Are nice roos as scarce as hens teeth?

[aoxa]

Agreed that temperament is heritable, however, even the calmest rooster may react differently than his norm when confronted with a wild-acting small child in his face.

 

Guess I'm just lucky. I have had a whole day-care visit with no second looks from my boys

 

[suzeqf]

My flock roo is a one year old Splash Ameraucana and he's a sweet boy and I also have a one year old cochin roo who's a sweety but likes to sneak attack sometimes but he's all bluff. I also have several banty roo's and they are sweet little boys. I had 2 Lav Orp roo's one was a nightmare he was hard on the girls and spurred me 3 times and my hubby 3 times and after he got me from behind coming out of the coop he met the business end of my stick and his brother was a sweet boy but i didn't want to take any chances so he found a new home. Blue Andaulisans are also mean I gave them away too.

 

[emptynesterMom]

Speckedhen I will make sure I listen to your advice and never trust even the tamest boy with a small child. My grandaughter is just a little toot and it just isn't worth the chance. I hope she will grow up with a love of birds and will be as comfortable as the teenager in your video when the time comes. Thanks for your pearls of wisdom.

 

[speckledhen]

When a child is taller/older and you're able to instruct that child on how to handle being rushed or flogged by a rooster, then you may be able to lessen your wariness-an older child can deal with it if taught well; however, when a child is hardly taller than the rooster in question, you can imagine the damage that could be done by that rooster with one well-placed flog in the face of the child. It's just a special time you really have to be extra careful.

Think of it this way: a rooster is like a stallion or a bull, but in a smaller package. Few folks would allow their child free reign to play around either of those male animals for fear of serious injury. Same with a rooster, who does often seem to view a miniature human as more of a threat to his hens than a human adult, who moves with more calm and purpose and understands the animal's behavior and boundaries.

It's true that on rare occasion, you may have the Golden Retriever of roosters who will tolerate the most irritating toddler, however, do you really want to test him and have that one time be the time your child is hurt? That's all I'm saying.

We've seen plenty of threads on BYC in recent weeks to scare folks into keeping a barrier between their roosters and their small kids, I think.

 

[aoxa]

When a child is taller/older and you're able to instruct that child on how to handle being rushed or flogged by a rooster, then you may be able to lessen your wariness-an older child can deal with it if taught well; however, when a child is hardly taller than the rooster in question, you can imagine the damage that could be done by that rooster with one well-placed flog in the face of the child. It's just a special time you really have to be extra careful.

Think of it this way: a rooster is like a stallion or a bull, but in a smaller package. Few folks would allow their child free reign to play around either of those male animals for fear of serious injury. Same with a rooster, who does often seem to view a miniature human as more of a threat to his hens than a human adult, who moves with more calm and purpose and understands the animal's behavior and boundaries.

It's true that on rare occasion, you may have the Golden Retriever of roosters who will tolerate the most irritating toddler, however, do you really want to test him and have that one time be the time your child is hurt? That's all I'm saying.

We've seen plenty of threads on BYC in recent weeks to scare folks into keeping a barrier between their roosters and their small kids, I think.

 

Definitely agree Wouldn't trust anyone smaller - or closer to the size of the rooster. Youngest one around them was 4, but I would not trust them without me around of course.

 

[fishnet1971]

I agree with you guys as well.. I have the SWEETEST big guy rooster in the world. ('Bird) I hold like a baby in my arms. Upside down and rub his belly. et. BUT I would not leave him anywhere near a child alone. You never know. No matter how good or sweet they are, they are still able to turn in a blink of an eye. it's not personal, just bred into them.

 

[aoxa]

I agree with you guys as well.. I have the SWEETEST big guy rooster in the world. ('Bird) I hold like a baby in my arms. Upside down and rub his belly. et. BUT I would not leave him anywhere near a child alone. You never know. No matter how good or sweet they are, they are still able to turn in a blink of an eye. it's not personal, just bred into them.

Oh he wants that beer so badly!

I don't trust kids around my chickens. I've seen them mishandle them - so never are they left unsupervised.

Bird is a good boy!

 

[Judy P-E]

how do you stop the roo from mating so much the feathers on the back of the hens are missing? 12 hens, one roo, should be good. what to do?

 

[aoxa]

how do you stop the roo from mating so much the feathers on the back of the hens are missing? 12 hens, one roo, should be good. what to do?

Chicken saddles. Doesn't matter how many hens you have, sometimes the roo has a favourite. I have 13 girls and my barred rock roo favours a couple of them.

 

[jmc]

caution: the idea that "a cockerel from a hatchery will not be nice; whereas a cockerel from a 'breeder' will be nice"

is yet another gross overgeneralization made about hatchery birds on byc, and must be taken with a huge grain of salt. I know this from experience. It is quite possible to get a 'nice' male from a 'hatchery'--and I haven't had just one such!

I actually had a serious breeder tell me that
"if you get a rooster from hatchery stock, it will not be a nice bird, but mean and nasty; but if you get one from a breeder it will probably be friendly".

And she was actually serious!