Aggressive Rooster! Any Way to Keep him from hurting Children?

[lovinmychickens]

Hi, I have a two year old rooster and last winter our fences gave in form all of the snow, so now all of our chickens are free to roam. Only problem is our Rooster likes to go after everyone, company and even ups guy. We have two children ages 2 and 3 and I can't turn my back because I'm afraid of what he'll do. Is there any help for him or should I give him away, I hate to take him from his ladies. Is there anything we can do to his spurs? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fred's Hens]

The problem now is he is defending your entire yard as his. Taming an aggressive rooster, where children are involved, is an essential responsibility of a flock keeper. No different than keeping a dangerous dog and the results of having a child injured is just as serious.

Yes, you can remove the spurs. There are threads here which explain how to do that. The search feature above will give you countless threads.

Some folks will give you all kind of methodologies for getting rooster tamed, humbled and managed. Me? There are far too many nice roosters in this world to keep a nasty spirited one. I wouldn't want him to breed and wouldn't want him around. Period.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Don't take any chances with your little kids. And also the UPS guy, personal injury lawsuits aren't fun.

Personally, I think a long soak in simmering broth is the best way to make any aggressive rooster turn out nice. Replace him with a rooster who has manners. There are manymanymany nice roos going to the chop while folks try to reprogram a mean one. Unless your roo has saved one or more of your children from a burning building or is pooping gemstones, he's not worth keeping.

If you cannot bear to process & eat him yourself, (that's okay if you can't) find some grateful family that will be glad for the nourishment.

Right now find a cage to put him in. Do it at night when he's less alert & easier to catch. Do not let him roam any more where he can encounter children or visitors. I wish you well with your decision.

 

[lovinmychickens]

Thank you both for your replies, I was thinking about making a new fence area and fencing them back in, but my husband doesn't think that would be fair to all of the others. We actually do have two other bantam roosters and they do not go after anyone but the one bantam will chase the big nasty one around, it is the craziest thing especially since he thinks he is the tough guy to everyone else. I already do have him on Craigslist, I was hoping to find in a home instead of a pot. Thanks again!

 

[sourland]

Please relocate/cull him before your children get injured. It's not worth taking the chance that their faces or eyes may be permanently damaged.

 

[MedinaChick2001]

I had to get rid of my rooster because he was attacking my kids. I won't stand for my kids crying if they have to go to the coup. I loved my rooster but there was no way for me to get him nice...

 

[hoping4better]

The only way to make good chicken out of a bad rooster is dinner. You can cull him or re-home him. I had a rooster that chased my three year old girl down and tried to peck her face.

DON'T Risk it. You little ones are too small and too young to dominate him. He has to go one way or another.

I hated it as my aggressive rooster was my favorite - spunky little scrappy dude that he was. But, my kids mean more to me. The other problem is that now my kids are afraid of the chickens . . . they're just now getting used to them again and it's been several weeks. Don't risk mental issues with your little ones either.

Sorry to be harsh, but from my experience there's only one answer.

 

[Sorin]

I am usually the first one to say a rooster can be rehabilitated and I have many successful methods that work, but I agree with everyone else here, kids come first! You can't take the time it would take to fix him, plus like Freds Hens said, he now thinks the whole yard is his, that's a hard habit to break. He needs to go

 

[Katy]

Put him in the stew pot...don't give away your problem for someone else to deal with.

 

[Elite Silkies]

How big is your crockpot? That is what I would do. Why give someone else an aggressive rooster? A rooster can seriously hurt a child and an adult as well. I wouldn't take any chances.