what age will roosters turn MEAN?

[Kadjain]

It sound like he is trying to establish his dominance over you. It sucks that he's doing it even though you hatched him and spoiled him when he was young but it happens with domesticated animals. I've bred and raised dogs and had them try to establish a dominant role. Sometimes our acts of kindness are viewed as signs of submission. There comes a time in an animals life when they want to test and see what they can get away with.
My rooster was aggresive with me and my son at first. I told my son "when he comes at you kick him like you're trying to kill him, if he dies we'll eat him". He took a few big kicks and swats with big sticks. He doesn't try it anymore. My friend brought her 3 (?) year old daughter over and I was showing them the goats and chickens. I told them to keep her close because the rooster might jump at her. We got distracted and she managed to make it over to the rooster. Of course she had to go to the rooster, he's the prettiest one! She was only about 2 ft away when I noticed and he was just looking at her. I was surprised he didn't jump her but it showed me he really learned not to be stupid if I'm around. If I'm not around he has attacked two friends on seperate occasions but that is understandable, he's just protecting his property from a stranger. Bravely I must add, an 8 pound chicken trying to take on and run off 150+ pound men!

I say show him you're very serious! Sorry, I know he's your baby but that's what it will have to come down to if you don't want to be annoyed or scared by him all the time.

 

[turtlebird]

I run my 12 ladies and 1 roo as barnyard chickens. They are not pets, in that I don't pick them up and handle them other than necessary maintainance. This is my 3rd try with a roo and things are going alright. He is a SS Hamburg that I specifically did NOT request to be sent with my cornish cross. Well, he was rather cute so I went out to the farm store and picked up 3 lady friends for him. He has never liked to be handled. He will go out of the coop if I go in......into the coop if I walk into the run. I prefer this behavior. BUT, if I ruffle the feathers of any of the ladies, he is right there with that watchful eye. He is just a young fella, but I feel hopeful...
There are a few things that determine the behavior of a roo. Breed(not a blanket statement...not all roos in a supposed aggressive breed are indeed aggressive), individual temperament (personality), breeding (was his father cranky...sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!), your behavior can lead him to believe you are to be challenged (does he think you are a fellow chicken or are you a threat to his ladies), age (expect a rush of hormones when they begin to mature).
It sounds as if your roo is actually kind of dangerous. If a roo is to stay, he has to understand his place - which is under me. He is manager of the flock and I expect that he rule with a firm, gentle hand. He is to protect the ladies, break up squabbles, maintain flock fertility, find yummy treats for his ladies, etc. In turn, I will allow him to be what he is....a rooster.

 

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
I have a bantam roo that WAS so vicious that I was ready to kill him. I tried to give him away but nobody wanted him. My legs and arms are so scared that it looks as if I had a disease. My Bootsy turned mean when he was about 2, he's 4 now. It started with not letting anyone but myself in the pen. Then he started in on me. I wore boots up to my knees to keep from him pecking me but he soon learned that he could jump up to get at me. People that have never been pecked at by a chicken laugh at me when I tell them I have an attack rooster and it hurts when he gets me. Anyway, I left my chickens alone for 3 days while I was out of town. My husband went in to feed and water while I was gone. When I returned I went down to the coop to check things out. I forgot to change my shoes and once I got in the pen I started freaking because I just had on sandals. I don't know what happened while I was away for those 3 days but my "Bootsy" has stopped attacking. He is just as docile as he was 2 years ago. I think sometimes they either have a ruffled feather they have to work out or their just plain mean. Mine had to work out the ruffled feather. I guess one really never knows if or when a chicken will get their feathers ruffled.

 

[NinnyGillaspie]

I have a year old white leghorn roo that started getting mean. After a couple of fights with me, he has now backed off, and allows me to hold the hens. It took a couple of good rounds to teach him though. I wasn't abusive to him, just let him know who's the boss.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
I have a bantam roo that WAS so vicious that I was ready to kill him. I tried to give him away but nobody wanted him. My legs and arms are so scared that it looks as if I had a disease. My Bootsy turned mean when he was about 2, he's 4 now. It started with not letting anyone but myself in the pen. Then he started in on me. I wore boots up to my knees to keep from him pecking me but he soon learned that he could jump up to get at me. People that have never been pecked at by a chicken laugh at me when I tell them I have an attack rooster and it hurts when he gets me. Anyway, I left my chickens alone for 3 days while I was out of town. My husband went in to feed and water while I was gone. When I returned I went down to the coop to check things out. I forgot to change my shoes and once I got in the pen I started freaking because I just had on sandals. I don't know what happened while I was away for those 3 days but my "Bootsy" has stopped attacking. He is just as docile as he was 2 years ago. I think sometimes they either have a ruffled feather they have to work out or their just plain mean. Mine had to work out the ruffled feather. I guess one really never knows if or when a chicken will get their feathers ruffled.

Maybe your boots offended him?

