Why is this bad???

[dandydoodle]

If one has bit me does that mean the same thing?

 

[debs_flock]

I wouldn't be as concerned with the bite, unless it's all the time. It's the dancing up to you, a combo rooster dominance/mating thing. It means he considers himself above you. He wouldn't try that with a higher ranking member of the flock, unless he is making a move to try to usurp their position. Either way, he thinks he can get away with it with you and that means you will have to assert yourself or risk being jumped constantly.

Deb

 

[m.kitchengirl]

Chickens do not understand commands but they do understand order.
I would start by giving him a firm but not hard kick to let him know that you are the
alpha roo. If you can pick him up and parade him around the hens. I have had
to take my roo and force his body to the ground and hold him there till
he submits.

I don't think a chicken understands kicking either.
The closest I would get to kicking is the occasional stomp of my foot firmly behind him. If he thinks you are out to get him he could really go after you.
I think parading him around like a he is a big wimp OFTEN is the right idea. To subdue him first, hold him on the ground, but I would forgo kicking, personally.
But, I am no expert.​

 

[pixiedouglas]

hold him upside down by his feet till he stops fighting you then tuck him under your arm for a rooster time out and carry him around for awhile in front of the hens, make sure he's good and humiliated before you put him down, when you do set him down hold him down like he would a hen until he's still then let him up

never let him mate with a hen in front of you, knock him off of any hens when you see it, he has to know that you are the top rooster

 

[Moochie]

My OEGB rooster drags his wing to me all the time. He's so small I don't even care.

If one of the LF roosters do a little dance to me, they get a brief kick in the tush.

 

[buffbeauty]

Quote:
THIS!!! I had to do this with a young faverolles cockerel that had decided he was big man on campus until I proved him wrong. Jerked him up by his feet, after which he flapped around trying to get out so I held him there until he stopped fussing, then let him hang for a bit longer, then let him down. He doesn't bother me any more. Tried the same thing on my daughter, she snatched him up nad dangled him and now he leaves her alone too!

 

[gryeyes]

I know it is a common practice to hold a rooster upside down to "chill him out" but what you are actually doing is suffocating him, briefly. Chickens cannot breathe upside down, due to the construction of their lungs and how they're attached. WE can breathe upside down because we have a diaphragm (muscle) which automatically takes over lung expansion to get more oxygen. The rooster is NOT "giving up" voluntarily, he is struggling to breathe and that's more important than trying to fight you.

If that's what you have to do and you are comfortable doing it, fine. But I would never do it.

I will either hold his wings to the side and press him to the ground as if I might mount him (the way he subdues his hens), or I tuck him under my arm with his wings pinned, and walk around with him for a while.

 

[Farm_Maven]

Birds' respiratory systems are completely different from ours, so holding your rooster upside down can cause him real problems. For example, a bird's lungs are right next to the spine and upper ribcage, so it is hard for a bird that is upside down to breathe, since the weight of all his organs will be pressing on his lungs and some of his air sacs. Normally, he will breathe via changes in pressure in the air sacs. So... when the pressure changes "unnaturally," it can make it difficult for him to compensate. Chicken's lungs can't expand like ours do, either.

Being hung upside down is pretty uncomfortable for humans, but we breathe by using a muscle called the diaphragm, which is a dome shaped muscle between the chest and the abdomen. Birds don't have a diaphragm--they have air sacs, and breathe by changes in pressure in their air sacs. Some of the air sacs even extend into their bones (pneumatic bones), and the sacs act as a bellows to ventilate the lungs. They include cervical sacs, interclavicular sac, humeral sacs (these are parts of the interclavicular sac that extend into the bones of the humeris), thoracic sacs (anterior and posterior), abdominal sacs and so forth.

The reason holding a rooster upside down to "calm" him works is that he can't breathe properly. Birds have been known to die this way.

 

[dandydoodle]

Thanks everyone. So if I do these things to let him know I am the boss and he continues then what? I mean he hasn't flogged or bit me yet. Is there a chance he will never do anymore then puffing and dancing?

Thanks,
MIchelle

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
If it's not stopped now, it will lead to flogging. He's asserting his dominance over you and when roosters take over as head flock member, they challenge (fight) for top position. This will include challenging you for top position. It's just how roosters work, that's why it's so important for you to let your rooster know that you are top rooster.