Accidentally put the fear of me into my rooster

[GBov]

Caught a beautiful, young, healthy rooster in a parking lot near us and while he was fantastic with the hens, he was pure mental with me. Attacking - no spurs yet, thank goodness - and just not stopping.

In fighting him off I must have hit every wall, the roof, bounced him off the floor, you name it, he just would not stop. As exercise I can recommend it, he got my heart rate right up! :lol:

But, as I was super busy I had no time to kill him and was just in no mood to be kicking hell out of him to keep him off me I thought "Right you bas*$%d, this should do for a few days." and tied him with some hay rope to something heavy.

Put his food and water near and left him.

Next day I had to untangle him where he had wrapped his leg with the twin, pulling him up snug to the thing he was tied to - while he franticly tried to escape - and again left him with food and water and his hens.

With covid we only tend them once a day and each day was the same, untangle rooster while he panics. This went on for about 8 days and I thought, you are REALLY afraid of me now, sport, how bout we see how you do and guess what?

He is still totally freaked out by me and calls the hens over to the far corner, thus leaving me totally alone.

No idea if this will work for other roos but it sure made him easier to live with so if you need your rooster and he is a nut case, perhaps this might help.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

I dont know chickens so I'm not qualified to judge how you handled things, but that doesnt sound good at all...

 

[GBov]

I dont know chickens so I'm not qualified to judge how you handled things, but that doesnt sound good at all...

If you have never met a psychotic attack rooster you will never understand an animal with no off button. Being young he was not very dangerous - he did manage to break a blood vesicle in my finger which hurt like hell and give me many bruses - but had he been older his spurs would have done serious damage.

He was only without liberty, never food or water.

Now he gets to live whereas before, he was a dead bird walking.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

All I've met are the rare psychotic bunnies and those ended up on a plate so yeah

 

[michaels4gardens]

Having raised many chickens,
and seen too many psycho roosters,...
If there is a "next time", ...
this is what i do...
I catch him, hold him upside down by his feet for about 5 minutes,
and push his head downward ,each time he tries to raise it up toward you.
This action establishes "dominance" , like you were the "big rooster", in the flock..
worked for me the first time, each time..

It sounds like your approach ,worked "just fine"...

Having a "nasty rooster", is unacceptable in my book...
I also recycle those roosters ,who beat up hens.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

I catch him, hold him upside down by his feet for about 5 minutes,
and push his head downward ,each time he tries to raise it up toward you.
This action establishes "dominance" , like you were the "big rooster", in the flock..
worked for me the first time, each time..

That trick sounds better, Id just worry too much that the rope would get tangled in dangerous ways with GBov's method.

 

[GBov]

I tried that holding upside down and head thing M4G, it did not work.

Had NEVER seen a rooster act like this one :shock:

The reason I tied him up was I had no time to butcher him and I couldn't deal with his behavior for the few days it was going to take me to catch up enough to "do" him and I did not want to just kill him and toss his body into the bushes as that would have been such a waste.

And I know roosters are tethered with perfect safety all over the world so couldn't see why, short term at least, it wouldn't keep everyone safe from him and him alive so I could deal with him at my leisure.

It worked and he gets to live, as long as he keeps his fear.

Having worked my way through many MANY roosters in the past to get a good one with hens AND with people, I think it might stem from the fact that most chickens now are raised by people and not by hens. The hen raised birds I have had were one just step off feral and the roosters would spend all their time trying to get the hens as far away from people as they could manage, to the point of my having to trap them if I had to do anything with the flock. And this despite all being heavy breed chickens like Black Australorp (sp?), not known for lurking in bushes and silent running. :lol:

People raised birds tend to be "confused" as to what is, and is not, a chicken. :roll:

Speaking of broody, THREE of my hybrid laying hens are clamped to the nest box :evil: so I have had to set up a broody breaker cage as now is not the time for chicks.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I tried that holding upside down and head thing M4G, it did not work.

Had NEVER seen a rooster act like this one

And I know roosters are tethered with perfect safety all over the world so couldn't see why, short term at least, it wouldn't keep everyone safe from him and him alive so I could deal with him at my leisure.

It worked and he gets to live, as long as he keeps his fear.

.

