Yeah, I know Landlady still calls him “Stripey.” But seriously, who names anything Stripey? Anyway, he seems to have gotten the impression from somewhere that roosters are supposed to be absurdly, irrationally aggressive. He didn’t read far enough into that chapter of the rooster manual, because if he had he’d have noticed the paragraph that ends with the words “stew pot.”
The hens are starting to fort up in the chicken house. This afternoon he was chasing the smallest hen around the Fortress of Attitude, and when I opened the gate she made a Mach 2 escape attempt past me. She has never done that before. And this morning while I was filling their feeder, he launched up and tried to spike me with his spurs. Just out of the blue; I did not see that coming. And he didn’t think it was right at all when I knocked him out of the air with a coffee can full of chicken pellets.
If he keeps this up he’s going to find himself back at Gitmo awaiting a tribunal and possible hatchet. I won’t have him disrupting my egg supply.
The last two of my friends flock to end up on the BBQ were named Rapist and Stew. A male chicken’s days are usually numbered, might as well enjoy them while they are still tender rather then allowing them to annoy everyone while the toughen up.
Oh yes, I see noodles in that rooster’s future. And, as R said, don’t wait. His attitude is not going to improve with age, but his skill with the spurs will.
And yes… “Stripey” is a fair name for a hamster, not a killer chicken. LOL
Yeah, roosters don’t generally mellow with age and the quality of the stew keeps declining. My last rooster attacked me out of the blue one day and 3 of my dogs pinned it to the ground snarling viciously attempting to explain what the rules were regarding aggression. When I called them off he jumped up immediately ready to fight again. That display of bad manners earned him a place at the dinner table.
Seems to me that I have read that roosters can be relatively easily de-spurred . . . requiring nothing more complicated than a pair of pliers, if that.
Might be worth looking into if you find his attitude tolerable if weaponless.
i trained all my pets out of aggressive behavior. livestock being aggressive is not in the acceptable category. i carry a reasonably long knife all the time. that birdbrain would have gotten whacked right then and there.
clarence