Aggressive Rooster Help Please

[HollyWoozle]

This is long, sorry, and I expect most of you will say to eat him but it's worth an ask.

Start of September 2020 we took on our rooster, Pingu. 3.5 months old, very good-natured with adults, children, cats and most importantly, the hens. He settled in really well and solved the issues we had with a very dominant hen causing havoc - since he arrived the flock has been very harmonious. We do not breed chickens and added another rooster to settle the flock, as it did, and also just to give one a home and because we enjoy keeping them.

From December through to April chickens here had to be confined indoors due to the bird flu epidemic. Over winter, Pingu once or twice half-heartedly went for one of my nieces. However, we gave him the benefit of the doubt as I think it was quite stressful for him, protecting his flock in an enclosed space. I worked with my niece on how to behave (ie. not backing away from him and being nervous, holding her ground whilst still being respectful of him and his role) and it stopped.

A little later he tried it with my Mum. She is their primary carer as the flock lives with my parents. She is 71 and quite sprightly for her age, but a little smaller than the rest of us (around 5'5") and not so bold. We were then able to take down the polytunnel and let them go outside again, a huge relief for all involved, and we thought this would solve the issue.

Fast forward to May and he will now try and attack my Mum everyday and has done for weeks. He will try it with me too. We have read various advice on the subject and worked really hard to stop it, but I'm at somewhat of a loss. He will never, ever try to attack men in our family and much of the time with me he is totally fine, then suddenly he will just change his mind and have a go - this is particularly noticeable if I have not been in there for a few days and I assume because he feels he gets the upper-hand with my Mum and then thinks he'll try it with me too. This morning my Mum went in and let them out, fed them, all fine and calm. She got to the orchard gate to come out and he jumped up behind her and attacked her legs.

So, what can we do, apart from cull him? I do think he deserves a chance... it is his first spring as a mature roo (and I heard a lot of roosters over here went a bit crazy lately) and he is really excellent with the hens and most people. However he is making my Mum afraid. My nieces actually emigrated so children don't go in there anymore, and I wouldn't allow it currently with his behaviour. When dealing with him we try to:

- be respectful of him and what he does, ie. not stomp about and intentionally get in his way, but to give an air of authority. We move at a sensible pace, don't make lots of noise and don't crowd him and the hens
- IF he approaches looking like he will attack then we stand tall, make ourselves look as big as possible. I generally then take a determined step towards him and stare him out and he will back off, but I am not sure my Mum is confident enough to do this
- we don't back away from him or let him think we are nervous
- we do not intentionally hit/kick or do anything to hurt him but we carry a stick and if he tries to attack, we hold this up so he is essentially just fighting the stick and we use it to push him away. He gives up and for the rest of your time in there will keep away, until you go in the next day and it starts over again!

He has 12 hens and loads of space. We culled our last rooster as he became aggressive with the hens (but was great with people!) and now we have the opposite problem and I feel pretty bad about the prospect of culling him... I am sure some of it is down to our management of him and so we'd like to work on that. Tonight my partner and I will take him off the perch at night and file his spurs blunt as a starting point.

Thanks very much for your thoughts.

 

[Mrs. K]

So, what can we do, apart from cull him? I do think he deserves a chance... it is his first spr

Personally I think you have given him his chance, and why you would expect a 77 year old woman who is the primary caretaker to take a daily beating over a rooster I am not quite sure.

Roosters have ruined the whole chicken experience for a lot of people.

He is following a classic pattern, roosters tend to attack children first, then women, and eventually even your men will be attacked.

If there was a sure fire way to train roosters, it would be very popular on this site. But the reality is that they have a very small brain, and are not real trainable. A woman that is already a bit intimidated, that is the primary care-taker, is the one who has to do this, and at best, one would alway have to be very aware of this rooster, as there is just not much to trust there.

