Aggressive rooster and small children, really need some answers asap

[Mouthpear]

I apologize for steering so far off topic. I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Weekend

Kelly green pants, That made me spit out my drink. Thanks I had to wipe off all three monitors. Made me laugh because I had (was made to wear) emerald green corduroy pants to school. You got flogged by a rooster, I got flogged by three @^#%$@s. Just have to say I'm not laughing at you I am laugh because green pants.

Not far off topic. Still talking about aggressive roosters.

 

[AlabamaPeg]

As far as the video, i would tend to agree that a number of these kids are encouraging the rooster to chase them, while some of them just unwittingly do something the rooster perceived as a threat.

As far as fear goes, I am just as scared of an aggresive animal as they are of me, chicken, bear, snake or dog, because that is when animals are unpredictable. I don't fault any one for their fear. That being said, it's how you handle that fear that determines the outcome.

I had a dog that was very anxious. We tried everything to settle her, but she was a big dog and was constantly growling at everyone. One day she bit me, and then bit me again. I wasn't even provoking her, she was just scared. With a two year old in the house, i couldn't take the chance, so we had her put down on the advise of our vet. We did everything right, but before we got her, someone had really damaged her.

So, i know the original question was about rehabilitation or rehoming. Depending on the human, the environment and the animal, its a toss. I have to agree with the idea of rehoming or stewing an aggresive bird when there are small children at risk.

On a side note, i have a special needs son who is like an animal whisperer. He has never had an animal attack him, even when he was small. They all flock to him like a scene from a cartoon. He was our main chicken tender when he lived here at home and we never had any aggresive birds. For some reason, they all trusted him from the beginning. He never showed any fear of them either and was never cruel to them. They just followed him around. They were large birds too. We raised them from chicks. Sametjhing with my cat, the rabbit and both dogs. Wen he comes over, they all abandon the rest of us and go straight to him. Weird, right?

 

[soldbydawson]

I've raised mine from babies to but sometimes especially if I get near a nest of eggs, they will get aggressive. I agree, you have to handle it when it happens. I am not scared of them so I just grab them and we sit and have a love session and an eye to eye conversation about right and wrong behavior in the coop. lol. No i'm, not a loon, I do talk to them and they usually respond well. If he acts up again afterwards he goes in an isolation area for a while and that usually fixes it.

 

[soldbydawson]

My main rooster also looks after the baby chicks. We have had a few batches of chicks in the last few months so now I have a large juvenile rooster population coming and really not sure what I'm going to do. They all get along as of now. Occasional bouts but nothing serious yet. I've considered a bachelor pad but really don't want to create another pen. Any other suggestions? It's hard to re-home roosters. Most people don't want them.

 

[centrarchid]

My main rooster also looks after the baby chicks. We have had a few batches of chicks in the last few months so now I have a large juvenile rooster population coming and really not sure what I'm going to do. They all get along as of now. Occasional bouts but nothing serious yet. I've considered a bachelor pad but really don't want to create another pen. Any other suggestions? It's hard to re-home roosters. Most people don't want them.

Better to have this addressed in a separate thread.

 

[Bunty144]

Anytime that a chicken or rooster gets too uppity with me, I immediately give them a smart smack across the beak. It really doesn't need to be hard enough to hurt them - just surprise them. Once or twice (three times at most) and they're done . They won't be messing with you again because they know that behavior is not ok.

 

[Folly's place]

Pecking back at a chick or hen who's being rude is one thing, and facing an attacking rooster is another! Some people have great reflexes and can grab that nasty boy out of the air, and some of us will usually miss...
Mary

 

[ecorso]

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!

 

[Lovesumchicks]

My personal opinion and not sure who else does this but if I have ever had a problem with a rooster being aggressive. I catch them and pin their head beak to the ground and hold them there for a good 5 minutes until they are calm. I've done this twice with a rhode island who always attacked me every chance it got. After doing my trick it ran away every time I was close by.

 

[Hanson Hen House]

We just purchased a rooster a few weeks ago, we only have a flock of 5 hens. When we first brought him home and for the first week or so he was wonderful. He seemed very sweet and gentle. Starting about a week ago he started attacking my smallest girl, he tried to attack my oldest girl who's job it is to feed them in the morning. She tells me he only did it once and I wasnt aware he was going after her. I thought it was only the smallest, who is 3 and I've had a rooster who did this before. We quickly got rid of that one. But I thought it may just be her small size, so I havnt left her alone with this one because of it . Well, now this rooster is also attacking me anytime I go into the coop. He grabbed my sleeve this morning and left a red mark on my wrist. I'm scared to enter the coop and so are my girls.
Obviously, we cant have this. My question is, is there anything that can be done to change this? Or do we simply need to get rid of him? He's a beautiful rooster and seemed great in the beginning, but no matter how beautiful or sweet I will not have a rooster that attacks. My girls, or myself. The first one he did it to was the smallest like I said, and I had to get aggressive with him and shove him away so I'm guessing he's attacking me now because I'm a threat?

We had to put one down who was flying at our 1 1/2 year old with spurs aimed at her eyes. He even attacked my knee and severely bruised me on both sides! I was grateful our little girl tipped over as he attacked the last time so he missed! Divine Providence. I told my husband he better kill him or I would. No more chances! It would have been tragic. We had made the mistake of making him a pet when he was tiny.
A Mexican lady who took one of our roosters one time said they could be calmed down by giving them milk. I have no idea though.
The rooster we have now is a perfect gentlman!