When is enough, enough? Newly Aggressive Rooster.

[DWClay]

Hello Friends! I need some sage advice. I have had my golden laced bearded Polish Rooster since he was 3 weeks old. He is now around 9 months old. Admittedly I allowed him to perch on my shoulder when he was young and even allowed him to hop on my thigh while i was outside when the hens were bullying him.

In the last three weeks he has turned into an aggressive untrustworthy Guy. So far he has, bruised my shins, and broken the skin with his spurs (no blood), flown spurs up at my mom, flown towards my face, and just yesterday he snuck up behind me while i was refilling their feed and tried to do a sneak attack to the back of my head.

When the most recent incident happened, i did what i have read to do on here and fluffed myself up, stomped, yelled at him and chased him. (I would have loved to have seen myself ) Anyway, I did this and he ran under the coop for about a second then came flying out with his neck feathers out like a cone around his head(He looked like the blinding spit dino on Jurassic Park) and really came after me. I did the above again and he ran away and didn't come back.

I'm prepared to do the hanging them upside down or pining him to the ground but if he doesn't change after that i know i might have to cull him...

I guess I'm on here for just reassurance that I'm doing the right thing? This is my first time having chickens let alone a rooster so i want to be sure I'm doing it right. He's just taking the joy out of having chickens...and i cant even put my girls without him going after me so my girls are missing out on back and chest pets!

P.S. They are in a 6' X 16' Coop and run with another 8'X8' attached aviary! So i don't need a protector but I LOVE waking up to crowing in the mornings!

 

[sourland]

In his mind you are endangering 'HIS' hens when you hold or pet them. If doing this is important to you, perhaps he should go as his behavior is not likely to change.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Flying at the face is completely unacceptable. I used to give my birds 2 chances. If they drew blood in any way (except legit accidents), to a person, they were gone

 

[AinaWGSD]

Personally I would send him to freezer camp. There is always a surplus of roosters, imo it's not worth keeping an aggressive one. Especially one that goes for the face. You can always try again with a different cockerel.

 

[K0k0shka]

Time for chicken soup! You don't seem to have a compelling reason to keep a rooster. They aren't recommended for first time chicken owners anyway. If he's taking the joy out of your hobby, get rid of him!

 

[Sic]

I don't pet hens or roosters. If you pet a hen in view of a rooster, it would appear to him that you are attempting to mate them and you become a threat. Just don't do it if you want to keep a rooster. If you want to pet and cuddle hens, don't keep a rooster. Fighting a cockerel/rooster just reinforced that you are a threat/challenge. When I have young cockerels that try to challenge me, I ignore them, armor up so to speak carry a (shield) large metal dust pan that they can take their frustrations out on while I laugh at them. They eventually figure out that I can't be bullied, moved, or scared by their idiotic behavior, most just give up and stop...those that don't figure it out, don't live.

 

[Shadrach]

Some sage advice. Do not feel guilty if you have to cull him.

Many backyard chicken keepers have cockerel problems and the cockerel part is the problem. You haven't got a rooster, you've got a young male chicken trying to establish himself in the big wide world; except it isn't often a big wide world, it's a small run and that space becomes his space and eventually, one way or another because they don't have a lot of choice, the hens will become his hens.

It's not that these points don't get mentioned on BYC but lots don't have male chickens and speaking for myself, trying to tell people and really drive the point home, that cockerels are not the same as pullets and roosters are not just male hens seems like a labour of love and often falls on deaf ears.

You're boy sounds like a fighter. You want one or the other, a fighter or a thinker. They fighters tend to be hard work. If one takes a long term view (with a male in the group fertile eggs are likely and probably in that group somewhere is a hen or a few that will go broody. That's your starting point.
It's from there you build your flock/tribe. A couple of generations on and many of the problems in behaviour of both males and females gets sorted out and we the keepers learn though the baptism of fire, or hackle flared attacks in such cases, how to keep chickens, both of them, male and female.
None of the rooster intimidation methods work over the long term. Both the keeper and rooster have to learn. There are keepers on this forum who have learn't starting out from a similar position to that you are now in. There are other keepers who would rather keep a single sex group on reflection post male experience.

The problem for you is you obviously like to cuddle the hens and you're probably feeding them and taking their eggs. Even hormone charged cockerels aren't stupid and as far as he's concerned you're mating his hens (the cuddles) trying to entice his hens away by finding them food (this is part of how free range multi generation and sex flocks work, rooster provides the treats for hens) and stealing his potential offspring. I would be a bit pissy if I was him.

In many of the problem cockerel threads (roosters are a year or more old) the keeper just hasn't known what to expect and finding out that the darling young cockerel who could be petted and held is growing up and that as with all species can be a somewhat bumpy period, often comes as a shock.

Short term advice. Wear two heavyweight pairs of trousers, gloves, a heavyweight top and just ignore the attacks. Yep he'll bounce of you a few times, you just need to read when he's coming and that means you need to keep an eye on him when in the run/coop.
Longer term is for you to decide.

I'll link you to an article I wrote about male chickens that I hope will elaborate some of what I've written above. It's not a how to article, it's what they are like article. You may find you can identify your chaps behaviour with something in the article.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

 

[FrostRanger]

I'd soup him, it's highly unlikely he'll grow into a trustworthy roo. Best way to get a nice roo is to not put up with a mean roo. Aside from it just being unpleasant being attacked, if he fathers chicks he'll pass on his bad temperament to his chicks and if he attacks a visitor, most home insurance policies don't cover poultry

 

[fowltemptress]

I'd get rid of him, but if you don't, the first thing you have to do is quit stomping, yelling, and chasing him. That was bad advice and will reinforce aggressive behavior in roosters.

 

[DWClay]

Thank you everyone!!! I got home today and it was the first time he didn’t attack me in weeks!

I will definitely wear thick pants and give the ignoring him a try!

I will take all of this advice and give him a couple more weeks and if he continues, I’ll make the call!

He is a GREAT rooster for the hens! He helps in flock fights, makes sure everyone has their food, and even stands up to my dog through the fence! I just need him to learn I am not a threat! So fingers crossed he does soon!

In the near future I plan to do an add on 15 to 20ft covered run! So maybe we won’t have to be so up in each others space!