We have four Rhode Island Red roosters starting to strut their stuff. They are the sons of our original rooster Virgil. Check him out in the online show for RIR'S. We have one jr who challanges us when we go in the run. I like him because I think he will protect his soon to recieve harem of girls. Some posters here seem to feel aggressive traits are not good. I tend to think his brothers are scaredy cats and won't protect the hens. You can pick up all of our birds and they all settle down. We have no small children involved with our birds so no worries there. Besides no chickens gonna run my roost if he gets worse. What your thoughts?
From one RIR owner to another, you do not want to keep or raise aggressive birds unless you want to be doing your hobby all by yourself. I have an 11mo. old that only I can go around. His offspring at 12wks were as bad if not worse than he is. I got rid of all of the offspring(cockerels) except the most docile one a couple of weeks ago. Now the one I kept is going to freezer camp. He attacked the DW yesterday requiring 4 stitches from biting her. Keep in mind this little cockerel is only 14wks old. We are seriously thinking about raising another breed due to the aggressive tendencies of the RIR roo's. Now don't get me wrong, RIR's are my favorite breed, however it seems these days it's just impossible to find a decent RIR roo. My hobby is no fun without the support and involvement from the rest of my family. I do admit that the pullets from my parent flock are beautiful. They are a deep chocolate color which is what I like. Their disposition is very calm and friendly.
I have heard from high athourtity that personality comes first before body type. A rooster that seems docile now compared to a more agressive rooster will take on the title of protector if the agessive rooster is removed. They act more docile because the agressive roo has things under controll. This has also been my own experience. In the summer, I had 3 Barred Rock roos. The 2 we got rid of were smaller and fiesty. The third one (the one we kept was more quiet, calm and laid back) but he stepped up and took the roll of king of the coop when the other 2 had gone. Now our girls have a protective roo that is nice around people as well. ETA: I had a RIR roo last year and got rid of him when he started to charge and flog family members
There are way too many nice roosters out there that need homes to tolerate aggression from one. I would say especially in the RIRs, which are known for aggressive roosters, you need to cull the nasty ones, and keep the most docile. A mature rooster will protect his flock. Your youngsters aren't going to step up to the task until the older dominant, aggressive rooster is gone. Personally, I do not keep any RIRs because of their temperament; and if breeders don't breed for temperament and keep breeding aggressive birds, someday those who want them will be few and far between...
Aggressive cockerels/roosters will tend to get more aggressive when hens are around because they'll like to show off, or their nature of being that way will get a 'boost' if you know what I mean. I highly suggest just keeping a tame male. Tame males will still protect hens, especially if they're the only male around. At first, the hens might reject him, but eventually they'll start listening to him. I bought a nice cockerel from someone at my local county fair, and at first a few of my pullets/hens were picking on him, and then after about as week he got them all under control. Haha!
I would consider getting rid of him, even if it is just separating him. Today for example, Ramses and Imhotep have been keeping Hawk from the water, so he got dehydrated and I had to bring him inside to nurse him. He was the runner of the coop, but now he is very quite and submissive. If those two don't back off, I will be separating them.
Quote:I guess if your chickens need protecting from you that would be the rooster to keep. I have two RIR roo Bantams, not LF so maybe it makes a difference? My boys were hatched the end of April so are roughly 9 months old. They are loves honestly will jump in my lap for cuddles, they dance for me and find me tasty treats (tasty for them of course), escort me around but will help defend their flock if there is a threat. I am not a threat to my chickens and personally would not keep any bird who thought I was.
I just wanted to add on more tidbit as food for thought. I said I had a RIR roo a year ago that I got rid of because he was picking fights with family members. Well, right now, I have 2, ten week old heritage RIR roos that are so friendly, that I don't want to have to chose just one to keep. The breeding of calm tempered roosters will produce calm offspring as seen in the ones I have. RIR's don't have to be nasty, unforntunately alot of them are. If we can reduce the nasty ones from the breeding pool then logically, there will be more calm ones.
We have made the mistake of keeping a RIR Roo He is horrible! He was somewhat aggressive when he was in a coop with just other roo's. Hubby wanted to keep him because of all of them he seemed to be more protective and since we have two coops we decided to split our pullets up. WOW what a stupid decision, he is the most hateful bird and really is not far from freezer camp or re-homing! My recommendation to you is get rid of him, he will not get better and most likely will get worse.
