Wild Roosters Attacking my flock.

[GuamChicken]

Unfortunately I found Bob dead today in the coop. A sad ending, I thought he would make it. I guess the trauma was too much for him.

 

[trudyg]

I don't really give a rats patootie about chicken psychology concerning wild roosters. Who in their right mind would try to catch and retrain a wild bird? Not me. I'd find a way to clear my property of them--either kill the invader or fence them out. If they breed your hens you could end up with fighting genes, not what you want. Ditto on disease.

 

[centrarchid]

I don't really give a rats patootie about chicken psychology concerning wild roosters.  Who in their right mind would try to catch and retrain a wild bird?  Not me.  I'd find a way to clear my property of them--either kill the invader or fence them out.  If they breed your hens you could end up with fighting genes, not what you want.  Ditto on disease.

The birds in question are not wild, rather feral. If games, once captured they are very easy to tame and train. Hybrids as a general rule are not game and often superior for free-range use.

 

[dmanhefner]

As others said, wild rooster would be better for you. If you want a new bo rooster you will need to pen it

 

[chickengeorgeto]

This is not accurate information by any stretch. Postings in this thread should be supplemented by parties with first hand knowledge.

I can vouch for centrarchid on this. A game rooster treated with respect will be no more aggressive than any other rooster. Usually less aggressive.

Once the fight is joined however, a real game rooster will not quit, stop, or abandon the fight for any reason other than his death.

Roosters fight over hens or more properly they fight each other for access to hens.

They fight humans because we scare or startle these same hens thus creating a situation in the roosters' little pea sized bird brain that makes him think that you are a physical threat to his access to his lady friends. In short roosters, all roosters even your BOs fight because of sexual jalousie or breeding rights. Unfortunately your BOs are not very good at it. If you build a pen you must build it so that two fully sexually mature roosters can not see each other through the wire. If you don't you will still end up with a dead rooster.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Its tough to tell in that picture (it being so small) - but is that bird dubbed?

You've basically got 3 choices:


1. Pen your birds and get another BO rooster

2. Adopt one of the feral roosters and let him run the flock

3. Get a new BO rooster - kill any feral rooster you see.


Number 2 is probably the easiest - 3 is probably the hardest.

 

[GuamChicken]

Thanks for the reply. Actually plan 3 is the easiest as I already have been doing that. I am curious how you just adopt a feral roo. The picture by the way way taken from the net, not a photo i took, it is just the pic of what the rooster looked like. I have 13 BO's now. 7 egg producing hens and 6 2 month old junior chicks, sex not certain but looks like 2 roo's for sure. So I'm confused, I am supposed to go grab one of these killer gamebirds ( which is impossible really they as so mean) and throw them into my flock ? I am not an expert, but that seams like a recipe to have them all killed within a few minutes. So I must be missing part of the theory.

 

[junebuggena]

The game birds were aggressive towards your Buff Orpington rooster because they saw him as a stranger on their turf. It's natural rooster behavior to defend territory or their hens against unknown males. The gamebirds are just much better fighters than Orpingtons.
Gamebird roosters are not aggressive, unless they have good reason to be. Those boys had good reason to be aggressive, there was a strange rooster in their territory.
You need to either find a way to remove the feral birds, or keep your birds penned. If you do allow them out, you must be present at all times to make sure those ferals keep their distance.

 

[varidgerunner]

I have raised gamefowl and just about every other kind of chicken for many years. I have not found gamefowl to be any more aggressive than any other breed of chicken. They are absolutely no more likely to start a fight. All roosters of mature age with a territory to defend will fight to defend it. The only difference in gamefowl is that once they start, they are less inclined to stop, even when they are on the loosing end. The results of turning loose a mature rooster with his hens in the territory of other mature roosters would be no different if they were leghorns or games. The athletic abilities of the gamefowl will definitely help them to come out on top of such a territory dispute. In respect to your situation, there is a saying, "Good fences make good neighbors", this is true in the chicken world as well. Hopefully this clears up some of the misconceptions that are floating around.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Thanks for the reply. Actually plan 3 is the easiest as I already have been doing that. I am curious how you just adopt a feral roo. The picture by the way way taken from the net, not a photo i took, it is just the pic of what the rooster looked like. I have 13 BO's now. 7 egg producing hens and 6 2 month old junior chicks, sex not certain but looks like 2 roo's for sure. So I'm confused, I am supposed to go grab one of these killer gamebirds ( which is impossible really they as so mean) and throw them into my flock ? I am not an expert, but that seams like a recipe to have them all killed within a few minutes. So I must be missing part of the theory.

Don't worry about how to adopt a rooster. Your hens will preform that task for you, especially when you couple a roosters' heart with his stomach. Feed him and allow him uninterrupted access to your hens and he will become your rooster.