I have a 5 month old Polish rooster that is very well mannered. Will he stay this way, or as he gets older will he get nasty? I've had him since he was 2 days old, and he's been handled almost daily since. I don't hand feed my chickens (I have 7 Polish and 14 Rhode Island Reds)My daughter wants to show him in 4H this year and we'd like to keep him friendly if possible.

Thanks for your help.

Stacy Rohan in snowy Upstate New York

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), December 20, 2000

Answers

If he's nice and friendly now I think he will stay that way so long as you stay nice and friendly to him. 5 months is old enough to indicate the disposition of most animals barring some kind of trauma to themselves. Enjoy! I had one super mean rooster and now I have a nice one. The mean one was named Ambush. This new one is Lancelot and I had thought he might be gay as I had him for 6 weeks before he started to get familiar with my hems, but he was just being polite! It's really nice to walk past him without watching to make sure he doesn't nail me from behind.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), December 20, 2000.

Hey Stace! I agree with Doreen. If he's nice now more than likely he will remain that way. If he doesn't-well, you know how to make Chicken/n dumplins dont ya? Be cool in upper N.Y. It's colder'n a wedge here this a.m. My water was friz up! Got't fix'd already tho. Turned up the t-stat in the pumphouse. old COLD hoot in Illinois. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), December 20, 2000.

Thanks Doreen and Hoot. I'll just keep treating him like I have been. He's a sweety, I picked him up today and noticed that one of the hens is picking at his crest. He looks pretty sad being a Polish with a half dollar sized bald spot. I put some iodine on his head so that may help, if not I'll get some antipick lotion.

Glad you got your water thawed out, Hoot. We've been lucky (knock wood)we haven't had a problem with the house or barn water freezing yet this year.I am having a problem with the chicken waterers tho.

Stacy Rohan in snowy Upstate NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), December 20, 2000.

One thing you can do to keep your rooster a gentleman is to keep his spurs trimmed. It seems like if I forget to trim them and they get pretty big that the rooster gets an attitude. Just use a good pair of wire cutters and nip off most of the tip of the spur. Don't cut too close so they won't bleed (a little is normal). You can kind of see the vein usually....sort of like cutting a dogs toe nails.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), December 20, 2000.

I have several roosters, and none of them are mean, although I have known mean roosters before. I just treat mine the same as my hens-I don't hand-feed, but they all get handled occasionally when we check them for lice, or for whatever reason. Come to think of it, somebody gave us a white leghorn cockerel last spring. He was always different from the others, and my other roosters did not allow him around the hens.(we don't otherwise have any aggression) When he got older, he started to attack us, especially my 3-year-old. I gave him away. I don't think that you should have to clip his spurs. Some of mine have pretty impressive ones, and as I said, they are friendly.

-- Skye Astara (skyeastara@prodigy.net), December 26, 2000.