# It's a roo...



## tammylmyers (May 3, 2013)

Pecks others into bowing down, stands on them and bits them the little booger! He doesn't know what to do when they are bowed but he's sure aggressive. I think he has to GO. He's mean!


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## tammylmyers (May 3, 2013)

Meant to day Bites them... All over the neck an face


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

That's not mean, that's nature in action. Every roo learns the same way, some are more aggressive at first and some are not, but they soon settle down to a more gentle mating style after they have done it awhile~of course, it still won't look gentle to US, but it is as gentle as it's going to get.

Just compare the eagerness and ineptitude of a teenage male doing things for the first time and this is what is happening to that rooster. He just hasn't learned the art of gentleman courtship yet! 

My rooster is old and I still have hens that make a mewling sound when getting mated... and some that seem to calmly enjoy it, so it's all within the scope of natural animal husbandry.


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## tammylmyers (May 3, 2013)

I know you are right. He's just hurting them, being more aggressive than it takes. They submit quickly but he keeps biting and pecking.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

He'll get more gentle along the way as he gets some of this breeding angst out of his feathers. You can try something to correct that behavior, if you want to be proactive.

When my rooster gets a little fractious at the feeder towards younger birds or the hens, I just move him along. I'll say his name in a corrective tone and walk purposefully towards him and make him give way in front of me. It reminds him to go easy and it also lets him know I don't condone that behavior as the flock leader. 

He'll see me coming now and as soon as I say his name, he stops his greediness and moves away. 

If you cannot reach him in time, get yourself a long, light weight rod or switch and just push him or knock him off the hen when he is being too rough. It may curb his enthusiasm and it will also give him the idea that you dictate the rules of engagement. 

But...all in all..most chicken breeding is not gentle and the hens don't seem to enjoy it one bit. My old roo and my old gals have known each other for 6 yrs and he is about a gentle a rooster as one can get, but sometimes I can still hear that hen whining and whimpering during the breeding. 

And that's nature in all it's natural glory....to us humans it looks mean, but it's just how God designed the animals and we cannot judge it from a human standpoint.


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