Bad rooster!

[pathwayholding]

Okay. The rooster nipped me today. Hard.

Every evening just before dark I let the girls and Roo out of the day tractor and let them run to the coop by themselves. Never been a problem. This evening Roo took off running in another direction. I got around back of him and began to herd him towards the coop. He had me going in circles for about 5 minutes. Finally I got him going in the right direction and he whirled around and nipped me on the wrist. OUCH! Then the little *(*I*&&&&&&(*_U&T^ turned and ran right into the coop.

So how do I "learn" a bad rooster than I'm the boss?

path

[bee_pipes]

I used to grab them by the neck and shake them a little, but it didn't seem to be too effective. They used to go after my wife - she would back off when they acted aggressive. I made her a chicken stick. I picked up a stick off the ground - 3 or 4 feet long - and tied a mylar shopping bag to the end of it. All they see is a puffy white ball that makes a cracking sound. It's pretty effective for herding chickens and requires no contact - they run from it. With two of them you have a pretty wide reach and they work well for turning runaway chickens and getting them into their pen.

We also use scratch. The majority of the chickens come when called because we throw out scratch while calling them. Scratch has a lot of cracked corn, which can make chickens fat, so if you use scratch, use it sparingly. They all look forward to scratch at the end of the day and will sometimes come running when I go outside in the afternoon. I have turkeys that will even come up on the porch looking for it (pushy birds).

Best of luck to you with your rooster. Makes you glad they don't have teeth, eh?

Regards,
Pat

[EarthMother]

The real way to show him who's boss is eat him with dumpligs and go get another rooster. That will show him now, won't it? ;)

[zachweiss]

holy shnikes! That brings back some memories!

I used to have a little banty rooster when I was a kid. (10 or 11 years old!)

He was a mean little sucker! Every single day he'd nail me with his spurs when I would feed the other chickens!

He was a beautiful rooster - bright yellow and his name was "Jesse - The Body"

I don't remember what happened to him....but I do remember being fed up with his crap one day and I nailed him with a rock so hard that he tumbled 3 or 4 times!

[pathwayholding]

I'm going out this morning with welding gloves on. If the little sucker can't behave...well, let's just say a certain pic in zachweiss's post has given me an idea. (Rooster and dumplings for lunch anyone?)

Love the bag and stick idea for herding him. Sticks don't bleed.

I used a treat pan to train them to go back and forth from the coop to the tractor. They usually hear me tap on the pan and come running. I haven't given them scratch yet though. I thought I'd wait until winter when the added fat would help to keep them warm.

Cross your fingers...I'm going in.

path

[Gallowglass]

We treat our chickens and roosters with Baker's coconut.....to them, it's like getting a Snicker Bar.

When it's time for them to be put up, they'll follow us like puppies to get that treat. They also know, that if they don't behave they go without.....

[rivahmom]

My granny always herded the ornery ones with a broom but treat training may work. :)

[pathwayholding]

I'm not sure if this is weird or just me being a newbie to the chicken world but...the rooster didn't become ornery until the day before his first real crow.

I've been carrying him around for 15 minutes every day, tucked under my arm like a football. He struggles a bit every now and then but for the most part just goes along with it. I don't set him down until he is calm and not trying to get down on his own. (I learned these tricks at Backyardchickens.com.) He beelines right the heck away from me when he sees me in my big orange welding gloves now. Cocka-doodle-do!

path

[mom]

Okay. *The rooster nipped me today. *Hard. *

Every evening just before dark I let the girls and Roo out of the day tractor and let them run to the coop by themselves. *Never been a problem. *This evening Roo took off running in another direction. *I got around back of him and began to herd him towards the coop. *He had me going in circles for about 5 minutes. *Finally I got him going in the right direction and he whirled around and nipped me on the wrist. *OUCH! *Then the little *(*I*&&&&&&(*_U&T^ turned and ran right into the coop. *

So how do I "learn" a bad rooster than I'm the boss?

path
about the 3rd time our Mr. Red (rhodie) tried to spur me I drop kicked him about 6 ft - that broke him of the habit of trying me. He then started in on DH who did the same. After 4 months he hasn't tried it again.

[pathwayholding]

Roo's been on his best behavior since his "training".

Another training tip I learned is to give the girls their treats before he gets his. This is suppose to let him know that I control the pecking order, not him. Now he waits until I offer the pan to him (which is after the girls have each gotten an offer). Pre-training he would shove the girls out of the way to be the first to the pan.

path (wondering if the need arises, could I find steel toed sloggers?)

[Tammy01]

Roo's been on his best behavior since his "training". *

Another training tip I learned is to give the girls their treats before he gets his. *This is suppose to let him know that I control the pecking order, not him. *Now he waits until I offer the pan to him (which is after the girls have each gotten an offer). *Pre-training he would shove the girls out of the way to be the first to the pan.

path (wondering if the need arises, could I find steel toed sloggers?)
I have noticed my rooster "Frank" - a beautiful Partiridge Rock - is very much a gentleman for his ladies - he always hangs back and herds his girls ahead to be treated first :-*

[harvester]

I have to agree with earthmother on this one.
There is no way to retrain a bad rooster. Im assuming you have him for breeding purposes, otherwize there really is no reason to justify having a rooster. If this is the case he will breed that bad attitude right into his chicks. Chickens are very sensitive to genetic attitudes, wether good or bad.
There are alot of good roosters out there, eat him and replace him with a respectable rooster. Carefull of the breed you pick, some breeds have notoriously nasty roosters.

