What to do with aggressive rooster?

[feather13]

Hi all,

I posted a few weeks ago about a 6 month old aggressive frizzle bantam silkie rooster who has become aggressive. He attacks the legs of everyone who is in the coop except my boyfriend. I took your good advice to heart: I tried being sweet to him at first and now use my feet or whatever I have handy (feed container lid, etc.) to push him off.

My question/issue is this: we're leaving for a two week trip and need someone to chicken sit. I don't have any more time to try to "retrain" him. A pet sitter came by yesterday and of course the rooster threw himself at her legs. Clearly I need to get rid of him, but am not sure how. What would you do? Note that he has been exposed to Marek's (9 of his chick batch died of confirmed Marek's). Could he still transmit Marek's to another flock?

*I could cull him, but unfortunately I'm too much of a weakling to do that (even though I grew up hunting, fishing and trapping... go figure)

*I could take him to the local SPCA and let them know he has Marek's

*I could post an ad for him on Craigslist letting potential adopters know that he's aggressive and has been exposed to Marek's

*I could take him to the veterinarian and she could euthanize him (expensive)

*Any other suggestions? We're leaving this weekend, so I'm in a bit of a panic. Thank you in advance.

 

[Gray Farms]

Sounds like he needs to be culled. If you can't then hopefully somebody will for you

 

[azygous]

PM me and I'll tell you an easy, painless method, not involving violence or blood.

If you don't wish to keep him, your options boil down to culling, I'm sorry to say, given he's both aggressive and carrying a contagious avian virus. I doubt even an animal rescue would take him, and unless you found a flock that already has Marek's, you can't ethically rehome him.

 

[theoldchick]

I trained my chicken-sitter how to handle my bachelor flock. I have a fishing net that I scoop up a rowdy rooster with. The sitter knows how to use this. Also she does not have to enter the Bachelor pen as all she has to do is throw food in and give them fresh water in a bucket.

 

[anatess]

How long are you gonna be gone? Might be a good idea to pen him so it's easier for the chicken sitter to care for your flock. I have indoor rooster (I'm not supposed to have them in my neighborhood) and they're pretty chill about staying in the pen.

 

[luvmigirls]

cullg was my option. otherwise someone would end up injuried . other chickens or neighbors kids. Not willing to take that responsibility on, I culled him. I cried as I did it, but you will be a better livestock owner if you can control your livestock...

another option, is letting him go in a wooded area. raccoons and fox love chickens

 

[azygous]

No. Turning an unwanted chicken loose into the wild to be eaten by predators is not a humane option any more than it's a reasonable way of disposing of an unwanted dog or cat. I point this out in the spirit of helpfulness, not as a personal criticism.

 

[feather13]

Thank you, all, for your generous and kind suggestions! @theoldchick and anatess: We do have a small coop that looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/Exacme-Lovup...&qid=1513790549&sr=8-12&keywords=chicken+coop. It's inside our large enclosed chicken run that's attached to another large run and coop. I could put him in there, but we'll be gone for two weeks and the sitter would still need to clean the coop. I'd still need to get rid of him though when I got back Of course, this morning he stayed his distance from me and didn't attack ) Weirdly enough, he's ok with the hens. He mates with two who don't seem to mind and the rest peck him if he's within wing distance.

@GrayFarms, azygous, and luvmigirls: I do think culling is the only ethical option at this point and don't think I'd be able to find a Marek's exposed flock willing to take him on such short notice. We got a batch of 12 chicks and this one was a rooster (we couldn't tell he was a rooster until about 5 months), so we weren't looking to have one. I don't know if Marek's can be transferred to eggs via a rooster, but I definitely don't want to pass this horrible disease on (and, thanks to Marek's, we get hardly any eggs anyway). So no chicks are in our immediate future. Azygous: I'll PM you for the bloodless culling idea. Thank you so much!

 

[feather13]

I considered letting him loose in the woods or just leaving him outside the coop at night (I was mulling over every option possible), but I would have a hard time driving away or not going down to the coop to check on him at night. I imagine he'd be scared and confused. Plus I wouldn't want to spread Marek's to a wild bird flock that doesn't already have it. My parents got two beautiful, pure bred dogs when their owners dumped them off in the woods, but I don't think all animals meet the same good ends.

 

[theoldchick]

I'd euthanize him before leaving him in the woods to defend for himself.