with the chickens at all is our fault? And he should have stood there and continued to have a rooster try to spur him repeatedly so that the rooster wouldn't think he was a challenge? And the fact he attacked our pet sitter - who raised chickens from a child - in a 450 sq foot coop is our fault?

I am looking for some help on understanding rooster behavior. How do you do it then? If I pick a hen up - even after they roost - some of them scream. And I did ignore him and did not pick him up or challenge him until he started attacking us.

Sorry to sound defensive here but every time someone posts about a roo issue a few camps show up:

1) hug him and love him - many swear by this (not me btw)

or

2) dominate him until he gives up and respects you.

Seems to me that those two approaches are polar opposites. I'd really, really like to understand what to do and I can see by the number of posts here asking the same questions that quite a few of us aren't getting it!

Thanks for the links. I'll take a look at them and see if any of them makes it clearer what do if we ever decide to raise a roo again.​

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

Oops, meant to add that we had 1 roo and 20 hens so the ratio is fine. Also, their coop size is discussed in my previous post and they are allowed to free range over 7 acres for af few hours a day. Bottom line I don't think space or a lack of hens is the issue here.

 

[abhaya]

Quote:
I have a EE roo that is really friendly I can hold him no problem.

 

[scottishgal]

I read somewhere on this site that all you need to do is flip them. Grab their feet and hold them upside down until they stop flapping, this can take a few seconds to a couple of minutes. After that you can handle them with no problems for the next several minutes and you have shown dominance. I do this to all my chickens when they get their wings clipped and to my roos when they start feeling froggy, most do not need it done anymore . One time will not fix the behavior , it must be done everytime you go into the chickenhouse until they get the message, no kicking required unless you just want a tenderized roast

 

[Ibicella]

Quote:
Sorry, but I'm of the school of thought that the animals that I pay for, protect, and work hard to keep well fed, happy, and healthy, shouldn't be giving me scars. Roosters that CAN handle the concept of not flogging their humans while being excellent in their jobs of taking care of their flock and attacking appropriate predators are NOT exceptional or rare.

A mean one that won't get the hint about his humans is only good for the stew pot, and will be easily replaced by a better rooster.