Roosters & Rooster Sanctuary's

Besides their majestic beauty, Roosters are just simply awesome.  They are smart, affectionate, and as loyal as a dog  They will protect their hens to the death, when they sense danger, they warn their hens  with a screech and the hens go running for cover.  Roosters will hunt for food, when they find it, they do a dance with a twitter sound to draw the hens, then, they will wait until the hens are done eating to eat.  Roosters  sperm is very hardy.  When he mates, his sperm can stay viable in a hen for up to 2-weeks.  The rooster is a nest maker and will make nests for his hens to lay eggs.

Because the male chicks of egg-laying breeder hens are unable to lay eggs and are not bred to produce excessive flesh for the meat industry, they are killed. Every year, 200 million of these young birds are ground up alive or tossed into bags to suffocate.  Many male chicks that are hatched from irresponsible breeders are sold to be used for reptile food.  Eaten alive by a reptile.  If a rooster makes it past the first few days the next hurdle is when it starts to crow.  If the owner doesn't want a rooster, most will try to rehome.  But, roosters are very difficult to rehome because they do not produce eggs, so many times roosters are dumped to be hit by a car, eaten by a predator or die of dehydration or starvation.  Some roosters are used for cock fighting, where their spurs are replaced with knives to fight to the death.

 Roosters (male chickens) are the most abandoned, unwanted, exploited, and stigmatized land animal on the planet.  There are so many myths and bad advice which have led rooster keepers to think they have no choice but to respond to the rooster harshly, expel them from the flock, abandon them, or kill them.  There is a stereotype within the chicken community that roosters have tempers, are challenging and not worth the hassle.  Also, many believe that the way to relate to their rooster is to embarrass them or , be combative or aggressive towards them.  They problem is, this is what started the misunderstanding in the first place. 

How to Lovingly Tame A Rooster in 4-Steps:

Before taming a Rooster, it is important to know the Roosters behavior.  

1. Your goal is to retrain your Rooster.  Therefore, when you are not training, make sure the rooster is in the run where he cannot attack.

2. Change your relationship of dominant/submissive with your Rooster to one of friendship and mutual respect:  

Put on long pants, a sweatshirt, long gloves, boots and face protection and when your Rooster attacks you - stand still.  Keep talking to him in a friendly, baby voice; he will get tired out and stop.  By standing still, you are not giving him what he wants - he wanted you to walk away (making you submissive), or fight (making you the dominant).  By not doing either, you are telling him you want to be partners.

3. Becoming Friends: Sit on the ground and let your Rooster come up to you and make eye contact with him.  Talk to him in a sweet voice and show him you respect him.  Feed him meal worms or something he likes, out of your hand.

4. Transitioning from still movement to moving around:  Keeping eye contact with your Roo, move your arm up a foot.  If he attacks your arm, leave it where it is.  He will stop.  Continue to do this until walking around does not cause him to attack you.

 If you have made a decision to surrender your rooster, please consider a Rooster Sanctuary.

Our Sanctuary: Crazy4Chickens (Mountville, SC)

www.crazy4chickens.org

1. Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig's Roost (Bennett Colorado)  http://roostersanctuary.org/

2.  The Chicken Sanctuary (Susquehanna, Pennsylvania) https://www.facebook.com/thechickensanctuary/

3.  Carolina Waterfowl Rescue (Indian Trail, NC)  https://www.cwrescue.org/need-help-animal

4. And-Hof Animals Sanctuary (Catskill, NY)

https://www.and-hof-animals.org/

5. Winslow Farm Animal Sanctuary (Norton, MA) https://www.winslowfarm.com/our-history

6. Graze in Peace (Brunswick, Maine)                         https://grazeinpeace.com/who-we-are/mission-and-history/

7.  Maple Farm Sanctuary (Mendon, Massachusetts)  https://grazeinpeace.com/who-we-are/mission-and-history/

8.  Skyland's Animal Rescue (Wantage, New Jersey)  https://skylandssanctuary.org/

9. The Chicken Rescue (Round Top, Texas)  https://thechickenrescue.org/contact 

10.  Chocowinity Chicken Sanctuary  (Chocowinity, NC)  http://www.chocochickensanctuary.org/Chocowinity_Chicken_Sanctuary/Home.html

11.  Peaceful Fields Sanctuary (Winchester, VA)  https://peacefulfieldssanctuary.org/about/

12.  Sweet Peeps Micro-Sanctuary (Lillian, Alabama)  https://sweetpeeps.org/about-us/

13.  Wild Earth Farm & Sanctuary (Irvine, Kentucky)  http://www.wildearthfarmandsanctuary.com/sanctuary

14. Star Gazing Animal Sanctuary (Boyd's, Maryland)  https://www.stargazingfarm.org/about-the-farm/sanctuary/

15.    Useless Animal Sanctuary (Palatka, Florida)  http://www.uselessanimalfarm.org/

16. Wildlife Rescue (San Antonio, Texas)                                                     https://wildlife-rescue.org/

17.  Autumn Farm Sanctuary  (Cedarburg, Wisconsin)  https://autumnfarmsanctuary.org/

18. Barn Sanctuary (Chelsea, Michigan)   https://www.barnsanctuary.org/animals/

19.   Chicken Run Rescue (Minneapolis, Minnesota)  https://www.chickenrunrescue.org/About

20.  Georgia's Place Bird Sanctuary  (Harvard, Illinois)  https://www.georgiasplacebirdsanctuary.org/

21. Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary (Ravenna, Ohio)   https://happytrailsfarm.org/

22.  Sanctuary Moon (Howell, Michigan)  https://www.patreon.com/sanctuarymoon

23.  Uplands Peak Sanctuary  (Freedom, Indiana)   https://uplandspeaksanctuary.org/individuals/

24.  Farm Sanctuary (Northern & Southern California) https://www.farmsanctuary.org/

25. Heart & Soul Animal Sanctuary (Santa Fe, New Mexico) https://www.heartandsoulnm.org/

26. Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary (Scio, Oregon)  https://www.lighthousefarmsanctuary.org/

27. Pasado Safe Haven  (Sultan, Washington)  https://www.pasadosafehaven.org/

28.  Whisper's Sanctuary (Sierra Vista, Arizona)    https://www.rrheartranch.com/