I can't thank all of you enough for this outstanding advice. MUCH appreciated! Thank you all so very much!!
Chooks4life, I have learned more from your excellent and informative post than I have in my 2 years of chicken keeping! You described his behavior to a T, especially the part about the 'tid bitting' ..which he does ALL the time. I always found it funny and entertaining. Little did I know..
He was always treated very well, spoiled actually, ..and loved! I never dreamed that this would happen. He has never attacked anyone until today.
Now, I am sitting here crying at the thought of culling my beloved rooster. I feel so foolish for letting them become pets, and I have become so ridiculously attached to them! He was such a sweet and lovable Roo the majority of the time. As for his other antics, ..I was just too inexperienced to see the signs for what they were.
I do let my chickens free range, and as I said, this roo saved my girls from hawk attacks on many occasions. I will not get another roo though. I guess I will have to supervise the hens when they run the yard, and/or build them a larger and secure run. I can not deal with losing one of my hens as well.
Thanks to all once again for your time, advice, and sharing your experience with me. I am so very grateful.
Thanks, I'm glad you didn't take offense.
You're not foolish to let them become pets, that's not why he disrespects you or attacks you.
It's most unlikely to be your fault, because good roosters like any good animals don't just start attacking because you were friendly with them or hand fed them or any other 'reasons' like that. Genuinely good roosters will even put up with abuse without turning savage. Of course I'm not advocating abusing animals but in my experience abused animals are not necessarily more likely to harm you than non-abused ones, possibly even less likely in fact. I've dealt with rehabilitating quite a few abused animals of various species and the abuse is not the main determining factor in them turning vicious; just like some humans, some animals bully, some don't, some 'hit back' and some won't. Most of it has to do with the mindset they inherited and then their subsequent decisions to act on it. Not all chooks are smart enough to question or check their impulses.
Your hens are able to defend themselves from hawk attacks, mine have. Chances are they'll just keep an eye out for one another, that's generally how it goes. There are nice roosters out there, please don't let one bad one frighten you out of keeping them. It's a bit like with dogs, one aggressive dog shouldn't taint your perception of the whole species.. But I do understand your disinclination to immediately get another.
I know it's a bit odd to compare dogs and chooks, but it's much the same in some ways, you don't reasonably expect an intact male dog who's always been a loving pet and who has no reason to fear you, to suddenly maul you without warning just because he's an intact/adult male. It's not the real reason for the behavior and to believe otherwise is to ignore the many good males out there or dismiss them as flukes, or as some people do, as surely infertile, as evidenced by the lack of wanton attacking and killing sprees. lol.
I also don't put up with human-aggressive hens either, as Stiggy mentioned; mentalities like that shouldn't be bred on. Certainly the little bantam hen I once owned, who took to attacking me (also around 2 years old), wasn't such an aggressive animal because she was an adult/intact male. She was a female, a good layer and mother. Being male is not the real reason for viciousness to humans but plenty of people will tell you otherwise, but I've found they're not the sort of people who breed safe animals. What we believe strongly shapes our flocks because it guides our breeding and culling programs/decisions. The woman who sold me the human-aggressive rooster had a pet chihuahua that routinely mauled her and her children, and in retrospect I know that was a warning sign I missed. Of course she kept human-aggressive roosters too, it fitted her belief system.
If you can't do the cull, you shouldn't have to look far to find someone who will do it humanely. Alternatively if your hens are nice you can get them a new rooster and find some nasty hens and let them keep him company in a cage somewhere, and not breed him or them, if that's easier for you; but he won't appreciate being caged too much and his behavior will most likely get much worse and it's probably only a matter of time before he catches you out and does some serious damage.
Due to the strong likelihood of that, I wouldn't advise keeping him, as much as I can empathize with your disappointment over him not turning out as he should have, given his chances. He's had it good, far better a life than millions of other roosters ever got.
Best wishes, sorry he took the path he did.