Toni, a young rooster
became part of our family
at the last minute
From the perspective of Gut Aiderbichl
(written by Gisela Pschenitschnig)
The flock of roosters on the farms of Gut Aiderbichl is getting bigger and bigger. Either they were gifts, or they crowed too loudly or became aggressive.
It has also become fashionable to give animals away. Experience has shown that this is the wrong way to please a person whose living or housing situation is not sufficiently known.
Toni was not a gift, but he became aggressive. A stick or a kick is the wrong answer to the rooster's attack, the cooking pot is the very last answer to a behavioural disorder of the rooster.
"...I can't bring myself to put Toni in the soup..."
A few weeks ago, an animal emergency of a special kind reached us. Toni had not been a gift and he had not been kicked. He was a one-year-old Italian rooster and started attacking people. His favourite was to attack the family's children if they came anywhere near the chicken coop. To calm things down, all the chickens were locked away together with their protector Toni. The son of the family fed the chickens and one day he fell on him and pinched his thigh. It was the end of his wisdom.
What had happened here? Why did the tame Toni turn into an aggressive rooster?
Toni certainly had a good home
He had been lovingly hand-reared - perhaps that is the problem. If so, he may have become too attached to humans during rearing. "Wrong" socialisation at chick age is very often the reason for aggressive behaviour of growing roosters. Through hand-rearing, the human becomes a conspecific of the animal.
From sexual maturity, which is given in the rooster at the beginning of the 26th week of life, it can happen that he starts to see the human who raised him as another rooster, i.e. a rival.
By nature, a rooster is the leader of the chicken group
Toni had matured and now wanted to occupy the highest-ranking position. He certainly also knew that hens only associate with strong, senior roosters. He instinctively knew that his job as a rooster was to protect and, in an emergency, to defend his hens. He would never have given up his position without a fight.
By nature, a rooster takes care of the hens' food too, so if someone goes into the chicken enclosure to feed the hens, Toni obviously gets angry, because that interfered with his work. For him, the little boy of the family was a "rival" and he attacked him.
Toni is now living a relaxed life in his new home at Gut Aiderbichl.
There is a lot to learn and observe. The body language of the animals is fantastic. Come and visit us and learn.
Sincerely, your Gisela
