new egg....but rooster is psycho

[charlotteda]

Ladies and Gentleman,

With great excitement, I planned to announce today that I got my first egg yesterday !!!! The chicks were hatched on Feb 2 and Ballina laid her first egg yesterday and I was in the hen house to witness it !!

However, now I have a massive problem. From my initial hatch... I have weeded down to 5 hens and one roo. My ideal size... the roo I kept was not the prettiest one but he was the sweetest one. Now he has turned psycho !! I have noticed for the last week or two that he was acting a bit more aggressive. Biting the back of my leg when I was turned away once, seeming to jump at my hand when I was cleaning the waterer. But you know you want to attribute those actions to something else...surely not aggression from this roo that I have hand raised and handled every day.

This morning I went out to check on them.. and when I started to close the coop door I gently waved them back with my hand and he attacked me. I have a large blood blister on my arm and he tried to spur my hand... I was furious myself and grabbed him by the legs and just let him hang upside down for a few minutes. I didnt know the proper thing to do.

I HATE a mean rooster and thats the main reason I didnt go with RIR. My roo is a Barred Plymouth Rock.. He is 5 months old. Any suggestions...I just cant tolerate this !

charlotte..... sad Charlotte

 

[pixie74943]

Quote:
Big zero on suggestions but hanging a rooster upside down is dangerous. You can collapse their lungs.

Hopefully someone else will have the link, but a BYCer has a page about rooster management. Pick them up and tuck them under your arm till they quit whinging. And if that doesnt work, in extreme circumstances you can hang them upside down.

Sad about him being cranky though. He's technically a chicken teenager, just dealing with his first rush of manliness, great fun.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

It's probably those teenage hormones.

Don't let him get away with any of it. Grab him up. Hold him until you are ready to let him go. Don't let him dictate when he goes or anything else. Hanging upside down can collapse their lungs as pixie74943 stated. I also will put my roo into "solitary confinement" when he acts up. They don't like not being able to be out with the girls. My confinement is simply a pen or crate that I've put into the coop and one in the run. I leave him in there for a day or two (feeding and watering him) and then let him out. Usually his attitude has changed by the time I let him out.

Whatever, you decide to do, GOOD LUCK!

 

[speckledhen]

They may push boundaries a bit before they are mating age. The usual thing, carrying them around, holding their beak when they bite, etc, may work before the hormones rage. As soon as they are mating age, it's harder. You can try, but most of the time, aggression escalates. Some folks say they kick him and then he avoids them, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's broken of the habit or has turned non-human-aggressive. He's just biding his time, usually, till he has the advantage.

I was discussing this with a breeder recently, and we concluded that if he is aggressive by nature, through genetic lines or simply lower intelligence, he will continue to be aggressive by nature, even if he was apparently a cuddle-bug as a youngster. If he is just testing boundaries as an adolescent and it's not in his nature, that you may be able to turn him around or teach him what is not okay, like biting (which seems like that's the way it starts most of the time). If a few "sessions" don't work with a cockerel, he is culled from my flock, if he is near mating age and is still doing things I don't like.

 

[LizzyJo]

Pick them up and tuck them under your arm till they quit whinging. And if that doesnt work, in extreme circumstances you can hang them upside down.

One of my two favorite Brit/Aussieisms. The other is "Bob's your uncle".

Good advice, though.​

 

[Portia]

Even a sweet, hand raised roo can have the 'aggressive gene' that turns on once his girls start laying. You never can really tell until the girls start production how he's going to react to his role as protector of the flock. Unfortunately, I don't have any suggestions for you on management other than to replace him with a more even-tempered roo.

My hand raised SLW turned out to be overly protective when I was anywhere near the coop. That I could handle, but when he started chasing my beagle mix around the yard to the point where she was afraid to go out without me right there it was time for him to go. Now I have a salmon favorelle boy that is absolutely wonderful at protecting the girls and incredibly tolerant and accepting of all humans and other pets in his range. He's fine with me in the coop collecting eggs or cleaning and thinks I am the best thing around at finding food for him to present to his girls.

I feel for you though, it is very stressful when the roo you have chosen turns out to not have the temperament you were hoping. Good luck.

 

[charlotteda]

thanks Y'all.

I learned when raising bantams to never kick at roosters... it just doesnt work.

Rats...now I have to look for a new roo. I just WONT put up with a mean rooster.

 

[willkatdawson]

I wish I had better news for you but, I went through the exact same situation you are going through right now. I hand raised 10 chicks from day one. They lived in our laundry room in a playpen brooder so we were in there many times a day holding them and loving on them. Once they got a little older the 2 BO cockerels were starting to attack my boots when I came in the coop and even would bite and twist till they made a blood blister on my hand. I rehomed them with a fellow BYC member who had BO hens but no roos. So then I was down to 1 roo, our sweet BR boy. He was always so calm and swwet. Once the hens started laying his legs turned red(hormones) and he would chase me and bite-spur me. I tryed everything that I read on here about taming him but nothing worked. My chickens freerange and the final straw was when my daughter was siitting playing in her sand box and the came from behind her and made her head and back bleed, even her little ears. That same day while I was taking care of her my son walked outside to get my phone out of the car and he came in with bloody legs. I was able to rehome him with a lady who had a big pen of BR rescue hens but no roo. I was lucky to be able to rehome them but I was prepared to cull them if I had to.

Here his is and we always thought he was so pretty but, my daughted says pretty is as pretty does.

 

[charlotteda]

You folks are confirming my initial thoughts.... now I have to look for a new roo. Maybe a different breed.

 

[speckledhen]

Charlotte, it is NOT the breed, I promise you. It's the inherited temperament plus the intelligence level, more than anything. I've had several BR roosters, including Zane, Dutch, Mace and other younger ones. Most of them have been wonderful. Zane is completely affectionate. It varies by individual. My blue Orp rooster is a total sweetheart, but a couple of his sons have become very aggressive though most are calm personalities. Definitely not the breed here.
If a rooster is prone to aggression and you handle and baby him alot, he begins to think of you as an equal and will take you on, eventually.