I have tethered roosters also, I use a cord with a swivel snap on one end,
[to hook to an screw-eye in the wall ]
and a leather strap to go around the leg, with holes for the tether cord to go through ,
[Just like Th e"Fighting chicken" people use]
The ones I tethered were too rough on hens, or too rough on other roosters..
i tethered them in the coop with the hens-- the hens could come over and get "serviced",
and then leave again... The swivel end ,helped keep the cord from getting all knotted up, and tangled around the rooster...

 

[GBov]

With no swivel I used a loose loop above the spur to spin free but the plonker would stand on it, catch it in his toes and then proceed to, I guess, spin like a ballerina and end up 3 inches from his teether point. :roll:

Proper swivels were on order but he doesn't need them anymore so they are in a drawer, just in case.

Was looking into spur covers for when he grows proper knives and OMG do the fighting rooster people just have money to throw away? The PRICE of some of that kit and, seriously, leather is not that hard to stitch into useful shapes.

 

[MaggieJ]

As a temporary measure, I have used a large dog crate to hold a dangerous rooster. It works well, as long as they have shade as well as feed and water. I wouldn't care to do it on a permanent basis however.

GBov, you make a good point about people-raised poultry and aggression. I'd like to hear experiences about this from other members too.

KimitsuKouseki, if you had ever had to deal with an aggressive rooster -- or gander, for that matter -- you would know that they are capable of inflicting serious damage. Those spurs can be a good two inches long at maturity and very sharp.

Our first rooster was protective of his hens, but very tolerant of people. Every rooster after that was psychotic. The last one, a Welsummer, was gorgeous and great with the hens -- but he was not only aggressive with me, he was also sneaky. I named him Lucifer. He would pretend he wasn't interested in me and go in a wide circle, apparently minding his own business until he could get behind me. Then he'd attack, spurs first at the back of my legs.

One day, a man stopped at our yard sale. He admired the Lucifer, asked his breed, and his eyes lit up when I told him. "You want him?" I asked, and proceeded to tell him of the bird's temperament. Well, he had a few Welsummer hens that he wanted to breed, so he took him quite happily. I heard later that Lucifer made a career of making life miserable for the man's wife.

I do think that aggressive roosters and ganders are more likely to pick on women than men. It could be because we are often shorter, but I think it may also have to do with our voices. Female voices are higher and when we yell at something, it tends to be shrill. My theory is that it triggers them. I made a practice of using a deep voice with our gander and had less trouble than before -- and only in breeding season.

But NOTHING worked with Lucifer, now immortalized in my novel.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

I keep telling my father he'd have to be the one handling them every time he mentions getting chickens. I'm not interrested at all in chickens and I'm convinced ducks would be better suited for us. Ducks eat garden slugs and wouldnt dig up his garden so they'd be a big help for his crops. They still produce eggs, granted not as often, but enough for our needs. Their meat is great and their fat is actually healthy to cook with. He keeps going back to dreaming about chickens though, he's kinda old school and ducks are too alien to him I guess. I refuse to care for chickens though, insted of protecting the garden they'd destroy it. Birds in general are already not my cup of tea so weighing ducks vs chickens on paper, ducks seem much better for us and are the only ones I'd be willing to give a go at.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I keep telling my father he'd have to be the one handling them every time he mentions getting chickens. I'm not interrested at all in chickens and I'm convinced ducks would be better suited for us. Ducks eat garden slugs and wouldnt dig up his garden so they'd be a big help for his crops. They still produce eggs, granted not as often, but enough for our needs. Their meat is great and their fat is actually healthy to cook with. He keeps going back to dreaming about chickens though, he's kinda old school and ducks are too alien to him I guess. I refuse to care for chickens though, insted of protecting the garden they'd destroy it. Birds in general are already not my cup of tea so weighing ducks vs chickens on paper, ducks seem much better for us and are the only ones I'd be willing to give a go at.

Ducks also will decimate some garden plants, they will eat a zucchini plant to the ground in an hour,
same with some varieties of kale, and leaf lettuce. Some crops are safe around ducks, unless you allow the ducks to become hungry..
I used ducks successfully in a field of garlic, they liked the grass, and some weeds ,more than the garlic tops..

 

[GBov]

Ducks are also HUGE crappers, like, megatons of poo! They put chickens to shame and chickens are pretty good pooers in their own respects.

Love duck eggs though, and duck meat is fantastic.

Why not try both and see which ones you love best.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Ducks are also HUGE crappers, like, megatons of poo! They put chickens to shame and chickens are pretty good pooers in their own respects.

Love duck eggs though, and duck meat is fantastic.

