2 Roos, 6 hens..Not Sure

[aart]

Quote: Birds can get food aggressive fairly easily if not kept in line by the humans who are hand feeding them.....
.....if they get too pushy, they need a 'peck' on the head(with fingertips) when misbehaving to put them in their place.

Dominance is present with all animals and humans often don't understand it (often mistaking it for 'friendliness' or 'love'),
so then mismanage it and end up with an 'aggressive' animal.

Birds are also prey animals so can get nervous fairly easily, if they don't employ 'flight'..... they may employ 'fight'.

These concepts can be hard for adults to understand and adjust their behaviors to accordingly......and can be impossible for a young child.
To answer your original question, if I had a 4 year old, I'd get rid of both males and teach my child to keep their face well away from the birds beaks.

 

[Donna R Raybon]

Any herd, pack, flock animal society is about status and pecking order. Yes, critters do pick up on the human equivalent in family dynamics. Also you got the tall people versus short people thing going on, too. I had a whether goat named Gus who adored human attention as long as you were five feet tall or taller. He hated children and expected them to move away from him or get popped with horns. He did not butt, just jerk his head to the side and pop you. We got him as a year old who had been raised on a chain and did not even know he was a goat. We figure neighborhood kids tormented him. He lived to be fifteen and had a free, happy life with my goat herd.

I would closely supervise children with any animal lacking teeth/claws. As a child I learned you can't baptize a cat and the cat survived. If it had been a chicken, it would have drown. My scratches healed and I learned an important lesson.:/

 

[Donna R Raybon]

Any herd, pack, flock animal society is about status and pecking order. Yes, critters do pick up on the human equivalent in family dynamics. Also you got the tall people versus short people thing going on, too. I had a whether goat named Gus who adored human attention as long as you were five feet tall or taller. He hated children and expected them to move away from him or get popped with horns. He did not butt, just jerk his head to the side and pop you. We got him as a year old who had been raised on a chain and did not even know he was a goat. We figure neighborhood kids tormented him. He lived to be fifteen and had a free, happy life with my goat herd.

I would closely supervise children with any animal lacking teeth/claws. As a child I learned you can't baptize a cat and the cat survived. If it had been a chicken, it would have drown. My scratches healed and I learned an important lesson.:/

 

[Mrs. K]

if these our your first flock, cull both roosters. Roosters have ruined this hobby for many kids, it is not fun to be attacked in the face.

Roosters take experience, start a couple of years with just a hen flock, then try an older rooster from someone who has a nice extra one. Roosters take some experience, I would cull them both and plant a rosebush.

Mrs K