Aggressive rooster and small children, really need some answers asap

[Lilalienangel]

The boot method works well for me. Now my chickens know if I put my boot straight pointing to the sky they need to knock their crap off. Most times I don't even have to push them.. I works for me. My birds are mostly non aggressive even to smaller new birds.. They just establish the pecking order. I haven't had an attack or death of a chick or chicken yet.

 

[BabasCoop]

Id get a garden rake and if he came at me I’d push him away or wack him with it.

if u can get him to respect personal space, it may be the only way u can manage to keep him.
He won’t ever be friendly or non-aggressive. But if he loses enough attacks and gets his bell rung enough he may just stay back.

 

[Lilalienangel]

The boot method works well for me. Now my chickens know if I put my boot straight pointing to the sky they need to knock their crap off. Most times I don't even have to push them.. I works for me. My birds are mostly non aggressive even to smaller new birds.. They just establish the pecking order. I haven't had an attack or death of a chick or chicken yet.

This response was for future reference. It probably will not fix your roo problem right now...

 

[centrarchid]

Get rid of him and raise your kids a bit larger. Then try for a better rooster, taking care of how you interact with that rooster and those coming later. We have a suite of protocols that my kids did not get a real mastery over until they were pushing five years. Parents may need some training too.

 

[Andi-N-drew]

I was able to train a rooster to not attack me. I was not able to train him to not attack my wife or other people. If your kids were old enough they could probably train him to not attack them. I don't think they are. And what if your kids had visitors over?

I understand the desire to hatch your own eggs. You can always try another rooster, many do work out. But if you get a broody hen why not just get hatching eggs form that farmer? There is more than one way to solve a problem.

would you say that my responses to him are what caused the aggression?

Impossible to know. Each one is different. Like Mary I believe part of that is heredity, part environment. How much of which can vary from one rooster to another. Some just seem to hatch that way. Some are fine until some event kicks hem over to the dark side.

You say he attacked your three year old first. That kid may have done something to set him off. Maybe not. In either case he is not a threat to her. To me the why doesn't matter, that he is a threat does.

Don't beat yourself up, it's not your fault. If you try it again I'm sure you'll watch the little kids closer. This kind of thing can happen whether you raise the rooster with the flock or bring one in. You always need to be aware. And I've found that breed does not matter.

Thankyou very much for the info. That was actually one of the main things i was wondering. Sure I could train him to respect me, but then what about the girls. Pretty sure I know what needs done, so thankyou. Hopefully I'll be able to find a polite boy soon. I'm pretty sure she did not do anything to him, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did.
Shes the same one that got attacked by one of our other roos about a year ago, so older 2 then. He jumped on her back and to me it seemed like he was trying to mate with her...same thing this seemed like at first.

This response was for future reference. It probably will not fix your roo problem right now...

Other than the roo we culled before over the same issue. I've never had a problem. I've had one INCREDIBLY flighty hen. Who, even though she refused to be touched or have you near her, she was the best mama I've ever seen.

Get rid of him and raise your kids a bit larger. Then try for a better rooster, taking care of how you interact with that rooster and those coming later. We have a suite of protocols that my kids did not get a real mastery over until they were pushing five years. Parents may need some training too.

Question, is it likely he was trying to "mate" with the little one? They have pretty good behavior around them...she is the exception, but that's also the reason she would not be left alone with him. But he jumped on her back and was trying to grab her hair, so thats what it seemed like to me. It all just went down hill from there. My oldest is 9 and she is actually the only one he leaves alone except for one incident, shes also the one that brings the food. An adult walks out there with her but she does most of the work.

 

[centrarchid]

Swap him out. I have lots of roosters that do not do that even when out with kids. Some of mine have 3 inch spurs, but they must not use them on people.

Do a reboot, and get methodical on how the rooster interacts with family. You might even consider use of a tie-cord to restrict roosters movements but allow him to interact with hens.

 

[Andi-N-drew]

Swap him out. I have lots of roosters that do not do that even when out with kids. Some of mine have 3 inch spurs, but they must not use them on people.

Do a reboot, and get methodical on how the rooster interacts with family. You might even consider use of a tie-cord to restrict roosters movements but allow him to interact with hens.

I've had some before that were great. And this was when the children were even younger. They were mostly all boys that were born in our flock. Our first one that was given to us...if I'm remembering correctly, was the first offender. Ultimately I'm going to attempt to trade with the guy for a chick roo...I'm not sure if he sexes right away so idk if it will work, but either way. After everyones responses, I'm pretty decided on giving this one the boot out the door one way or another. I'm also uncomfortable with the idea of raising one chick alone, which is why we got this guy in the first place but it seems like the only way I'll be comfortable having one.

 

[Lilalienangel]

Maybe start new with a small cockerel that is gently handled by everyday? Ensure that the littles act similarly?

 

[The Moonshiner]

he started attacking my smallest girl,
he tried to attack my oldest girl
now this rooster is also attacking me

I will not have a rooster that attacks.

Sounds like you answered your own question.
There is absolutely nothing that is 100% except to get rid of him.
You need to decide if this rooster is worth keeping at the risk of injury to your girls or yourself.
There's methods some will advise but there will always be a risk so is he worth the risk?

 

[Andi-N-drew]

Maybe start new with a small cockerel that is gently handled by everyday? Ensure that the littles act similarly?

Yea, that's my plan.