 

[HHandbasket]

I think it depends on the roo. Our Rico (mottled java/FBCM cross) was always a really well-mannered rooster but turned mean all of a sudden when he got about 8-9 months old, and I was about to make soup out of him; but he has mellowed out significantly in the last month or so since he started molting. He wasn't mean to anyone else, and he's a good flock protector and is good to his hens; but he was mean to me and started attacking my legs this summer when I started going out into the yard in shorts. As long as I'm not wearing shorts, he pretty much leaves me alone. I guess he didn't like my lily-white flabby thighs LOL. Maybe they scared him.

Now that the cold weather has arrived & I am always in jeans/pants, Rico is back to his docile, loving little self. Good thing because we were thinking of stuffing him for Thanksgiving instead of turkey.

My white faced black Spanish roos are a whole other ball of wax. They are not in any way mean to us or aggressive toward humans or any of the other animals (cats & dog), but 2 of them gang rape all my hens and beat up on the other roosters (even the ones older/bigger than them), so I am selling these 2 naughty boys (if nobody buys them, they'll be eaten). I think if they were in a yard that didn't have so many roos, they might mellow out. Also, I have been told by Jim Bell (WFBS expert and preservationist extraordinnaire) that the males mellow out when they get to be a little over a year old. These boys are only 5 months old, so we'll see.

 

[Jakenhoss]

Quote:
I have a bantam roo that WAS so vicious that I was ready to kill him. I tried to give him away but nobody wanted him. My legs and arms are so scared that it looks as if I had a disease. My Bootsy turned mean when he was about 2, he's 4 now. It started with not letting anyone but myself in the pen. Then he started in on me. I wore boots up to my knees to keep from him pecking me but he soon learned that he could jump up to get at me. People that have never been pecked at by a chicken laugh at me when I tell them I have an attack rooster and it hurts when he gets me. Anyway, I left my chickens alone for 3 days while I was out of town. My husband went in to feed and water while I was gone. When I returned I went down to the coop to check things out. I forgot to change my shoes and once I got in the pen I started freaking because I just had on sandals. I don't know what happened while I was away for those 3 days but my "Bootsy" has stopped attacking. He is just as docile as he was 2 years ago. I think sometimes they either have a ruffled feather they have to work out or their just plain mean. Mine had to work out the ruffled feather. I guess one really never knows if or when a chicken will get their feathers ruffled.

Maybe your boots offended him?

It didn't matter what I was wearing. I do know he does not like the color red. My little roo doesn't either.

 

[GoldenSparrow]

it seems no matter what i wear, he doesnt care. he is just so mean!
I am such an animal lover, I could never bring my self to eat him or give him away.

He was my first rooster, so I am sorta stuck with him.


I did have a very nice rooster a few years ago. he was so wonderful.

I breeded him, because one, he was my only roo, and two,
some people told me that you eaither get a mean rooster or a nice one no mater what the father is. I sure hope I get some nice ones.

 

[Beekissed]

He was my first rooster, I hatched using an incubator. this guy was one spoiled rooster. he use to follow me every where, and even come in the house!

This comment and the ones just like it usually preface threads about mean roosters. I've never owned a "mean" rooster and never picked up, coddled, or otherwise rubbed a roo chick in my life. This is a male animal and when you nurture them when they are chicks, they imprint and start to think in their little feathery brains that you are the opposite sex of their species. When you do not submit, or squat, then they start to think you are a roo and must be fought for supremacy.

When you treat roos like kittens they often turn out to be wildcats for this very reason.

Please, folks, pay attention to these threads and the common denominator of rooster raising....hand-coddled, spoiled = mean, aggressive. Left to their own devices but shown who is flock master from an early age will = a normal rooster who avoids humans when they approach~which is normal behavior from an animal 2 ft. tall being approached by an animal 5-6 ft. tall.

Yes, there is always the exception, but it is merely the exception to the rule....most of the threads that I read on BYC about aggressive roos contain a segment about how nice the roo was when he was a chick and how he was snuggled, petted and otherwise confused by this excessive nurturing that you do NOT find in a natural setting.​

 

[Attila the Hen]

Quote:
This comment and the ones just like it usually preface threads about mean roosters. I've never owned a "mean" rooster and never picked up, coddled, or otherwise rubbed a roo chick in my life. This is a male animal and when you nurture them when they are chicks, they imprint and start to think in their little feathery brains that you are the opposite sex of their species. When you do not submit, or squat, then they start to think you are a roo and must be fought for supremacy.

When you treat roos like kittens they often turn out to be wildcats for this very reason.

Please, folks, pay attention to these threads and the common denominator of rooster raising....hand-coddled, spoiled = mean, aggressive. Left to their own devices but shown who is flock master from an early age will = a normal rooster who avoids humans when they approach~which is normal behavior from an animal 2 ft. tall being approached by an animal 5-6 ft. tall.

Yes, there is always the exception, but it is merely the exception to the rule....most of the threads that I read on BYC about aggressive roos contain a segment about how nice the roo was when he was a chick and how he was snuggled, petted and otherwise confused by this excessive nurturing that you do NOT find in a natural setting.

That's one of the things I like about you--so knowlegable and down to earth. It all makes sense.