Am I making my Roos aggresive?

[Waddell85]

When I was a little girl my grandpa had a very mean rooster. From then on I was always afraid of them. Until I was around my husbands grandpas flock. His rooster is like a pet. He is so sweet. So we bought a flock about 20 weeks ago. We had no idea what sex we were getting. We ended up with 4 roos. A couple weeks ago my 3 year old and I were outside and as my son was walking one of the roos ran at him. Out of pure instinct I kicked at him. He was also charging my boxer dog that day. The dog thinks its a fun game tho. A week later the same roo flew up and scratched my niece on her arm. A few days after that both of my white roos went after my husband. So we gave them away. We now have 2 roos and they have always been very calm and sweet. But tonight I went out to shut up the coop and I was walking by one of the roos and I don't know if I made him feel cornered or what but he was just looking at me funny and I got scared so I just stood there and he stared at me for a minute and then charged at me. I then kicked him... UGH! My question is.. am I making them this way because I am scared? I don't want my son or any other kid that comes to my house to be in harms way. My chickens are always free ranging during the day and I don't want to have to worry about a mean roo attacking anyone. I hate to get rid of the 2 roos I have left because they r so beautiful and I like my girls having protection. Thoughts???

 

[sourland]

Very frequently roosters as they begin to mature become aggressive. It is sometimes possible to 'rehabilitate' them, but when small children are involved - get rid of them. It is not worth taking the risk of a child being permanently injured. I seriously doubt that it is anything that you are doing - just the nature of the beast.

 

[bobbi-j]

Very frequently roosters as they begin to mature become aggressive. It is sometimes possible to 'rehabilitate' them, but when small children are involved - get rid of them. It is not worth taking the risk of a child being permanently injured. I seriously doubt that it is anything that you are doing - just the nature of the beast.

X2

 

[darin367]

how old were they when you got them.... i raise my roos n hens from chicks, my 8 yr old daughter n 4 yr old son, hold them, chase them, climb in the coop with them (ya that ain't pretty).... but by the time them roos are grown, they see my kids coming they either lay down or run for their lives...... haven't had a roo yet even think about being aggressive!!!!!!

 

[azygous]

All bets are off when you have small children. They should never be exposed to roosters unless the roo has a perfect track record of docility.

You could rehab your roo to respect you, but your tiny child still wouldn't be safe. I've seen some pretty awful damage inflicted on adults by roosters. A three-year old child is not much larger than the rooster and could sustain serious injury.

Either re-home the roos or keep them caged.

 

[Waddell85]

I forgot to mention that both my roos look identical and I have no idea which one it was that "charged" me. BUT today I went out to let them out and collect eggs and all of my hens came running out and both roos stayed in.. so I went and and started feeling their feed and one roo went out and the other stood by the nests and kept looking in I'm assuming to make sure the eggs were still there? LOL He didn't get aggresive just simply watched me and left as soon as he THOUGHT I wasn't snatching the eggs... Of course I DID snatch the eggs One more question... how do you deal with frozen water? :/ its rock solid.. I just put another bowl in there for now but I'm sure in an hour or so it will be frozen also..

 

[bobbi-j]

I forgot to mention that both my roos look identical and I have no idea which one it was that "charged" me. BUT today I went out to let them out and collect eggs and all of my hens came running out and both roos stayed in.. so I went and and started feeling their feed and one roo went out and the other stood by the nests and kept looking in I'm assuming to make sure the eggs were still there? LOL He didn't get aggresive just simply watched me and left as soon as he THOUGHT I wasn't snatching the eggs... Of course I DID snatch the eggs One more question... how do you deal with frozen water? :/ its rock solid.. I just put another bowl in there for now but I'm sure in an hour or so it will be frozen also..

Heated dog dish. Just got electricity in my coop last year. I used extension cords until then.