Very Aggressive Rooster!

[vickifiveoh]

I have a very aggressive rooster. I can't get near the pen. He flies at the wire. I can't get in to clean their coop. What do I do about this Rooster? Is there any way to calm him down? Any advice you can give me would be appreciated!!

 

[bj taylor]

vickifiveoh; i don't know much of anything. i'm still in the early learning stages. what i've read is there is no fixing aggressive roosters. you cull them one way or another. best of luck. i know that must not be fun. for curiosity, what breed is he?

 

[cafarmgirl]

I have a very aggressive rooster. I can't get near the pen. He flies at the wire. I can't get in to clean their coop. What do I do about this Rooster? Is there any way to calm him down? Any advice you can give me would be appreciated!!

Depends on how interested you are in trying to work with him and/or how comfortable you are with culling or otherwise getting rid of him.

Personally, I probably wouldn't work with a rooster with that level of aggression. I certainly wouldn't want to breed him. My current roo is a 3 year old RIR who went through an aggressive phase in his teenage months. With maturity and training he became quite a decent bird. I keep an eye on him but he is happy to give me my space when I'm working in the barn. If he had not responded to training or gotten worse I'd have gotten rid of him.

Until you decide what you want to do, make sure you carry a rake with you to protect yourself. Run him off and keep him running while your at it. Separate him from his flock and keep him away until you let him come back. He needs to know you are the boss, not him. If he can be caught at all then catch him and hold him for a while. My rooster is always particularly low on the totem pole after he's been caught, laid down and held to have his spurs trimmed. Very embarrassing for him in front of his hens! I don't ever antagonize my roo or start anything with him but when he used to try to come at me that's when I'd go after him, rake in hand but I never hit him with it, I'd run his rooster butt all around the pasture until he'd had enough and I'd made it real clear who was boss.

 

[vickifiveoh]

He is a Cochin. Very Beautiful. I may just have to get rid of him.

 

[vickifiveoh]

I can't get near him to catch him. I have to suit up in Carhartt everything to even feed them. I don't want a rooster like that. I may just have to give him up. The rest of my roosters are very friendly. I don't know what happened to him. Of course, I hatched out the rest of them and raised them from chicks. I guess that makes the difference.

 

[ReikiStar]

Some roosters won't ever be "cured" but mostly it's how you handle yourself. I don't think I'd trust a rooster like the one Vickifiveoh is describing around children. But if you want to keep him and he's not going to be around children, you need to learn rooster language and behavior.

We have 6 roosters (5 different breeds) and every single one of them are wonderful, non aggressive birds.

If you're afraid of getting hurt, you're not going to be able to work with this bird. Wear protective clothing, protect your eyes and know, you might get pecked or scratched before you get him under control.

Other people might have different strategies, ours is not to hurt or get physically violent with our birds. The simplest action we've used is to pick the rooster up, tuck him under one of your arms and use your other hand to gently but firmly hold his head down so that it's level with his back or slightly lower. After some time, when it feels like he's relaxed, we remove our hand. If he lifts his head up, we repeat. The object is to get him to submit to you, to admit you're the Alpha rooster. When he will leave his head down once you remove your hand, he's letting you know you're the boss. Granted. You might put him on the ground and the bugger attacks you. Pick him up an do it again. It's a process, this won't happen overnight. You have to walk tall, BE the bigger rooster when you're with him and not be afraid of him. Alpha Roos don't fear anyone. I don't know if he's kept with hens but run him off when he goes to mount a hen and pick the hen up. YOUR the boss and he's the subordinate roo. That's why I say to read up and learning how roosters act. He'll understand your actions better and you'll understand his.

And know, he will try and test you from time to time. That's what subordinates do to the Alphas. You just do the same exercise. Be calm and consistent.

Good luck.

 

[darin367]

the meaner they are the better they taste!!!

 

[bobbi-j]

You need to decide whether or not to keep him. That's the first step. In order to make that decision, ask yourself why you have chickens in the first place. Do you keep them for the enjoyment of having chickens? If so, do you enjoy this one? If you don't, it's an easy answer. Get rid of him. Cull him in whatever way you can - butcher, sell, or give away. I personally would not sell or give away a mean rooster. Don't want to take a chance on someone getting hurt - especially a child. If you're keeping them for breeding purposes, you might want to do some research and find out if aggressiveness is a trait that's passed on. (Many on BYC agree that it is) If that's the case, do you really want to perpetuate that? If not, he still needs to go. If, however, you enjoy getting attacked when you go out to the pen, by all means keep him around. Try to rehabilitate him if you have the time and patience to do so. But remember that just because he may learn to respect you doesn't mean he's going to respect anyone else. There is still the risk of him attacking and injuring someone who comes to visit your home (or other family memebers who live there). You can catch him at night. Suit up, grab him off the roost in the dark, and either kill him right then and there, or wait till morning when you can see what's going on. If you're not comfortable grabbing him with your hands, use a fishing net.

 

[moetrout]

It already sounds like you are afraid of him. I'd get rid of him. If you have kids or visiting kids then absolutely get rid of him. There are plenty of roosters to be had out there. Yours sounds particularly aggressive.

I kind of like the challenge and will sort of spar with mine. The game for me is can I catch him when he comes in to spur me. Our current roo has started acting up so I get to have some fun again. My daughter has ultimate say as she is the smallest and most fearful. I think once Sunny the rooster has some offsrping he will become Sunday dinner at the request of my DD.

 

[The Lazy L]

My son was about 7 years old.

Church was over and I ask him to put his coat on.

"NO!" he said.

I raised my voice a notch and TOLD him to put his coat on.

Another defiant NO!

I took my one hand and got a bunch of his shirt in my hand, lifted him up to eye level and pinned him with his back to the wall. I looked him straight in the eye and softly told him; I would not tolerate him talking to me that way and he was to put his coat on.

I gently set him back on the floor and he went and got his coat on with no further argument.




Your rooster acts this way towards you because you allow it. It may be too late to correct him, you got to teach them when they are young.

Walk up to your rooster with a short handle shovel in hand.

When he acts aggressive towards you smack him up the head with the shovel.

Continue until he realizes that his behavior is resulting in a splitting headache or until he does not get back up.




In case you're interested. Son put himself thru 4 years of college, has a wonderful wife, they have their own home and is studying for the ministry.