[Terry T]

We got a beautiful Copper Black Marans cockerel about a month ago, our first cockerel, he's 7 months old.
Over the past couple of weeks he's started charging us when we put out food in the morning and scratch in the evening but has settled once the food is down. Today however he decided on a more sustained attack, repeatedly charging, feathers puffed up, spurrs (fortunately still small) first. After 10-15 attacks I gave him a firm kick - not at all what I want to be doing and he stopped.
Is there any way I can reverse this behaiviour, I did wonder about throwing water?  I'd prefer not to cull if possible, although I'm sure he'd be quite tasty!

[chrismahon]

Springtime usually brings problems with cockerels. He should calm down later in the year, but if not he may have to go as his spurs will grow and you risk injury. I assume he  is with hens- if so it is important you don't get between them and him. Also never touch his head or back as they are very aggressive moves and he will react badly. You could try picking him up in the evening when he has roosted and is calm, so that he gets used to you, but keep him well away from your face as he may peck. Walk around with him on your arm and then put him back on the perch. This has worked for us.

[bj_cardiff]

I'm afraid I'd cull him. I've hatched quite a few chickens and kept a lot of the cocks back and I'd say every 1 in 10 birds was aggressive. I know what you mean about the kick, as there isn't much else you can do, but long term your probably going to hurt him. I'd look for a new cock

[Eve]

First: I'm a really nice, peaceloving person. Seriously.

Second: kick him from the very first charge. Yes, I know what I just said above 

Then, when he's more respectful around you, pick him up and wander around the run with him under your arm for a bit. Keep on doing that every day.
Either he'll start to respect you or he'll keep on being a little b*****d which means he'll be like that for the rest of his life, 'cause they're hormonal for most of the year (or maybe that's just mine  )


We need to be realistic: he will keep attacking you and at one point he'll go for a child and could seriously hurt their eyesight, for example. So put him in his place or invite him for dinner.

I've had the sweetest boys turning into agressive sods when they became hormonal. It's always sad though it does make culling them easier    The males of commercial layers, which we rehome after schools / nurseries hatch chicks without thinking about what to do with them afterwards, are so agressive. But my current meat flock produces mostly fairly placid birds which remain friendly if handled a lot when young. Our big cockerel is a right gentleman, and properly soppy

[Jukes Mum]

We have only had one aggressive cockerel. He was a complete pain in the backside making every job in the field a mission. Anyway, he tasted great!
The very first time the next cockerel 'stomped' at me, I chased him around the field banging a bucket (I had been feeding the sheep) for a good 10 minutes. My fella was howling laughing and wondered what on earth I was doing! Heaven forbid if any of the neighbours had seen!! The cockerel has not stomped at me since 

[twizzel]

Agree with the others- life is too short to have an aggressive cockerel, get rid of him. There are plenty of others who will take his place and not square up to you every time you go in the pen. We had a light sussex cockerel a few years ago who was the same- he even came back for more after a good kick... safe to say he didn't hang around much longer.

[Charlie1234]

I used to keep madras aseels as a teenager and they were 3 foot tall and nearly 14 pound in weight and never had 1 attack me but they would have a go at the dogs,sheep etc.

The first cockerel that chased me was a maran,I chased him around screaming + shouting and generally not showing any sign of weakness + I would confront him several times a day + he eventually learnt that I was boss. I think he was just trying to show his new girlfriends he was the man..

Dont be scared and dont back down,move towards him, he has no spurs yet so cant do much!!

Give it a try for 1 week + if he is still being an arse then chicken casserole it is     

[Marches Farmer]

No aggressive cockerel lasts more than one attack on this farm.  If you intend to use him for breeding then he may well pass on this trait to his offspring.

[Womble]

Life is definitely too short to share with a grumpy man, and TBH once one has started down that road, I've never managed to turn him back from it.

IME, the trouble with 'showing him who's boss', is that in the natural order of things, top cock would give his young challenger a real hiding and would then re-take his place at the top of the flock. The younger cock would then be swiftly chased off whenever he went near any of the girls.

However, when you or I try that, we teach him who's boss and then promptly go out to work all day (or whatever), leaving the cockerel back with the girls (i.e. making him feel like the boss again). So in that situation, the new order of you in charge and him being subordinate never gets chance to settle, and leading to ongoing conflict.

Just my pet theory.....

[Steph Hen]

Avoid kicking them, doesn't take that much to fracture bones. Met a woman who's husband kicked a cock after it went for her and broke its sternum, it died. Imagine how guilty you'd feel.
Could try going mental at it, just give it a few weeks for hormones to sell down, if no improvement, cull.
I used to have an aggressive gander - sold now - when I needed to, I used to stick a narrow, empty bucket over his head and it'd take it half a minute to get it off again by which time I'd finished. 

[Terry T]

Thanks for all your help everyone, sounds like he might end up as dinner before too long.
As he only has a problem at feed time when the hens run to me and perhaps he feels the need to protect them, I'll try  feeding them from a distance and then spend some time picking him up and see if he improves. I'll give him a couple of weeks, it would be a disappointing start to breeding our own chickens but I certainly agree we don't want to breed agression into a flock.

Thanks again

[Polyanya]

I agree about avoiding kicking - it seemed to aggravate any aggressive cocks I had and made them much worse. I found that pinning them down to the ground by placing my hand on their backs for a  couple of minutes did the trick with some and not with others - they went in the pot!

[Terry T]

I think you might be right Polyanya and thanks for the advice.
I've modified the way we interact with the hens when feeding so he doesn't feel I'm threatening his flock and he didn't attack either last night or this morning, so with a bit of interaction with him at dusk I hope we can prevent him going to the pot too soon.
Part of the problem was perhaps a novice cockerel owner!  Everyones advice has been really valuable. 

[NewLifeOnTheFarm]

My current cockerel went through a phase of attacking me when he was about 6 months old. After following advice here, I gave him a swift kick to get him away and then pinned him down on his back for a while. He never did it again!

[lord flynn]

its very easy to break a keel bone by kicking I'd have thought. I've had various aggressive Scots Grey cockerels and with the first one I tried pinning/carrying around but it just made him sneakier. since then I've culled sharpish-it really does seem to run in some lines and they tend to be worse if hand reared, rather than under a broody ime.


saying that, they are there doing what they do and its spring time-I've had some look at me funny when I've got between them and their hens, or bent down in the pen or worn big boots but then its never escalated! so I always give them a chance. I've never had an aggressive Minorca or Marsh Daisy male and my first Scots Grey cock was a lovely boy-it was when I bought in another line I got problems.