Mrs K

 

[Sierra G]

You mentioned that you're respectful of his role and so on. One thing to avoid, and you may be doing it unconsciously, is deferring to him. Don't approach him unless you need to, but don't avoid him either. If you're pretending he's got a 10 foot bubble around him and going out of your way to not breach the bubble he's going to notice. And when he notices he may decide he needs a 12 foot bubble.

Your stick can keep him at a distance. If you feel threatened, be alert, but don't let him know that you see him as a threat. Until he's not a threat, he's not doing his job. And when he's fighting the stick, use it to push him away from you. If he invades your personal space, and roosters owe you more than people, teach him where the line is. Since he's grown some he probably thinks he's owed more space. You just need to remind him that people are higher on the pecking order than he is and he still owes them the same amon t of space as always.

If the stick isn't enough of a deterrent, find something more effective like a bucket of cold water, a garden hose, or (if you're really serious) a cattle prod. They make a low voltage one that's more mild electric fence than police taser. Deal with him confidently, but from a position of strength and he should come around. Getting mad won't help. Just realize that if he's too dumb to relearn his place you have more options than he does. If he can't see what his options are, don't feel bad about having to use some of your less desirable choices. He's there to protect the flock from threats. If he can't properly identify threats, he can't do his job.

 

[Folly's place]

You have given him many chances, and he's failed. Your mother doesn't need to watch out for this bird, and he will continue to be dangerous, likely worse over time.
Idiots who attack the giants who bring food aren't worth the problems they cause, and while he's plotting his next attack, he's not taking care of his flock.
Human aggression is part genetic and part management, and this bird lost out on how to behave well.
I'm also a senior citizen, and have no time or interest in dancing around a rooster who's a jerk.
Mary

 

[igorsMistress]

I like your approach. Please don’t hit him with the stick. If he fights with it that’s one thing, but hitting him with it may just make him more angry because you’re seen as being aggressive. Do you hand feed the girls? Pick them up and cuddle, that sort of thing?

It may be something you’ll deal with from time to time, particularly in Spring when his hormones are raging. He’s still quite young really, just about a year and he may settle in once he gets a bit older. that’s been my experience and my sons with his roo as well, although my son still has to keep an eye on his roo sometimes.

One thing that has worked quite well for me is to take a few treats out, maybe a handful of mealworms or a bit of scratch, whatever the flock enjoys, and drop those at the roosters feet so he has something to call the girls for and he’s occupied while I’m busy. Also, Mom shouldn’t turn her back on him for a bit until he has calmed down and if the stick works, she should carry it. Another thing you might try is jail. Just for a few days, but I’ve had to do it and I’d rather do that than beat an animal. The stew pot doesn’t have to be the answer all the time either.

Good luck! I hope you can figure something out.

 

[Mrs. K]

My 85 year old mother says, "I am in wonderful shape, unless I fall." The fall can change everything. I would worry about your mother tripping over an attacking rooster. Or falling trying to move out of the way. If she does go down, then she (like a child) will be facing him at eye level.

There are nice roosters, if you want a rooster, have a NICE one.

Mrs K

 

[theoldchick]

When young children are involved, take no chances. An aggressive rooster can do damage to a two foot tall toddler. I recommend no roosters for families who have small children. However, if you are really attached to the rooster build another pen to put him in and make sure the door is lock to keep the kiddoes out. While you may train a rooster to respect you an aggressive rooster will always be looking for a moment when you are off guard to get you. Small children do not need to be traumatized by an aggressive rooster.

 

[LaFleche]

Thanks all for your input. I just went in with him this afternoon and as you can see, he is not really wild:

I walked within a few feet of him (just getting where I needed to go) and he always moved from me and was totally fine, but he will be like this and then the next day will decide to have a go.

@Mrs. K you may well be right. The tricky thing is that my Mum doesn't want to cull him either but I agree that we can't carry on like this.

Some roosters are just too dense to recognize the difference between a real threat to their hens and the caretaker. It is just not worth the daily trouble or in your mothers case the risk as he can and will cause serious harm further on.
They start going for the legs and work their way up to the face and especially the eyes. They peck really hard and bite with their beaks as well while doing so.