[Sevengin]

I introduced the rooster that attacked me to Mr. Browning 12 Gauge.

[harvester]

hahahahhahaaa! and are you going to teach him now what a good rooster is for? along with noodles or dumplings??

[Sevengin]

Haha, Harvester. That one got buried.

I had two Barred Rock Roos, named them Daryl and Daryl. Then there was just Daryl.

The one that was left started stalking me. Yep, you read that right. I told the DH Daryl was going to meet the same fate as Daryl. He finally dispatched him, and that Daryl I cooked and we fed to the dogs.

[harvester]

Ive got a hen with an attitude developing now. she was ok but shes gotten too brave lately and this morning jumped right up on my back just a flapping and a peckin for all she was worth.
If i cant convince her that im a horrible chicken chasing monster that will eat her if i get ahold of her, then ill take up my grandma's practice of carry a large stick and "WHACK-A-CHICKEN"! hahahahaa

[huckelberry]

i had an old red rooster that turned mean,so i would just catch him an tuck him under one arm,them tuck his head under one wing,he will go right to sleep,set him on the ground an hold him that way for a little while,then walk away he will sleep for a few seconds an wake up calm....grandma showed me that 40 years ago ;)

[Captain_Sternn]

Huckleberry, you really need more English lessons. Your post should have been written like this.

I had an old red rooster that turned mean, so I would just catch him and tuck him under one arm. I would tuck his head under a wing. He would go right to sleep. Then I would set him on the ground and hold him that way for a little while. I would walk away, he would sleep for a few seconds and wake up calm. My grandma showed me that 40 years ago.

See, it's not that hard to write in a clear concise manner that others can understand.

[backlash]

don't worry huckleberry i understood you perfectly ;D ;D
however i would have ate that rooster
AC

[Anon001]

Huckleberry, you really need more English lessons. *Your post should have been written like this.

I had an old red rooster that turned mean, so I would just catch him and tuck him under one arm. *I would tuck his head under a wing. *He would go right to sleep. *Then I would set him on the ground and hold him that way for a little while. *I would walk away, he would sleep for a few seconds and wake up calm.My grandma showed me that 40 years ago.

See, it's not that hard to write in a clear concise manner that others can understand.

Cap,

Most of us seem to understand Huck just fine. But, if you think he needs work on English lessons, we all do including you. Your grammar is not correct either. The highlighted part of your quote is commonly referred to a as a "run-on sentence". It needs either a conjunction or a period.

No need to critique my writing because I need English lessons, too.

Paul

[Captain_Sternn]

The highlighted part of your quote is commonly referred to a as a "run-on sentence". *It needs either a conjunction or a period. *

I know it was a poor sentence but you know what they say; garbage in, garbage out. One can only do so much with such an abortion of the English language.

If he would at least use correct punctuation and capitalization I'd be happy. If he started to spell check his work I'd be amazed. If he fixed the spelling error in his nickname I'd probably fall out of my chair.

[Anon001]

the point is that there is no reason to please you with it. It is what it is. If you don't like it, ignore it.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

grandma showed me that 40 years ago ;)


It's amazing how smart people were about animal husbandry 40+ yrs ago compared to now. My grandpa could make a hen go broody whenever he needed for her to brood. *I can't even get a good percentage of hatch from my incubators! And to get a broody hen, I just spend weeks in prayer. By that time she broods on her own, but it's too late for the duck eggs/geese eggs to be hatched.

[MelleeRN]

We had a rooster like that a couple of years ago. My son, who was nine at the time, got fed up with it because it was always going after him. Then one day he came in with it gutted and plucked. He just said, "mommy do you mind chicken tonight," and handed me the rooster. I laugh so hard that I nearly peed on myself. Since than no other problems with the roosters.

[huckelberry]

if i keep some folks on ignore i stay out the corner ;D

[bigjack]

A few years ago our rooster died so our flock (about 20) of hens was without one.
We had sombody at the house doing some work and they asked my wife if we wanted one. They warned my wife that it was mean (I was at work).
They brought the rooster over and put it with the hens. It had only one eye and was called One Eyed Jack (my name is Jack).
A few times the rooster went after me when I went in the pen and flogged me pretty good one time. My wife thought it was funny.
She went in the pen one day when I was at work and it jumped her. She didn't think that was funny.

She went into the house and came out with the Ruger 10/22 and put 10 rounds into the rooster.

Then she called her mother and told her "I just shot Jack".

Her mother said "it's about time!"

True story.-Jack(not one eyed)

[Grizzy]

OMG so funny!!! ;D

~Grizzy~

[goodwifefarm]

The real way to show him who's boss is eat him with dumpligs and go get another rooster. That will show him now, won't it? ;)

I concur...........the best place for a nasty rooster is in your belly!!

[goodwifefarm]

i had an old red rooster that turned mean,so i would just catch him an tuck him under one arm,them tuck his head under one wing,he will go right to sleep,set him on the ground an hold him that way for a little while,then walk away he will sleep for a few seconds an wake up calm....grandma showed me that 40 years ago ;)

hey huck, just wanted to let ya know that I understood ya just fine too ;) and I've been rooster attacked so many times (with blood drawn) that I have no tolerance for the meanies! I'm glad that grandma was able to help you out though! ;D

sarah