16 wk old rooster attacked daughter, new ? post #38

[Country_Gal@Heart]

I agree that you need to send Doodle to freezer camp. I have a 5 y/o daughter and a 2 y/o son and if my roo went after either of them the way you described he would be gone in a heartbeat. One of our local mail carriers was recently attacked by a feral rooster while delivering to a local business and I cannot imagine what the outcome would have been had it been a child on the receiving end of that attack. No rooster is worth your child's mental, physical or emotional well-being. I am sure if you find a friendly new chicken for your little guy, he will bounce back just fine from the loss of his rooster.

Good luck.

 

[Keara]

My son (4 yrs at the time) had no problem with us eating the roo, he was scared of it attacking him too.

 

[bobbi-j]

Quote:
I don't think the 6 year old should have to carry a fishing net with her every time she goes outside (or to the chickens, or whatever) in the hopes that the rooster "might" leave her alone! The child should be able to go outside without fear. Casting another vote for re-homing him to the crockpot.

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

Another vote for freezer camp.
Because little people are low to the ground, and nasty roosters tend to go for eyes, it is not worth taking the chance...
I understand that your little boy will be sad about losing his rooster but this can also be a valuable learning experience for your kids about the realites of raising livestock.
Good luck with whatever decision you take.

 

[tri-5-ron]

This will be my last post to this thread.
I told my best friend about this story today,...

... and he told me about his cousin in Iowa who lost his eye to a rooster attack when they were very young kids.
(I had no idea that this had happened)

His cousin didn't get to play little league baseball, could never catch a long ball pass playing football, and had to live with the stigma in grade school of being "the Cyclops".
He grew up being somewhat reclusive, and self concience about it. his social development, and emotional well being did not become "normal" , until well into his adult years.

need there be any more said?

 

[Mahonri]

You don't want to pass those genes along.

 

[MareeZoCool]

Pen him up in one of those dog crates for a few days. He will be humbled a bit - mine was. While he's crated, make sure to offer hime some treats by hand-feeding him.

 

[Qi Chicken]

Well, I guess the votes tally up at about 35 - 1 in favor of sending Doodle to the noodles.

I don't disagree. I have read Gritstars rooster page and red roosters page and also something that was in the Backyard poultry magazine about rooster behavior and I do have some questions though.

If we rehome this rooster we do have another one that is now very nice. (I think mostly he is just scared of the other one)

But I think that the welsummers behavior is more a problem of flock mismanagement than his temperment. What do you all think??

My daughter loves to pick up the chickens and carry them around. I don't think any of the chickens like it, but she loves it and she is very gentle and careful with them. HERE IS MY QUESTION: This seems like a direct threat to the roosters flock and I wonder if ANY rooster would allow this? Is this something she CAN NOT do if there is a rooster?

As an aside: Doodle seems to be very calm now after we have chased him around. He also seems to be limping a little.

My husband does not even like the chickens very much and he wants to try to retrain Doodle. I will have him read this page. Obviously my fear is for my kids. Thanks to everyone for their responses.

I really love having a rooster and would very much like to know if ANY rooster will handle kids messing with their hens or if we just need to be without one.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
Absolutely not. If you - and your daughter - are alpha roos, then your flock's alpha roo still has to submit to that. My roo challenged my picking up one of the girls one time. One time only.

He is now a very good flock rooster, but he never challenges my actions.

 

[mangled]

My 7 year old loves to pick up our hens, and we've never had issues with our roos going after her.

I agree that it is the individual bird. All of our birds are handled from day 1, especially the roos. They aren't allowed to mate the hens while we're around, respect is given at all times by the rooster or they're done.

I had a leghorn roo go bad on me last winter. I was wearing a set of Carhardt coveralls, the insulated ones. That roo hit me hard enough to tear through the insulated coveralls and still draw blood. Broke the spur off in the coveralls. I limped down to the house and got the .12 gauge. We didn't bother eating him, wasn't much left after the shotgun anyway. All I could think of was what if it had been my daughter?

There's a rule at our house: If you can't get along, you won't live long.

There are plenty of good roos out there.

Good luck to you.
Em