What I noticed in your video: It seems as if you give ambiguous signals stretching out your hand and making cooing noises, all the while he should be respectful of your space and not come near you.
I see you touch the hens etc. which of course is not to his liking. But anyway, he should learn to respect your space and not you respecting his. He has to always move away as soon as you walk in his direction. Walk steadily right through him if he does not retreat and follow up until he runs from you. This way you might make him understand that he has no say in where or when you move around in the yard, coop etc.

But honestly, as this is already going on for some time and is getting worse with every attack, he might just respect you and go on attacking the rest of your family, which leads me to think it would be best to just try with another rooster.

There are more than enough beautiful and respectful roosters getting butchered because they cannot find a new home. No need to put up with a human aggressive one.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Wow, so many helpful and thoughtful replies! Thanks so much for your input, it has been really interesting reading people's different opinions. It's a bit tricky to answer so many individually but a few points:

- I think we have settled on the fact that he will be culled, but we don't like to rush decisions like this and it takes some days to come to terms with/discuss. I really respect (and in many ways agree with) those of you posting about giving him chances and not being too quick to end his life. It's a big deal for us and the final option, we would truly love to make it work, but we have tried many things now and day after day he persists.

- my Mum does now carry a water pistol and that is working very well as a deterrent for the moment, but there is no way she can go in there without that or a stick for defence and he will approach her aggressively everyday.

- many posts recommend picking the rooster up and I did try this, but in the daytime I have no chance. Even with thick gloves he cut my hands. My brother can pick him up without problems (and he is calm) so he could pass him over to me or my Mum and I am not nervous about holding him, but I think Mum would be and who can blame her really.

- I can pick him up off the perch at night, for example recently when we blunted off his spurs, but I'm not sure if that makes much difference to his overall attitude towards me or people in general.

- At the moment we always wear long boots going in. I defend myself with my foot/leg as another poster suggested and always make sure I "win", although I would never kick or aim to hurt him and rather just push him away forcefully until he accepts my dominance. However he does not give in easily and he is pure muscle - I am pretty robust and fairly confident around chickens but he has bruised my foot through my boots.

- Another post mentions "sweeping" him with a broom, no chance with this as he will stand his ground in that instance. He does not give in easily and that is the real crux of the issue... he doesn't just threaten or have a quick go, he will stand and fight you fiercely for 30 seconds if he feels like it, even if earlier in the day he seemed to respect you.

I fully accept that we chose to get him and that he really does do a great job with the hens, plus it is his first spring as a mature boy and in many ways doing his job, but I think those of you saying he is beyond help are probably right. We have lost confidence in him and the orchard used to be a place of peace and enjoyment whilst now my Mum spends as little time in there as possible. It's always sad for us to take a life but we wouldn't tolerate this aggression in another animal and we also have to consider what would happen if he escaped and attacked other people like children next door.

 

[WestTNriverrat]

Sorry for lengthy post but these are my thoughts on this situation.
Just watching the video it looks like to me he respects the stick but not much else. Every time you move it seemed to me he moved to enter your path. If that is indeed what is happening next time I would blast through him as abruptly and intimidatingly as I could make him understand you are to one to respect not the stick. I’m not a super experienced owning chickens Just my second year personally owning them, but was raised on a farm with a few chickens mostly cattle and no animal is worth the trouble of a serious hospital visit. I understand wanting to give chances and don’t have a problem with that but if it were me I would make sure someone else was the primary care taker while trying to rehabilitate. Like someone else said your mother can go from spry 71 to disabled 72 with one tangle of feet trying to defend or escape. Heaven forbid it happen but it could. Heck I’m 38 and I trip all over myself trying to get away from spiders and snakes that aren’t even attacking because I’m uncomfortable around them. If she’s uncomfortable she will focus more on the rooster than surroundings and easily fall.