Why is my Rooster showing aggression towards ME!

[Bettyboop7499]

Your saucy little rooster is aggressive towards you because he sees you as just another animal, maybe even as a weirdly shaped, big ol' fellow chicken, who really knows, but that perception needs to stop. What he needs to learn is that you, all humans really, are minor gods of a sort...a 'giver of pain and delight', to quote a really lame-ass old Star Trek episode, although I'd personally replace that 'pain' aspect with 'discipline'. To that end, do something god-like anytime your little monster tries to menace you by PICKING HIM UP and HOLDING HIM just as long as you like while you otherwise go about your business. And no, you don't shake him, or yell at him, and you NEVER hold him in any way that makes him uncomfortable. What you want is for him to relax and start enjoying being held, at which point you can add to the 'delight' by gently stroking him and telling him how you can't believe how anything so cute can be so very very naughty before setting him back down at your leisure. Hopefully, that'll suffice to interrupt his attack plans, at least for the moment, and be the start of a change in his attitude towards you.

Me, I've always found roosters to be very perceptive creatures. They're exquisitely attuned to visual cues and they're designed by nature to size up opponents and challengers of all sorts in a hurry so they can decide whether to fight them, if need be, which is why confrontational methods just don't work well with them IMO. Behaving aggressively towards a rooster just 'drops' you down into his world. Being hit, kicked, threatened with various objects...these are things they understand and may well retaliate against. On the other hand, being matter-of-factly lofted off the ground and then restrained, not in a way that hurts, but restrained nonetheless...this is something outside their normal expectations and it usually shuts them down in a hurry.

Since your little guy already has some hens to hang with, a good thing to try with him is to get a step-stool once you've got him in hand, set it down where the hens are, and give them their treats while you let the little guy stand on your knee and watch awhile, then set him down and see if he won't take some treats from you to feed to his hens plus maybe take a treat or two for himself now and then. Roosters like it once they grasp that you can help them look after their girls. They start seeing you as a helpful resource rather than as a menace or a challenger. I'm convinced that roosters--or cockerels--can tell whether you truly like them or not. I know that the good ones appreciate gentle handling and respond well to kindness.

Good luck with your naughty banty and here's hoping he'll get to seeing you as the benevolent god of the flock before he gets TOO much more annoying... Bet he's a good candidate to learn to fly up on your forearm on command--the saucy ones are usually the best at learning tricks!

Thank you. Is it possible that Mr. Rooster became jealous because when ever I came up to the flock Lizzy would fly up on my shoulder, or she would squat down and I would scoop her up, scratch behind the ear, cuddle up to her for a few and then gently sit her back down. And, somehow he saw this as competition? Now that I think of it, it was after one of these episodes that it began...but Lizzy is gone and he still behaving this way...

 

[Folly's place]

Genetically, human aggression appears to be a trait that's separate from many other more acceptable behaviors, and it tends to appear during adolescence.. I did have one cockerel who started challenging me at eight weeks of age, but he was unusual.
Don't blame yourself, or the phases of the moon, or anything, it's just who he is.
Mary