Most go through a stage like this and how you deal with it sets the scene for things to come. With the first batch, I thought it was working for me because I raised them from chicks, but we have since adopted aggressive roosters, and quickly turned around their attitude toward us. The goal is to teach him you are not another bird. You do that by not acting like another rooster would. You defend yourself, but not with violence. That means no kicking for starters. You can go out there prepared by carrying a bucket lid or trash can lid. Let him come at you and let him run into the lid. Don’t react or push him with it, just let him run into it by blocking his attack. He needs to realize a couple of things. You are invincible, (or at least make him believe you are), and you are not a competitor. Another chicken would attack back and then the stronger chicken wins pecking order. You are top of the pecking order and don’t have to fight to prove it. The most common mistake people make is kicking the rooster away, which only confirms his suspicion that you need to be conquered and increases his attacks. The other mistake is retreating. He then thinks you were a competitor and he won. He will continue to exert his dominance over you, and other people. When you pick him up, don’t lift him fast. Hold on tight and lift him slowly. Carry him around until he settles down. When you go to set him down, do it slowly too. Even when his feet touch the ground, do release him until he settles down, doesn’t struggle and is calm. He can’t be allowed to win that fight either. He gets released when he is polite and not before. You are reinforcing good behavior and not accidentally rewarding him by releasing him when he is not calm. If you do it slow enough and consistently, they become very comfortable being handled by you and your presence. This may mean spending a few hours of training, a couple of times, but you should have a rooster who is happy to see you and friendly around other people as a result. Some of mine won’t eat in front of me. They go to the food and call for me to come eat, or bring me something they found to eat. Most of them went through the stage of attacking me, even drawing blood with a peck and grab, but now wouldn’t even think to do that. I have never been violent with them or let anyone else kick at them,... This may be difficult for your daughter to do at first. You may need to step in and do some retraining first, but she may be able to do it. Make sure she is armed with a shield when she goes in with the chickens until he is under control. You can put a duct tape handle on a piece of cardboard, or use a lightweight cutting board, anything that is easy to slide down between the rooster and you leg or arm,... to deflect his attack. It should deflect his beak like a shield deflects an arrow. Make sure to tell her that if she hits him with it, instead of letting him run into it on his own, he will try harder to attack. It has worked for me for all 9 roosters. The only other problem that you may encounter with young roosters, is they may mistake a scab on your leg or arm for something to eat and peck at it. I even had a hen peck my eyeball because I was squatting down at eye level and she had been eating grapes and she just got confused. They outgrow that, but especially children at eye level should be careful with younger birds, (under a year old). Chickens aren’t smart, but they learn pretty quickly. Hope this helps!
