09/21/2023
👌💕🐓 Raising Friendly Roosters 🐓💕👌
Whether you're a new keeper hoping to keep your roo nice, or are struggling with a rooster who's already attacking, there are a number of tried and true tips to establish an amazing relationship with your boy. Without further ado, this is Rooster Allies' big list of Do's and Dont's when working with roos. 😉
👍Do:
👖Dress for the occasion - Gloves, jeans, and sturdy footwear will help prevent the vast majority of injuries.
📋Establish a routine - Predictability helps your rooster feel secure. Try to be consistent in your schedule, attire, and process for care, chores, and interaction.
💕Spend quality time - Making regular time for bonding will build familiarity and encourage friendship.
🦥Ease into change - The unfamiliar is scary. Help them handle things gracefully by gradually introducing new objects, people, or environmental changes.
🧘♀️Be mindful - Before interacting, take a moment to make sure you’re projecting calm and friendship. Roosters mirror our emotional state; what we put out is what they reflect back.
💆♀️Minimize stress - Roosters who are stressed express it through attacks. Whenever possible, navigate care in a way that avoids unnecessary worry or panic.
💬Learn their language - Many rough behaviors aren’t aggressive. Taking time to decipher what they’re trying to say will help avoid frustration and misunderstandings.
🛕Respect their culture - Chickens have different “rituals”, values, and communication methods than humans. Remember, different doesn’t mean bad or wrong.
🧐Look from their perspective - Take a step back and try to see situations through the eyes of a prey animal. Often things that wouldn’t bother us strike them very differently.
👨🏫Set standards for caregivers - A bad interaction with any human can create distrust of all humans, including you! Don’t involve others in care/training unless you’re sure they’re willing and able to respond to challenges correctly.
🫡Be an example - Engaging in conflict will encourage more conflict. If we want friendship, we must demonstrate friendship. Our actions teach them how to treat us.
🐓Maintain spurs - Excessively long or sharp spurs pose a danger to us, the hens, and our roos. Don’t remove, but do keep spurs dulled and trimmed to a healthy length.
🤒Pay attention to health cues - Roosters will often attack when injured or feeling unwell. Close observation and regular health checks will increase your chances of early treatment, and help prevent attacks driven by discomfort.
👎Don’ts:
💔Take things personally - Rooster attacks are driven by fear, confusion, or frustration - never malice. Show you’re a friend by identifying (and helping them solve) the problem they’re having.
🪩Wear flashy clothes - Bright colors, busy patterns, and even baggy fabric can spook roosters and lead to attacks. Stick to plain items of a neutral color that don’t flop around.
🔥Fight fire with fire - Aggressive responses reinforce aggression. Spraying, kicking back, throwing objects, etc. will be viewed as an attack. Avoid methods that are designed to intimidate or cause discomfort. Instead, encourage peace by being “the calm in the storm”.
💪Use dominance tactics - Methods like pinning or chasing will encourage competition and conflict. They might work for a time, but they put a target on our back and open us up to renewed attacks down the road. All roosters want to lead. As soon as they build up confidence they will attempt to take over. Head roos are frequently challenged, it’s best to remain outside the pecking order.
🚫Trap or capture to stop attacks - Capture and restraint can be necessary in an emergency, but in response to attacks it only reinforces to them that we are a threat. As prey animals, things like trapping with a laundry basket or netting will fuel their anxiety and make them more defensive.
🧠Underestimate their ability to learn - Chickens are even more intelligent than cats or dogs! Far from being bird-brains, they are incredibly trainable and eager to learn.
💡Expect them to naturally understand - Our backyard roos are faced with many unnatural items and situations. They often need some help to understand they are safe.
🫵Assign motive - Ask questions instead. Many behaviors mean something very different than it seems at first glance. Avoid assuming the worst, and always consider all possible explanations.
🤼♂️Engage in competition - This only confirms to them that we’re a rival. The best way to prevent conflict and contests long term is to show him you’re on his team.
🤔Trust everything you’re told - There’s typically very little consideration shown to roosters (this group is a rare exception). When evaluating advice, ask yourself if you’d use that method on your cat, parrot, or even toddler. If the answer is no, it’s probably smart to reject it.
🩹Use unnatural preventatives - Things like crow collars and pinless peepers are not only a safety hazard for the bird, but also add to their stress by hindering healthy natural behaviors. When natural behaviors are being expressed in an unhealthy way, it’s a sign of a deeper problem to remedy. Forcing a stop is a band-aid "solution".
🦸Believe the tough guy act - Deep down, roosters are incredibly sensitive and feel deeply vulnerable (this is why they’re so fast to defend). Rest assured, they need reassurance and support far more than punishment.
🕵️Trust their responses - As prey animals, roosters are programmed to hide weakness. They don’t react to pain or distress the way we would. Even if they’re acting fine, if what’s happening seems like it would be painful, assume it is.
👶Allow access to young children - The sweetest, calmest rooster can still get spooked. Small children can’t keep faces out of kicking range. An adult should always oversee interactions and ensure that safeguards are in place.
🪄Expect the impossible - Even humans have bad days or lash out over misunderstandings now and again. Just like us, good birds will occasionally have a bad response, but we don’t have to let it burn bridges.
👋Give up on them - Roosters can be challenging, but with love, patience, and dedication they have the potential to be incredible companions. There will be rocky patches, but remember, losing a battle doesn’t mean you’ve lost the war.
