Usually peaceful rooster suddenly aggressive

[currythecockerel]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if someone had any insights into this issue: my rooster Curry is the sweetest chicken ever because we hand raised him and he loves cuddles just like a little puppy, but today one of our 6 month old hens laid her first egg and he was suddenly SUPER aggressive and attacked my dad despite him not being anywhere near the nest box. He had never ever attacked or pecked someone before but he was even guarding my dad outside the window! Does anyone know if this is just because the hens laid their first egg? Is it temporary? Or is it going to be like this forever? Sorry for the long question!

 

[Tonyroo]

How old is he?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Depends on his age. If he's around 6 months old, he may mellow by the time he's a year old. But not likely. He likely felt your Dad was a threat to the hens, or a challenger to his authority in the flock.

 

[currythecockerel]

How old is he?

he’s almost a year old

 

[currythecockerel]

Depends on his age. If he's around 6 months old, he may mellow by the time he's a year old. But not likely. He likely felt your Dad was a threat to the hens, or a challenger to his authority in the flock.

He’s about 10-11 months old, that’s what I was thinking too except this came out of nowhere weve picked up the hens and played with them in front of him before but he was never aggressive until now.

 

[Tonyroo]

Give him 6 months, then determine if he needs to go.

It takes a year and half for a rooster to adjust to his hormones. During that time his hormones is leveling out. Hanging out with the flock and having a routine exposure to them helps.

But if it becomes to dangerous to be out with the flock. You can separate him from the flock for awhile. Or cull him if he's constantly in attack mode.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if someone had any insights into this issue: my rooster Curry is the sweetest chicken ever because we hand raised him and he loves cuddles just like a little puppy, but today one of our 6 month old hens laid her first egg and he was suddenly SUPER aggressive and attacked my dad despite him not being anywhere near the nest box. He had never ever attacked or pecked someone before but he was even guarding my dad outside the window! Does anyone know if this is just because the hens laid their first egg? Is it temporary? Or is it going to be like this forever? Sorry for the long question!

Get him some blinders or pinless peepers. At such a young age, he should be easily deterred from aggressive behavior.

 

[Boomerwaffen]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if someone had any insights into this issue: my rooster Curry is the sweetest chicken ever because we hand raised him and he loves cuddles just like a little puppy, but today one of our 6 month old hens laid her first egg and he was suddenly SUPER aggressive and attacked my dad despite him not being anywhere near the nest box. He had never ever attacked or pecked someone before but he was even guarding my dad outside the window! Does anyone know if this is just because the hens laid their first egg? Is it temporary? Or is it going to be like this forever? Sorry for the long question!

Could be a couple things. Age for one, roosters seem to go through a hyper aggressive period from about 8-18 months depending on the bird. Also if they’re attached to a few layers they can get aggressive for awhile. I love our roosters but have had a couple of absolute terrors. I’ve learned to just grab them and take them down to the pond and sit on the deck there with them for 10-15 minutes, talking softly to them and petting them. But also softly restraining them. After they get to be about 18 months they seem to chill out a lot more. Kind of like teenagers. Get yourself a dip net to catch the little thugs though. It saves time.

 

[Claire65]

I have all barred rocks and 2 of them are cockerels. The larger one is incredibly aggressive and attacks the other one. We've not decided if he should be culled and a smaller meal or what. We do know that giving them to another flock is also a bad idea, since the neighbors who want him, might be attacked as well as either killed by the established rooster or kill the established roo.

The entire flock was born on 7/2/2022 and we got them at 3 days old. All of them get pampered, but this one will turn on us or the other cockerel. It's too bad, he's a beautiful roo. We'd like to keep him but don't know what the other cockerel in the flock will do ...

 

[Shadrach]

I think it's a reasonable assumption that having a laying hen would make him more defensive.
Were you a witness to the attack on your father? The circumstances of an attack make a lot of difference to trying to predict future behaviour. In some cases what are reported as attacks are in fact something else.
Does he attack you?
Now, if you want to keep him you need to find out who he will attack and under what circumstances.
Some roosters get really upset if they see you taking eggs. Solution: don't let him see you do it.
Some roosters get upset if you pick up his hens. Solution: don't pick them up.
I'm sure you've got the idea.

Many people are not prepared to change their routines/attitude in order to deal with stroppy roosters. I think it's a terrible shame.

I wrote this article on observations from a lot of free range roosters. It may give you another view of roosters.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/