Advice on Aggressive Rooster -- Keeps Going After All Of Us Including Young Kids

[OldFrenchy]

Hi everyone,

Our White Leghorn, Roosty, turned rotten this spring. He goes after all of us, especially my three year old son. He's drawn blood several times on my son, husband and I, and once it was running down my son's hand. He pecked my one year old daughter on the cheek(!). We have almost three acres. That seems like plenty of space but no. He will come from across the yard after any of us (me, hubs, and kids - 9, 7, 3, 1). He sneak attacks me when I have the side door down and am leaning all the way inside the coop to scoop poop on the far side. He runs up from behind and attacks when I am carrying water buckets, poop buckets, food, bedding, etc. He's so dirty about it!

I have tried hitting him with a stick to get him away (eventually very hard because it hurts when he pecks and I am tired of bleeding!) and avoiding him (often he comes from across the yard to get us). Once I hung him upside down with rope in the run door for a bit. Then I put him in solitary in the very small enclosure I use for transitioning chicks before they join the flock. I let him out after a few days but once it got warm a couple days later he was back to pecking. Back to solitary, for about a week. I started feeling sorry for him and let him out. The moment he got out he pecked me, I gave him space and a few minutes later he attacked from behind when I was bringing the full waterer into the big run. I threw him back in solitary and there he remains. Food, water, shelter but alone. I feel sorry for him -- he truly is pathetic.

Some background: we added four chickens that hatched in my daughter's kindergarten class to our rainbow flock last last year, along with 15 pullets from the local feed store. The four turned out to be White Leghorns, three roosters and one pullet. Roosty is the last one standing; the other three succumbed to either disease or predators.

I have 15 four week chicks in the brooder, including two new roosters -- an Americana and Wellington, to go with my 12 grown hens.

Can his behavior be corrected? I honestly think I am done, just wanted to ask if anyone has any other suggestions.

I have friends that have offered to teach me how to slaughter and process him -- I've always wanted to learn and it's a good opportunity. I hate giving up on any creature, even a jerk of a rooster. Have I tried everything? Is it ok to let him go? My kids shouldn't be afraid to go outside and play, and I'm afraid he's going to peck my daughter's eye out.

 

[nao57]

After more than 20 years I came to the conclusion that some roosters are just too dense to differentiate between a real danger and the care taker and thus just not worth the effort or trouble, no matter how beautiful or rare their breed might be. They serve best as a nice dinner.

Poultry keeping is supposed to be a positive experience and not cost a daily effort to even get near them, always having to fear the next assault.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[BroodyCluck]

As I have stated on multiple threads since I joined BYC, the meanest rooster I ever had was a White Leghorn that I called Satan. He had been an adorable Easter chick that was dyed green (yes they did this 50+ years ago). It was a happy day when a predator took him.

Yep I remember those colored chicks every Easter even in grocery stores (Weingartens long gone) as a kid. Can you imagine the health risk that posed in grocery stores? People just didn't know then.
..My parents were city folks and never allowed me to have one and we were in the city of Houston Texas. Back then a person even a child could search out soft drink bottles and take them into the grocery stores and get some money. Some days my sisters and friend would comb the streets for soft drink bottles and get a lot of pocket change. I would buy a colored chick at Easter behind my parents back. Start feeding it whatever I could sneak because I knew nothing about them. Never knew what a feed store was or that there was feed they should have. No one to ask. I would keep them hidden and they always died. Sadly. But my friend kept hers in the house until it matured and it was a vicious Rooster. It chased us and we ran. Never dreamed of killing it. We just stayed out of its way.
Only her Dad could handle it. Each evening it came to the cardboard box on the porch and he took it into the house placed it by the living room closet door. He very much liked that rooster like it was a rare bird. Let it stand on his shoulder and he kissed it. They were so poor my friend was lucky to get a spoon of beans and a tortilla to eat. Very sad looking back. She came often to our house And my mother never minded her eating even though we were just a notch over poverty at times but we always had food.
And I doubt they ever fed that rooster after it got old enough to go outside. And it probably lived on cockroaches when it was young in the house because they had a lot of them. Seriously they were dirt poor. No food no refrigerator. And there were no free lunches back then. My mom always packed an extra sandwich for her in my lunch. Usually potted meat. Yuck now days. But it was good then and my mom loaded it with miracle whip and that was good then. Our bread is not good like it was then nor potted meat. I think they even changed Miracle Whip. Nothing now is like it was then.
Ok sorry off topic.

 

[Folly's place]

Those 'good old days' were often not so good at all. my mother, who had a rough childhood, remembered lard sandwiches...
Mary

 

[BroodyCluck]

Those 'good old days' were often not so good at all. my mother, who had a rough childhood, remembered lard sandwiches...
Mary

I never knew anyone having lard sandwiches but I guess when the alternative is nothing it will keep meat on their bones. Some kids had mayonnaise sandwiches and were glad to have it. But the days we could eat the school lunch were so great. 15 cents would feed you well and always good then in the 60s. Kids school lunches have suffered since the 70s. Horrible. All my kids lives in school the food was not fit to eat.

 

[ladyfarmer00]

He resides in our freezer, by my hand, until it cools off in the fall and I stew him!

Good job!

 

[Chicken Heel]

Yep I remember those colored chicks every Easter even in grocery stores (Weingartens long gone) as a kid. Can you imagine the health risk that posed in grocery stores? People just didn't know then.
..My parents were city folks and never allowed me to have one and we were in the city of Houston Texas. Back then a person even a child could search out soft drink bottles and take them into the grocery stores and get some money. Some days my sisters and friend would comb the streets for soft drink bottles and get a lot of pocket change. I would buy a colored chick at Easter behind my parents back. Start feeding it whatever I could sneak because I knew nothing about them. Never knew what a feed store was or that there was feed they should have. No one to ask. I would keep them hidden and they always died. Sadly. But my friend kept hers in the house until it matured and it was a vicious Rooster. It chased us and we ran. Never dreamed of killing it. We just stayed out of its way.
Only her Dad could handle it. Each evening it came to the cardboard box on the porch and he took it into the house placed it by the living room closet door. He very much liked that rooster like it was a rare bird. Let it stand on his shoulder and he kissed it. They were so poor my friend was lucky to get a spoon of beans and a tortilla to eat. Very sad looking back. She came often to our house And my mother never minded her eating even though we were just a notch over poverty at times but we always had food.
And I doubt they ever fed that rooster after it got old enough to go outside. And it probably lived on cockroaches when it was young in the house because they had a lot of them. Seriously they were dirt poor. No food no refrigerator. And there were no free lunches back then. My mom always packed an extra sandwich for her in my lunch. Usually potted meat. Yuck now days. But it was good then and my mom loaded it with miracle whip and that was good then. Our bread is not good like it was then nor potted meat. I think they even changed Miracle Whip. Nothing now is like it was then.
Ok sorry off topic.

Your mention of potted meat reminds me of my grandpa Shook having that (Dinner Bell brand) as an afternoon snack along with saltine crackers. And when I got really lucky, we had Vienna sausages with crackers as a snack. Now I'm craving both but I don't think the Dinner Bell brand is still available. And I have been craving Banner brand canned sausage as well. My cardiologist would not approve but then again he should be thankful for my business which is probably related to my youthful indoctrination into artery clogging foods.

 

[nao57]

Haha.

Looks like this is going to be one of those threads that is like 30 pages long and going for like 10 years with thousands of comments.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Haha.

Looks like this is going to be one of those threads that is like 30 pages long and going for like 10 years with thousands of comments.

I like those threads.