Why rooster chasing people

[kiddobear39]

I have a barred rock rooster and when I go to pick up one of the hens he chasing me. Or even when I go next to any of the hens I was wondering if that is normal cause I looked up on all the history of all my chickens and they are supposed to be friendly and doclie none of them said that they were going to be scared of people but now I ca't even pick any of the hens up or anyone in my family cause of the rooster and I really don't like that very much do I need to get rid of the rooster of is there a way that we can have him not chase me or anyone Help PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pele]

Your rooster is being a typical human-aggressive rooster. This type of behavior transcends all breeds, and is especially common in hatchery quality birds (they don't breed for personality, they breed for volume).

He is esentially treating as a threat to his girls, probably because you views you as a submissive roo. Dominant roosters knock submissive roosters off of hens when they try to breed (in your case, when you try to pick them up.)

The next time he does it, stand up straight, spread your arms wide, and slowly walk towards him. Keep walking, he'll back up several times. What you are looking for is him to stop standing and facing you. He'll eventually give up his challenge and go about doing normal foraging things. Also, if you see him mating his hens while you are present, knock HIM off the girls. It sends a clear message to that little rooster brain that YOU'RE the dominant, not him.

If the attacks just keep happening even after working with him a while, get rid of him. He'll breed aggression into the chicks, and there are too many nice roos with no homes to put up with that.

 

[Queen of the chickens]

Everything you read about Light Brahmas are that they are docile and kid friendly birds, but our Light Brahma rooster used to attack my son whenever he went to feed his rabbits. We thought he was trying to assert dominance over him, but eventually he attacked us all. We sent him to live with a farmer we know who wanted a rooster for his broody hens. He told us that the rooster routinely attacked him. He met his end when the farmer swung a bucket at him to fend him off and struck him hard enough to kill him. Same with our Belgian D'Uccle roo. Usually he is okay with me, but then sometimes, out of the blue, he goes after my leg. He isn't big enough to hurt me, but it still annoys me. It just happens sometimes. On the one hand he is just protecting his girls, on the other, nobody likes to be attacked by a rooster.

 

[kiddobear39]

Your rooster is being a typical human-aggressive rooster. This type of behavior transcends all breeds, and is especially common in hatchery quality birds (they don't breed for personality, they breed for volume).

He is esentially treating as a threat to his girls, probably because you views you as a submissive roo. Dominant roosters knock submissive roosters off of hens when they try to breed (in your case, when you try to pick them up.)

The next time he does it, stand up straight, spread your arms wide, and slowly walk towards him. Keep walking, he'll back up several times. What you are looking for is him to stop standing and facing you. He'll eventually give up his challenge and go about doing normal foraging things. Also, if you see him mating his hens while you are present, knock HIM off the girls. It sends a clear message to that little rooster brain that YOU'RE the dominant, not him.

If the attacks just keep happening even after working with him a while, get rid of him. He'll breed aggression into the chicks, and there are too many nice roos with no homes to put up with that.

Thank you for the help I will try it and if it does not work I guess he will need to go live somewheres where they need a rooster for the broody hens!!!!!

 

[Gunderfarmer]

Well, roosters, as the male or "daddy" chickens have to protect their girls. It is completely natural for them to this. If they see that you are near the hens or picking them up, they will defend their girls. My suggestion is if you need to get near a hen, be sure the rooster is not in the hutch. Other than this I don't know any other solutions other than to sell him or make a dinner out of him. I live on a farm myself and have experienced this problem many times in the past. Hope I could help!

 

[Gunderfarmer]

Funny, my rooster's life came to an end the other day. He attacked my sister that day and after seeing that, I went after him with a shovel. He didn't live too much longer after that.

 

[allpeepedout]

Rooster-wrangling techniques like pushing the roo (and his neck) down to the ground like another rooster would do, and holding him down for several seconds until he gives up, may work if you have experience handling roosters. Somewhere on here are some good threads discussing these techniques, although many prefer to simply dispose of a troublemaker. My roo needs a refresher course every now and then and this technique quickly readjusts his attitude without violence. If he acts like he's getting aggressive, I push him down first and change his mind. He seems to remember this for a while, usually several weeks.

But.. I notice mine reacts predictably and defensively when I wear new footwear and brightly colored clothing. As long as I'm in my blue jeans and old boots, we're cool. Anything else and he thinks I'm a threat and acts accordingly. Apparently, chicken vision is very different from ours. They see more or different wavelengths, so that may be part of it.

Good luck and perhaps explore the rooster training info. Wear protective clothing and keep kids, etc., away.

 

[Fred's Hens]

The problem with reading that THIS Breed or THAT Breed is docile?

Those descriptions were written a long, long time ago. They were describing old time, heritage birds. But what do most people own? Hatchery sourced birds. This has been the case for decades. Hatcheries mass produce birds for volume sales. They flock breed. Flock breeding means a flock of 500 hens with 100 males put in to crank out eggs for hatching and selling chicks at a profit. Mass production. It's a business.

There is no way to actually do selective breeding under these circumstance. The most aggressive males mate the most hens and it is their genes that gets passed on, with generation after generation of this mass production producing aggressive males dominating the gene pool.

The birds made with such "breeding" methods, which isn't selective breeding really, don't look much like the breeds anymore, are far from representing the Standard for the breed and often don't have the original temperament of the old breeds either.