Expert: Abi - 5/4/2010

Question
Hi Abi,

I hope that you can help me, we have been keeping chickens for a couple of years now and other than the usual teething issues along the way everything has been fine.

However I have a little bit of a problem with one of my roosters.

He is a Golden Brahma rooster and is about 18 months old at this point, despite being a very large bird (he is at the upper end of the brahma range) he has always been very docile and well behaved.

The problem is that my partner opened up the chicken house this morning, he lives with 8 hens, and as she was walking away from the house he attacked her from behind; he managed to draw blood on her( we have until now allowed him to keep his spurs as he has fought off dogs and foxes in the past and never shown any aggressive tendancies to anything else) my partner had to slap at him and in the end shoo him away with a shovel until he would leave her alone.

As I said previously although he has always been protective of his ladies he has never gone for them or us ever before, I have heard that it could be as a result of "spring fever"
Is it possible that this is the case?

If so is there anything that can be done to calm him down a bit, my partner is scared and shaken up at this point and wants to get rid of him however I would be heartbroken to do so as he is a lovely chicken and is very much a pet. I have read that squirting him with a watergun might do the job but I am not convinced.

It would be great to hear any suggestions that you might have

Regards Tom

Answer
Hello Tom,

Your brahma will be more aggressive at this time of year because he is more active covering your hens- he should calm down as the weather cools, and squirting him with a watergun is also a good idea. Other things that they don't like are brooms and mops!

Thanks for your question.