How do you get a good rooster????

[Dingleberry]

mine is a cochin bantom, my son (daily) grabs him and flips him on his back and walks around the yard with holding him like a baby. he alerts his girls for tasty things and will even pick the tasty item and give it to a girl, He fought off a hawk. We did help him win and took care of his wounds and he knew we got his back. He did for a while try to charge us but that is as far as it went. now he knows we are the givers of tasty items. Never had such a good roo before.

Mr.

Toy cause every girl wants a boy toy

 

[BecaHawaii]

Dad was a kind soul who never laid a finger on any his birds ever. He raised all of his chickens the same way .None of his chickens or roosters were "orphans" raised without the hen AND rooster that fertilized the eggs...

All my boys are raised by the flock. I'm not a hug your chicken person (except a couple). “Orphans” have always been raised by the other roo’s. People think roos can't live together but we have many. All my birds are from jungle fowl where I live.

 

[McChooky]

I did read several articles here, they were very informative. I also received some good advice and altered how I interacted with my cockerel. I guess I'm just demoralized that both of them turned human aggressive. I had hoped my remaining cockerel would behave since he was so nice to the pullets.

My personal experience with roosters is if you'll just ingore them you're better off.
No hand treats no picking them up and no carrying them around. No kids or other people around them. It only takes one person hitting one or chasing it to make a rooster not trust you then you've got an aggressive rooster on your hands. Once you get a fence built it'll keep them out of your yard you'll be able to keep a rooster without conflicts caused by other people.You haven't had any personal attacks so it means its not you causing the behavior thats triggering the aggression.Wishing you the best!

 

[Aclurk]

My brother has a gigantic barred rock rooster “colonel sanders” he goes savage sometimes and a good swift kick usually sets him straight. I thought my brother broke his foot kicking the colonel once it was so swollen and black and blue. My rooster “lucky” decided to go for myself and the kids a few times. A good kick did the trick. I don’t condone animal abuse, I view this as self defense, they have to behave or it’s the pot for them.

 

[wild chick]

They both came from a hatchery. One was an Easter egger, a little brute. But the other one, who was left, is an Ameraucana. He was always so good to his pullets but we can't let him go after our kids. Perhaps hatchery cockerels run a higher risk of human aggression? Or maybe I should just wait on trying my hand at a rooster until my kids are older.

I haven't read through the 7 pages of comments, but just reading this I thought I'd give my opinion. First chickens ever from a straight run from a hatchery, luckily, close to 50/50 males/females. Chose the best looking cockerel to keep for breeding the hens. He turned into a nightmare. Tried every suggestion given here on this forum & finally just put him & us out of our misery. At the same time our patience was wearing thin one of the hens went broody & we let her hatch her clutch, all fathered by this mean human aggressive rooster. We allowed the one cockerel in the new clutch to stay with his sisters, warning him that I'd never spend that kind of time & effort again to try to train a rooster to be nice. This clutch of babies were raise entirely by their mother hen & the rest of the flock of hens, and were put in their place pretty mercilessly by the other hens after mother weaned them. The cockerel especially was put in his place over and over as he matured. We humans stayed out of it, let them do what chickens do. Fast forward 4 years, this is the nicest rooster ever. He's never looked at us twice, always moves out of the way if we walk through the flock, doesn't bother the dog (the dog doesn't bother the chickens) - it's just like omg, a nice rooster! Sired by a mean maniac. ONLY difference is that the FLOCK raised him, not humans. Just a thought.

 

[meemmeem]

Recently we had to cull l one of our 5 month old cockerels due to aggression. Tonight our remaining cockerel flogged my son, twice. I know I have little experience but how on earth do you get a rooster who isn't human aggressive? I would really like to be able to hatch my own fertilized eggs. I also want my hens to be watched after. Is it just luck of the draw with roosters?

I read somewhere that they are not mean but just doing their job

John Wayne is a barnyard mix. I don’t turn my back on him, been bit several times but I can just pick him up, hold him and he will go to sleep for a little bit

 

[Amtorres]

Recently we had to cull l one of our 5 month old cockerels due to aggression. Tonight our remaining cockerel flogged my son, twice. I know I have little experience but how on earth do you get a rooster who isn't human aggressive? I would really like to be able to hatch my own fertilized eggs. I also want my hens to be watched after. Is it just luck of the draw with roosters?

Get a salmon favorelle roo, feather lover farm has hatching eggs or you can get day old chicks, they are just a gentle and easy going breed all around. I absolutely love our roo he is alert and attentive but extremely human friendly and toddler tolerant, lol. Good luck!!

 

[BrahminChick]

Recently we had to cull l one of our 5 month old cockerels due to aggression. Tonight our remaining cockerel flogged my son, twice. I know I have little experience but how on earth do you get a rooster who isn't human aggressive? I would really like to be able to hatch my own fertilized eggs. I also want my hens to be watched after. Is it just luck of the draw with roosters?

Last year we hatched 6 fertilized eggs; 3 females and 3 males. Two of these males are my boys - everyone’s promised not to lay a hand on them and for good reason! Hei Hei and Wei Wei are nothing but pure joy! They sit on the bench with me and run over with the brood when i come
Downstairs to feed them treats. I fed them daily as chicks and even as teenagers they’d be on my lap feeding from my hand. Apart from an occasional start of a mating dance to which I yell at them to stop; they haven’t been aggressive at all! I played with them as chicks with little red strings handled them everyday, I fed them
Treats and still do - they run over and hang out with me when I go downstairs with sweet corn in a can for them. I honestly think love and affection did it. The third was a fighting cock - he was extremely aggressive and avoided me once he began to grew up. We had to cull him due to the fights he kept Causing. If you have fertilized eggs and baby chicks I suggest caring for them equally from the start. I never differentiated between male or female; had them in my living room till they were old enough to be outside and even then would be visiting them daily till they were teenagers. Good luck!!!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

When they're going after their feed and water provider, they are absolutely not doing their job. They are targeting something that is not a threat to their flock, and while they're doing that, they aren't actually keeping an eye out for real predators

I read somewhere that they are not mean but just doing their job

 

[BecaHawaii]

When they're going after their feed and water provider, they are absolutely not doing their job. They are targeting something that is not a threat to their flock, and while they're doing that, they aren't actually keeping an eye out for real predators

I agree. Roos should just be left to do their job. I have 6. We are not who they should be protecting the hens from. We had a 'Io fly over the other night and all my Roos growled and chased the hens away into the brush. Even my cooped Roo sent my coop girls into the egg house. I love my Roos. They are hilarious. I will however cull any of them that attack me. Although that has never happened. I also can never imagine kicking one as someone else said.