attack rooster! help!

[bobbi-j]

This may not be an option, but we had friends that put their mean leghorn rooster in a pen of bantam roosters for a day or so. He's now the most timid rooster I've ever seen! I know this one, because we have recently acquired him. He's the most timid rooster I've ever seen. We also got one of their bantams, so it will be interesting to see how the leghorn reacts when the bantam is no longer around.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

This page by Rooster-red is one of the best references on BYC for dealing with aggressive roosters: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior Don't worry about the pictures no longer showing up on the page; the text is what matters.

 

[bakohens]

When I was a kid, my family had a bantam rooster named Peanut. He hatched on Easter morning. My mom took it as some kind of divine sign (although she is not and has never been the least bit religious). Anyway, he was raised with extra special care. He was fine when he was young, but when he came into his roosterness, you couldn't turn your back on him. If he knew that you were looking at him, he would go about his rooster business. He also loved having his belly rubbed - he would lay on his back on your lap while you petted his belly. BUT when your back was turned, he would come at you with spurs and beak a-blazing. I swear he would also lay in wait until an unsuspecting human walked by. It got to be that you were scared to walk in the yard because you didn't know if Peanut was going to come flying out of a bush or behind the wood pile to attack you.

Because of his divine birth, we couldn't kill or eat him ourselves so we ended up giving him to someone else and not asking any questions. RIP Peanut.

 

[cherwill]

Quote:
LOL!

We're re-homing Pip. We could handle a bit of putting him in his place, though I don't want to have to treat an animal that way. Yes, I know it's perfectly normal in chicken behavior, but it's just not how I want to have to be with him. The bigger issue, though, is our 12 yo niece. She loves to come over and lock herself in the chicken pen and just hang out with them. We have no good way to separate Pip out and couldn't let her do that now that he's aggressive. There are also kids in our neighborhood and I wouldn't want anything to happen to one of them. Through our neighbor's sister, we've found a place for him to go. Am I ridiculous for bursting into tears?

 

[eggsellent]

Quote:
I use an insulated dog crate for my roo. Its affordable containment. I don't crate my roo because he is bad though, he's just hand raised and all the girls and boys pick on him. he is a bit spoiled

 

[NYRIR]

Quote:
How old was he? How old was he when you got him? I am curious as I have 4 RIR roos that are (so far)friendly at 3 1/2 months old. I want to know how long before I get attacked! Mine are also friendly to the point they will eat out of your hand but I personally don't...they peck too hard!My DH does as his hands are tougher...I too will be upset if I have to cull them

 

[ijon1]

I have a beautiful Chantecler rooster that is meaner than dirt. I am going to butcher him unless someone out there wants him for breeding. Let me know if you do.

 

[elaucht]

no keep him . show him that you are the boss. be assertive,hit him (broom, bucket) not to hard, and at night when he roosts pick him up and pet him . you might have to wear gloves at first , after a wile he will be fine. he needs to know that you are the big rooster and not him. It will work .

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Are you kidding, this rooster attacked not just one person but time and again. Hope you have good insurance if you keep him.

Please do not add to the problem by passing it off on someone else or by continuing the problem by breeding him and ending up with more mean hens and roosters.

I can't believe people are actually intentionally breeding meanness into their chickens. That is what you would be doing by breeding him. Doesn't matter how pretty you think he is or what a sweet thing he was when it was young. If you breed him you are continuing his line and that includes the meanness.

How many hundreds of years have we been breeding meanness out to have calm domestic chickens. That is one part of breeding responsibly that seems to have been forgotten.

Sorry to go off but this just stuck me as being wrong. I just won't tolerate a mean Hen or Roo anywhere near my grandchildren. There are far to many write ups on this forum of mean Roos. Years past, it was uncommon and just not tolerated.

 

[cherwill]

NYRIR, I can't remember exactly when we got the first chickens. A boy who was staying with us bought it for his girlfriend and of course it had to live here -- that's how the whole chicken thing got started! I think it was mid to late March, maybe, and that very first bird ended up being a roo. In the last two weeks or so, there were times when we'd go in the pen and reach down for the waterer or feeder and Pip would grab our hand with his beak and pull. We thought he was expecting food since that's usually the case and didn't think much of it. We'd just push him away and go on about our business. Now I think he must have been starting to test us. So you have about 2-4 weeks I'd say!

He didn't go after me today and I was in the pen a couple of times, although he did act like he was going to go after my husband in the morning, but he just put his foot up and then picked Pip up for a bit. I don't think we'd get rid of him if we lived out of town or didn't have a niece who loves hanging around with the chickens. I'm not convinced he's mean, exactly, but I'm not willing to risk my niece or another kid being hurt by a rooster who's just doing his rooster thing. The people he's going to tomorrow know why we're giving him away. They have other roosters so they know how it works, I suppose.