Angry Rooster

[Shadrach]

I have a rooster and he is about a year old. When he was younger he use to be mean but he had stopped after a while. But for some reason in the past month or so he has became VERY aggressive. He will try and peck me when I'm doing their water and now sometimes just walking near the coop he will spur me. The hens will usually come up to me if they think I have food and just now that had happened and he spurred me through my boot and put a hole in me. I wasn't near the coop at all. Any way to fix his behavior? I don't want to get rid of him but we might have to since I'm the primary caretaker for these chickens. We do only have 4 hens so maybe we need more girls for him but my dad doesn't want any more. They also have free range of the yard and im thinking of making them a pen area for them that isnt their run.

I do things differently but if you have to do something quickly in order to not have to kill him, then this is one of the better videos on dealing with rooster problems. Note the man mentions that spending time with them works to.

 

[The Birb King]

I would say hold his body down and push his head down to the ground and hold him there for about a minute. My Marans rooster would show some signs of agression when he was young, walking sideways toward me, etc. One day I held him down and I think it worked. Now he is over a year old and doesn't act aggressive at all he is very chill now.

 

[Sussex19]

This is a post I found a while back, and it makes sense to me, if you really want to try.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/aggressive-rooster.1149551/page-2#post-17976693

 

[drdoct]

None of that ever worked with my rooster. He just didn't like males and half the time my wife either. I got to where I would carry a rake around with me just to keep him off me. I tried holding him down. I tried kicking him. I tried about everything in the world except killing him. Why? Because I wanted more fertilized eggs which would mean more 'free' chickens. Turns out he was a good rooster. He fought 2 dogs in an attack that he got them away from the hens and I only lost the newest "dumbest" hens who honestly didn't know better. He ran and fought them for over an hour! 2 dogs chasing and fighting him! As long as you know what you have and keep kids away from him, then I suggest letting him do his thing. It all depends on if you want chicks from your eggs or if you don't care about that. Carrying a red rake around with me became my defense. I sure do miss my good mean rooster.

 

[lacychappell4]

Personally I would cull but if you don't want to kill . I would re-home with full disclosure. I wouldn't want his genes in my flock.
I have never had luck getting an aggressive rooster to stop aggressive behavior
He has already injured you once next time it will be worse.
Chicken keeping should be a fun experience and not stressful. I definitely wouldn't have him free-ranging around kids . I would look for and older more experienced nice rooster if you want a flock rooster
But ultimately you have to decide as they are your chickens what behavior you will tolerate

 

[Mrs. K]

Personally I think it is a bit much to encourage a child to take a physical attack and punishment for no reason. Thinking like this is way to close to an abusive physical relationship. No one should be attacked and getting physically injured for a backyard hobby.

OP - set your boundaries, you are not doing anything to deserve this, this is not your fault. The bird is not having a bad day, you did not wear the wrong shoes, or feed the hens wrong. It is very likely that this bird will get much much worse.

Mrs K

 

[Lunie]

Thank you everyone for your replies! I'll try some things yall suggested before we rehome him. I can't really kill the animals I raise so what will either happen if we don't rehome him he will be sleeping in the trees. He is a good rooster and takes care of the hens for the most part. We don't get many visitors and the chickens usually stay away from people they don't recognize so we don't have to worry about anyone else getting their legs and ankles bruised and poked at except for mine. No kids come around so there is nothing to worry about with that! We use to have a tamer rooster but my dad got rid of him because they could never get along. He says he got rid of the wrong one lol. <3