What do with aggressive rooster?

[Merc_smallFarms]

I’ve had my chickens and rooster for six months now and since the beginning he’s been aggressive. He was gifted to me along with a smaller rooster and a hen. The smaller rooster, who was also much kinder died last month, though. Leaving me with the bigger, aggressive one. Now things that might affect him that I’ve heard is amount of chickens. I had four but now I only have two and have been trying to carefully decide where to buy more, that’s a story for another day. Anyways, he’s drawn blood three times and we always have to enter the coop with a stick and carefully, putting him in a cage used to work but now he doesn’t calm down after and he’s quite bad at protecting the chickens. Someone told I should put him in his own coop and alone but I don’t want the chickens to be left guardless. I also don’t want to get a new rooster and also have problems, I can’t be too selective with the breed because of limited places around me that sell. What can I do?

 

[wrathsfarm]

I would cull him (not re-home), he's gonna hurt you or a family member.
I would suggest to just keep looking for a good roo and add more hens, or get day olds with a male and raise him up letting the older girls train him how to act accordingly.

Edit....are you looking for a specific breed of rooster/hens?

 

[Insnesnakos]

You could rehome him or cull him

 

[nuthatched]

Soup. Do not rehome.

 

[FrostRanger]

I would also suggest culling. You don't want him passing on his genes for human aggression

 

[Merc_smallFarms]

I would cull him (not re-home), he's gonna hurt you or a family member.
I would suggest to just keep looking for a good roo and add more hens, or get day olds with a male and raise him up letting the older girls train him how to act accordingly.

Edit....are you looking for a specific breed of rooster/hens?

Not exactly, most people keep telling me breeds that are good but since most places around don’t have many options I try to not be picky but I really want a lavender Orpington

 

[SamLockwood]

If he's full on attacking people, your only option is to get rid of him.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Not exactly, most people keep telling me breeds that are good but since most places around don’t have many options I try to not be picky but I really want a lavender Orpington

Every breed has the potential to have aggressive or docile males. It's more the individual birds temperament in each breed, and we try to weed out the aggressive by selection as @FrostRanger pointed out.

Don't know your area, but if your in the states you could talk to your local feed store about which hatchery supplies their chicks, then search the hatcheries website for what breed your looking for. And then order from there to ship to your feed store or go directly thru hatchery to ship to your local post office. If the hatchery is close enough, pick up.

Just a quick search brought up Hoovers Hatchery and Cackle Hatchery have Lavender Orpingtons... Meyers Hatchery sells them but says they are sold out at the moment.
Or you could try to find a local breeder near you.

I've never had Lavender Orpingtons myself, but read that they are a docile breed, but again that's hearsay and no guarantees you won't see an aggressive male.

"It could go either way" is a super popular saying in the chicken world.

Here's links to the 3 Hatcheries I looked at, I'm sure there's more that may be closer to your area... I've read that Hoovers supplies a lot of the TSC feed stores chicks. Good luck.....


https://www.hoovershatchery.com/lavenderorpington.html

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/lavender-orpington-chicken/

https://meyerhatchery.com/products/Lavender-Orpington-Day-Old-Chicks-p213412065

 

[Ridgerunner]

Now things that might affect him that I’ve heard is amount of chickens.

That's mentioned a lot on this forum. I personally do not believe it has that much of an affect based on what I have seen and on a lot of posts on this forum. You can have problems if you have over 20 hens with one rooster. You can often not have problems with one rooster and a couple of hens. There are different factors but the major one is the personality of the different chickens, especially the male. This is about how he treats the pullets and hens, not humans.

he’s drawn blood three times and we always have to enter the coop with a stick and carefully, putting him in a cage used to work but now he doesn’t calm down after and he’s quite bad at protecting the chickens Someone told I should put him in his own coop and alone but I don’t want the chickens to be left guardless.

If he has drawn blood at all, let alone three times, you do not need him around. He is a danger to you, your family, and any visitors. You say he is bad at protecting the chickens. I don't see that you are making much of an argument to keep him. There are too many good roosters out there to keep a bad one.

He is not a rooster yet, he is a cockerel high on hormones. Often they will change how they behave toward the pullets when they mature but I would never trust him around humans again. Human aggression is not something they tend to grow out of.

I also don’t want to get a new rooster and also have problems, I can’t be too selective with the breed because of limited places around me that sell. What can I do?

As one member of this forum says, cockerels are a crap shoot. They can be good or bad. The vast majority of mine are good once they get past the adolescent phase but some are not good. I do not keep a human aggressive chicken.

So what can you do? Try again.

 

[ChickTN2016]

Not exactly, most people keep telling me breeds that are good but since most places around don’t have many options I try to not be picky but I really want a lavender Orpington

I did research because I didn't want anymore roosters and my friend wound up with 4 beautiful lavender orpington's. I read how docile and gentle they were. LIE!!! I have a huge beautiful lavender orpington that is mean and comes after me all the time. After my roosters are gone I am not getting anymore I don't think. To protect your hens think about getting an adult great pyrenees that needs a new home and has been around chickens before. But they would have to be fenced in with the chickens , because they wander. But otherwise the best live stock guardian dogs. I have 2 of them. Good luck to you.