I went out and spent a few minutes trying to convince the chickens that they should go inside until this string of storms passes. The big rooster was telling them to ignore me. I finally cornered him and carried him around upside down for a couple of minutes and everyone else went inside.
The ducks and turkeys were far more cooperative.
The worst part of this is found to be trying to convince my 9 Kg (20 lb) plus cat to come out from under the stairs.
I like to imagine all the hens thinking “this monkey-thing is crazy, look what happened to our male! We must obey the monkey-thing”
I have no idea why hens that have never seen an actual monkey would call humans monkey-things, but that’s what they sent to my brain.
It’s sometimes necessary to remind them who has the opposable thumbs. Our biggest rooster was getting a bit uppity with my wife. She couldn’t go into the yard with him. I went out to do chores and he took a run at me. I grabbed him and carried him around upside down by the feet while I did chores. That was enough of a reminder for him and he settled right down after that.
The hens are pretty good about listening and going where I want as long as the big rooster isn’t outside growling at them. I chased him inside once this afternoon but when I turned around to chase the hens in he was back outside growling at them. That’s when I picked him up and the hens all ran inside. The other two roosters are pretty well behaved. They are second and third to the big guy.
That is brilliant :)
He is very large and has his spurs. We need our roosters to be armed to protect the flock but we also need them to remember their place on the farm. He’s generally very good but from time to time gets a bit too big for his britches and needs to be reminded who is in charge.
I laugh at videos of people running from ducks and geese. I was in St. James park in London a few years ago and one of the geese in the part took a dislike to my shoes for some reason (Dr. Martin’s black wingtips.) It wouldn’t go away so I reached down, took it by the neck right below its head and told it to fuck off. I guess it had never taken a run at a farmer before.
It’s the same with Canada Geese. When they get aggressive I walk right toward them with my left arm ready to sweep their necks. They always back right down and move away.
Having had my ass kicked by an angry mama goose until I gave it a whack, I can get the concern if the person is too worried about hurting the bird. Ngl, seeing that damn thing flying at my head puckered me up a little.
We had a visit from a rooster the other day, btw! No idea who he normally lives with, but Sesame (our hen) was not having it. She was all pissed at him lol. I wouldn’t have thought a hen would do that. Having her around has been a blast :)
Big geese are heavy and strong. You have to be prepared and you have to know what you’re doing. Canada Geese are relatively small compared to large domestic geese. I would take on a large farm goose and give myself an 80% chance of coming out on top and 95% chance of surviving the encounter.
Hens can really be aggressive but you have to remember that most of them weigh a couple of pounds. They will run off roosters and hawks and eat anything they can get ahold off.
I have a mixed flock of running and muscowy ducks. The muscowy drake is a big boy, easily 5.5 kg when plucked and gutted. Luckily he hasn’t shown romantic in female running ducks. But like your rooster he needs a refresher course from time to time. But once he’s ready for a lesson in pecking order, he’s usually so worked up that he’ll be full on charging us. Usually it’ll lead to a physical confrontation. One time I 300 style kicked him in the chest as he was coming at me waist height. Not proud of that one, more shocked TBH. I’m always worried that I’m going to hurt him, but I need him to protect the flock so I can’t just take him now. Maybe I’ll start babying him in advance, instead of having to defend myself.
I too have had to, on multiple occasions, use the toe of my boot to fend off an angry rooster. The problem with that is it doesn’t solve the underlying problem.
Rooster Life is all about the Three Fs: Feeding, Fighting, and Mating.
When you fight the rooster they see you as a competitor. They’re in the fight so they have a change. What I do it completely dominate them. They don’t get in a single kick. I pick them up, get ahold of their legs, and carry them around upside down by the legs while I do chores. That makes it very clear to them that there is no chance at all for them in a fight. It’s not a competition. It has the added benefit of being less risky in terms of injuring the bird. Rooster’s legs are good and strong. I always make sure that I use both of their legs to carry them and I don’t carry them like that for long. It’s most often around one minute. Just long enough to make it very clear to them who is at the top of the pecking order.
At least that’s my take on it. It generally only takes one of those to solve a behavioral problem. On rare occasions it takes two. Once I’ve corrected that behavior it corrects it for my wife as well.
