ok this is a first for me... not sure what to think.
last night after everyone went to bed (chickens that is) I added some shavings to several pens. just dumped a pile and took the water out so it wouldn't get filled when they started digging and spreading the shavings.
then this morning I'm feeding everyone and putting their water back in, since the shavings are all nicely spread around. my red dorking roo and his girls are pacing like they usually do, waiting on breakfast. I gave them their feed and as I'm putting the water bucket back in he nailed me on the hand! felt like someone hit it with a sledge hammer.
he's only done that once before, right after I got him back but not nearly so hard, and I just shrugged it off. this was 20 minutes ago now, and my hand is still aching.
as of right now I'm seriously thinking of shopping for a new roo... or do you think this was just a fluke?
My sweet rooster has been a love all fall and early winter with lots of handling. I regularly bring him in from the cold and rub lotion on his comb, waddles, and feet, trim and file his nails and spurs, and check him for early bumblefoot. Total sweetheart, I can do anything to him. But hens started laying eggs 2-3 weeks ago. He's been a little ansy since then, but still cooperative with handling. Last week I was handling a hen outside and she started to slip on my hand, so she flapped her wings for balance. She looked a bit scared, and it triggered something in him. He rushed over and flew at my leg. I saw it coming and dodged, then put my foot out to block his path when he swung around. He attacked my boot so hard that he broke the tip of his beak, the nail off his left 5th toe, and his right spur cracked lengthwise more than half it's length. There was rooster blood everywhere. I set the hen down and grabbed him, and he started striking at my arms and chest, anything within reach. I had to cover him with a blanket and remove him from the hen to calm him down. There was no dominating him at that point -- he was in fight-to-the-death-to-protect-his-hen mode!
After about 15 minutes in a dark room I was able to approach him, and he was no longer in his rage. He had blood dripping from three different places, but it was slowing down. I was able to get the spur bleeding and the toe bleeding stopped with styptic powder and direct pressure. The beak was broken about 3/8" from the tip, about 3/4 of the way through, but still attached by the roof of the mouth, and the gap between the main portion and the tip portion on the top was tiny, so I just held him and pushed the tip tight against the base (he really is quite tame -- I don't think I could have done this properly if he didn't trust me). I held it for about 15 minutes, and it stopped bleeding and seemed to seal. It was very painful for him to eat for the next 4-5 days, so he was hand fed, and he took each pellet so gently. He was on pain meds for 5 days, until he didn't need them anymore. Nothing got infected so far, but I'm watching him carefully. He's been hypervigilant but not aggressive since then.
I don't tolerate a rooster who attacks without cause, but I expect a rooster to guard his hens with his life. Sometimes those two parameters aren't mutually exclusive in his mind. Getting into the mind of a rooster is challenging. Given that there are no children that he could hurt, I can tolerate these "dramatic misunderstandings," because he is otherwise worth it both in breeding potential and flock protection. I consider what happened to be normal for a free range rooster during breeding season. On the other hand, if I had a small child, he'd be gone.
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