Ameraucana rooster doesn't like my shoes?

[CinnamonQueen12]

I have a 10 month old ameraucana rooster. He is very sweet to the hens, always giving them food and keeping them safe from hawks. Not too long ago, he started attacking my little brothers. Every time they went into the pen, he would put his head down and walk sideways up to them, and then start clawing and pecking at their shoes and jeans. They would run out of the pen in tears with a rooster on their heels. It was all very funny until one warm day i go into the pen with sandals, shorts, and sunglasses. I was holding one of my chickens when i suddenly felt something bite my ankle. I looked down and the rooster was running away and my ankle was bleeding. I went over to pick him up and he jumped at my face! If i didn't have sunglasses on, he would have gotten my eye. I jumped onto the bench that we keep in the pen and he kept jumping at me to try to bite my feet. So i jumped over him and ran for the door! He followed, and before i could close the door, he followed me out and chased me to the back door of my house! Later, i came out wearing jeans and the boots that i usually wear in the pen, and he looked at my face, looked at the boots, and walked away. He hasn't bothered me since, but im always carefull to wear the same boots in the pen every time. He still attacks my brothers, and he once attacked my 7 year old cousin. We think he attacks my brothers because he knows they are males and he is trying to protect his flock from other males!

But why did he attack me when i wore sandals? Did he think that they didn't match my shirt or something? And why did he attack my cousin? Was it because he had never seen her before?

 

[sourland]

Yes, he attacked because he is a fashion critic.

NOT! He is a teenager who is growing too big for his britches. Modify his behavior or it will escalate to daily full out attacks. There are any number of threads on this forum about rooster attitude adjustment. Sometimes it works and other times the crock pot is the only solution.

 

[themenagerie]

I think sometimes they attack when they realize something is different (so possibly a threat). My Orp roo is a year old and has never even gave me a second glance, I come and go as I please..pick up the girls, collect eggs, he's always respectful and keeps his distance. Then a few weeks ago he started threatening my 16 year old daughter. I was never there when it happened, so I thought she was exaggerating a bit like teenage girls do. I told her to do what I did with my other roo, to punt him like a football if he went after her, but she won't do that and now she's afraid of him. Anyway...I'll get to the point,lol... the other day I was in the enclosure wearing her boots because I had left mine in my other car and he attacked ME, but really...it was the boots he was attacking, he was completely focused on them. I wear the same thing in the coop every day, jeans and work boots. Her boots are tall muck boots, they're black..mine are brown. They must look VERY different to him. He and I had to have a serious discussion and now he pretends he doesn't even notice the boots, if I walk anywhere near him he quickly moves in the opposite direction, even wearing the daughter's boots.

 

[RedDrgn]

Chickens are highly sensitive to change and they are definitely capable of recognizing people. When it first started to get cold last autumn and I began wearing my bright red winter coat and a black ear warmer when I went out to gather eggs, they absolutely flipped. I scared them into a frenzy twice before I stopped wearing the red coat. I wouldn't give up my ear warmer, though, but after a week they got used to it and didn't react any more.

So, if they've never seen you in sunglasses and sandals before, you probably scared them. When roosters are spooked, they often try to drive the source away by attacking.

Regarding roosters...

I would never wear sandals around chickens (got my toes pecked by hens one too many times), and if you have a rooster that you can't trust 100%, I'd never recommend anything less than sturdy shoes and full length pants (preferably jeans); always.

When we first got our roo, the only aggression he'd ever shoe was triggered by shoes. OMG, he hated shoes. He still gets ****** if you wear shoes that he's never seen before. But, he's got a history of being kicked at his former home. So we let him attack shoes. Seriously. If he got his tail feathers in a twist over shoes he's never seen on my feet before, I'd stop walking and let him have a go at them. It's usually pretty **** funny. He pecks and grabs the laces and pulls and flaps for about 5 seconds....then he realizes that the shoes aren't moving or doing anything, looks like around like "did anyone actually see me just make an idiot out of myself?" and walks away. Usually this will occur twice before he apparently deems a particular pair of shoes harmless and ignores them from then on.

When he first saw me in sunglasses, he bagokked and ran for the hills (and took the whole flock with him). I couldn't get near any of them for a few days without taking the glasses off. Now they don't care and are used to it.

Bottom line is to try and minimize freaking your chickens out and keep an eye on that roo. Young roos are horomonal whirlwinds of craziness that try to mate with or subdue everything they see. Always approach him with his favorite food and offer it first thing....get anyone else he is after to start doing the same. Never make a lot of noise around him and don't run up to him or do anything that may make him think you're a threat or a rival rooster. If you do, he's going to go after you and he could cause serious injury if he ever got someone in the face with that beak or his spurs....if your siblings are little, it'd probably be best to just get rid of him now and not have a roo until everyone is older.