Why not try both and see which ones you love best.

I'd rather not try either to be honest, birds are alien to me so I'm not comfortable with the idea much. Ducks seemed like they would at least provide some advantages compared to chickens. If we ever end up getting either it'll be my dad's fault and I honestly don't look forward to it. I prefer my floofy buns and my hands are already full with them.

Thanks for the insight though.

 

[GBov]

Nothing on earth is easier than chickens, seriously so much gain for so little time and money. Deep shavings, water on a table to keep it clean, a roost and a nest box and in your climate, lots of shade.

They don't have to free-range unless you want them too, a roofed-over 10 by 10 dog kennel is plenty of room for enough hens to keep you in eggs and no stooping over to access the coop. And no need for a rooster unless you want to hatch some meat or replacement hens but point of lay birds are fine to get you going.

An old desk is great, one drawer for the nest box and the top for water. Toss the food into the deep litter and they will keep turning the shavings over all day long.

Don't buy old hens, eat them. Pay the going price for 6-month-old birds instead of chicks, they will pay you back in spades.

Ducks are filthy, learn with hens first, that makes ducks easier to deal with.

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to encourage you to get more animals but buns and hens just go together so well, meat and eggs, eggs and meat.

Do you like lizards? Chickens are just lizards with feathers. :lol:

 

[hotzcatz]

Lizards with feathers? Kink and Stumpy are appalled! (Kink is the gecko who lives under the microwave and Stumpy is the one who lives over at the construction site). Although, they do say chickens are the closest living relatives of T. Rex. That might be a good name for an onrey roo!

We have this white hen, she was supposed to be pure white leghorn. My friend's DH got pecked by her white leghorn rooster so he shot the rooster. She collected and gave me ten eggs to put in the incubator since they should still have been fertile. Seven of them hatched, I kept two and gave the rest to her. Those two 'leghorns' were hens who would lay a nest full of eggs and then promptly sit on them. Since when do leggerns go broody? I mean, like NEVER! It turns out there was also a feral rooster hanging around my friend's hens so our hatched out little white hens are half feral rooster and half white leg horn. Hens lay according to the genes they get from their sire, so these 'white leghorns' lay like a feral chicken. A few eggs seasonally and then they promptly sit on them. Sigh! One hen hatched out a dozen eggs, I gave her and all her chicks to someone else to deal with. There's still one white hen left. Next time she went broody, I took away those feral eggs (there's roosters that wander through here occasionally) and gave her some Americana eggs ("Easter egger" blue ones) and she hatched out two. One was a silver and black rooster and one was - I thought - a red hen. The silver and black rooster disappeared when he was about half grown, haven't a clue where he went. Red Hen turned into Ricky Rooster when she/he was about six months old. Grew tail feathers and started crowing. Arrgh!

So the two chickens here are now White Hen and Ricky Rooster. Ricky has been pretty mellow, but he did attack me once. I grabbed him, held him upside down and crowed at him. Then I proceeded to pet him and ruffle his feathers a lot. Held him for about ten minutes fussing with him all that time. Now he is much more wary of me and doesn't get aggressive at all. White hen, of course, will come eat out of my hand. Drives him nuts when she does and he's still too cautious to get close enough so she gets to pig out until I feel sorry for him and toss him some feed.

Since Ricky is a domestic breed of chicken, next time white hen sets, she will hatch out half aruacana/ one quarter white leg horn and one quarter feral chickens. Which hopefully will mean that the hens will lay a lot of blue eggs and not sit on them. We hope. But, she hasn't started a nest since Ricky has gotten old enough to be the sire.

We used to have a lot more chickens when we lived at a house more in the country. There were about a dozen in the back yard. We didn't really feed them much, just one scoop in the morning to get them to come down to the house and deliver eggs. There was a sliding window in the dining room so I put a bar from a closet under it along with a bit of rain gutter. There was a nest box off to the side for them to lay eggs in. It would be like a chicken aquarium with them all lined up on the other side of the glass waiting for someone to wake up and give them feed. I'd open the window, put a scoop of feed in the rain gutter and then get the eggs from the nest box. At night they'd all go put themselves away in their chicken house at the back of the property. We don't have any chicken eating varmints around here other than the neighbor's dogs so they could safely free range. A fence around the back yard was enough to keep them safe.

Chickens are pretty flexible as to their care and keeping and they're fun to watch. They do much more strange things than rabbits.