How do you make a rooster respect you?

Answer 1

Let me just say first that I am speaking from years of experience. I have about a dozen roosters right now, am not afraid of any of them, they are all tame, and even the one mean rooster is easy to deal with. Even my 2-year-old niece has been taught "the ways of the rooster", and is totally unafraid of them!

It's actually much easier than most people think. There are very, very few roosters that can't be taught to respect you, but even those rare few truly mean ones can be dealt with easily, even the 'meaner' breeds, such as barred rocks.

Simple steps are: Don't ever be afraid of him, make sure he knows who's boss (without hurting him), and tame him down.

First off, the # 1 step, and the VERY MOST IMPORTANT STEP, is to NOT be afraid of the rooster: if you are, many roosters will simply take advantage of what they see as a weakness. This applies to many different animals too. And as they say with dogs, you don't have to train the dog, just the human. As I said, there are almost no roosters that can't be taught to at lease respect you. There are very few feisty ones that will continue to attack, but you should easily be able to deal with them.

Even if you're still afraid of him, don't act like it: DO NOT back off, do NOT run away, don't throw things at him, as that will make him even more mean. It may take some getting used to, but once you really get to know the rooster, you won't be afraid of him anymore.

Step #2 and #3 is to tame your rooster as much as possible. This serves the dual purpose of making him 'know who's boss'. This is much easier when he's very young, and gets harder the older (and more stuck in his ways) he gets, but it's usually doable. Pick him up whenever you can. Then, pet him, rub his wattles, carry him around, etc. It seems to 'humble' them (or just humiliate them!) and show them who the 'bigger rooster' is. It also shows him you're not afraid of him. Just don't make the mistake of treating him like a total baby: many people do this with their dogs, then are afraid of them. They simply have different 'rules' of behaving, so treating them TOO much like humans usually doesn't work well. Once you're used to him and would never be afraid of him though, you can treat him like as much of a baby as you want!

Whenever a rooster is acting like a bit of a smart-alec, or even makes the slightest move to attack, I pick him up, make a bit of a fool out of him in front of the hens, and sometimes shake him up a bit if he's being a bit mean (without hurting him of course).

If I DO encounter a mean rooster, I have a bit of a 'matador' session with him, sidestepping whenever he tries to attack, then grabbing him. Not saying you have to do this, but once you're used to roosters, it's quite useful, as, again, it makes the rooster respect you, and actually quite fun.

If you have kids, make sure you get them used to the roosters so that they're not afraid of them. If the rooster is really untrustworthy, teach the child how to Dodge and grab the rooster if he attacks, and supervise them so no one gets hurt. An unstable rooster who's not used to people will attack when he gets the chance, while a well-adjusted rooster will not. Even the well adjusted rooster will sometimes attack if someone is afraid of him, such as if someone runs whenever he makes what they consider to be 'a move to attack them'.

A few people who don't know better might say this is the 'wimps' way to go about it: taming your rooster down and treating him like a pet, but it's NOT. It's actually recommended by many chicken experts, and by far the best way. If your rooster is afraid of you and you're not afraid of him, that can work, but he'll take any opportunity to attack you. It's much better to get him to respect and maybe even like you. Most of the roosters I have are so tame I can simply walk up to them, pick them up, and pet them, all without ever getting attacked.

As I said, it's much easier than most people think, and if you try, you can have quite a nice rooster, and maybe even a nice pet.

Good luck! :)

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We had a rooster that was just plain mean. It did its best to attack my mother whenever it got the chance. My dad never paid that much attention until he saw what had been going on himself-- he'd never been around a rooster with no fear of a human. My dad got about six feet of rubber hose, doubled it, and wore that rooster out but good before letting it get away. End of problem... he wanted nothing to do with getting anywhere near a human. It sounds cruel but it was either that or kill it- rooster spurs can easily take an eye out. And it's not as if you can bribe them or give them time-outs.