Aggressive Rooster

[john14six]

I started thinking the same thing about the size of the kids. My husband turned his back on the rooster and that's when he started to attack, my husband fought back and the rooster backed off. He was just walking in the yard to the shed. Hens were around.

My son said the rooster tried to attack him and once he fought back the rooster leaves him alone now.
Same with my older daughter.

The kids say as long as you show him your boss, he'll leave you alone.
They say its strangers he doesn't like.

I just have 2 little ones, 6yrs and 8yrs that don't have the confidence with him.

 

[Cowgirl71]

When I go out to my chickens, I want to be able to be calm and turn my back on them if I need to check a nest, refill a waterer or feeder, etc. If I can't turn my back because I have to worry about being attacked by a non-egg laying feed-eating rooster, I'm not a happy camper. I mean lets face it, there's no shortage on good roosters. It's also not very enjoyable to collect eggs and care for the chickens when you're concerned about being attacked.

I'd send him to freezer camp asap, and consider getting a replacement.

 

[CookieChickens]

I'm going to be watching this thread.

We have a rooster by mistake. "Chuck" was supposed to be a hen.

There was one day when Chuck drew blood from Hubby when he was gathering the eggs and leaving the coop and once (only once) he pecked at my leg as I was leaving the coop. He normally keeps an eye on me when I go in to gather eggs but never bothers with me, so I was suprised to have him peck at me.

My eldest son claims that Chuck is his pet, but I'm thinking he may be stew if he does that much more.

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I think aggressive roosters begin that way as chicks and only get meaner as time goes on.

I had 2 BA cockerels from a recent order and I intentionally chose to keep the mellower of the 2. I might also have chosen to keep the one I did because he spend two days in hospital isolation which included a lot of lap time after he got his wing bloodied up and the others were trying to eat him!

The one I sold was the bigger, prettier bird, but now that he is gone the other guy is walking around checking on everybody, chirruping to call to food and breaking up fights among the bantams!

I respect that some folks want a protective, dominant rooster, but not for me - a few bad experiences with a certain beautiful, but MEAN E.E. Rooster as a child fixed that!

I keep my chickens very safe and secure and I am the dominant protector of them!

 

[john14six]

Quote:
This roo was also a "surprise". We thought we were getting 6 chicks but ended up with 5 and him. We are ok with a roo because now we have the option of hatching in the spring. But from this thread it looks like he's not going to be the one that helps us with that. He is also my son's "pet". So the kids aren't taking this too well. Now the kids are saying he really isn't that bad.

Someone told me they have used the heavy duty rubber dog toys that they carry with them for the chicks to peck at while they reach in for the eggs. Someone also said to use a straw broom to keep the rooster in line.

I think the consensus here for my roo is he doesn't have much time left.

 

[Kassaundra]

I am new to chickens, but totally agree, NOTHING, (chicken, rooster, dog, cat, etc....) that I feed and shelter has the right to attack me or my family and buys themselves a one way ticket!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do have a question about roosters in particular, do they have a "teenage" period that they will quickly grow out of, or if they become mean then, does that mean that is just their temperment? I ask b/c I have a little cockrel just 8 wks now, but he is such a lap chicken, but I keep hearing on this site that hatchery roosters are a lot more likely to be mean. So if he starts being mean is that just a phase, or his adult personality?

 

[can you hear me now?]

Could be either. Once they get a certain age we don't keep them as pets. Then again my birds are livestock anyway. But they will be meaner once the testosterone gets going.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
My thought on this is, I don't want his genes in my flock, I want the genes of a easygoing roo. I figure this stuff has to be inherited to some extent, as some people breed roos to attack, right?

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I agree. You can never tell, some roosters will stay sweet all their lives, others will just turn on you without warning.

I think the old saying applies here "The time to make up your mind about people (chickens) is never."

 

[Yazzo]

It is SO much easier to tame and train aggressive roosters than most people think. I've had so many roosters that started out aggressive, but had no trouble handling them. I had a thread about this where people could discuss it and ask questions, but that got closed due to some very aggressive humans! Pretty much everything you need to know about taming and dealing with aggressive roosters is right here though: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=63850-the-definite-guide-to-roosters. I would pay no heed to what some people say about simply getting rid of your rooster because he's naturally aggressive. MOST roosters will be aggressive under the right circumstances, and if he's a really nice looking one and good with the hens, I wouldn't let that get in the way.