Bad bad bad BAD Marylou!

[MamaMarcy]

Marylou, our gorgeous Buckeye roo, has flogged me a few too many times. Yesterday's episode was pretty bad, dropping me to my knees in the muddy yard in my swimsuit as I was about to join our 3 young children for a soak in the hot tub...I was ashamed to have screamed a bad word in front of them several times (honestly I was screaming for my life hoping my hubby inside might come help me). I have 3 gashes on my legs with bruising. I cannot and will not take a chance of him hurting our kids.

The sad part is we all love him. At least I used to. I just put an ad for a free rooster on Craigslist, explinign he's not fmaily friendly, and that since he's our pet we do not want his new owner telling us what their plans are for him (uhm like the stew pot).

Am I crazy to consider taking him to the vet to be euthanized? Is that selfish? Surely I should let a willing person or family take him as a good meal?

 

[pheonixstar15a]

I can sympathize with you, I had a roo like that and the last time he attacked me was the last, i didnt want to do it but I had to put him down. Recently i had a beautiful large rooster and he started to get mean and we have small grandchildren that he was starting on, i hated to get rid of him and just didnt have the heart to kill him, so luckily we found a friend that took him, he is behaving very good from what i hear. A suggestion that you might want to try if you have the problem again is to clip the spur off with a pair of dog finger nail clippers, I was going to do that but i didnt and thought myself very lucky to find a home for him, he was almost show quality.

 

[bobbi-j]

It's cheaper to give him away on Craigslist... If you take him to the vet, he's a dead chicken. If you give him away to someone, he may or may not be a dead chicken. IMHO, it doesn't matter as long as he's gone from your place so there is no danger of him attacking you again, or worse yet, your children.

 

[JenellYB]

Simple. Off with his head. And make a pig pot of dumplings to go with him!

I would never pass along a mean rooster to anyone else....except maybe under rare circumstances to a really tough veteran chicken keeper that knows what they are up against. I had a beautiful big young red sex-link layer rooster get bad once, and just happened, someone I knew with a mixed laying flock that was aging, but no rooster, decided they needed a good big rooster to put over their girls to get some good replacement chicks out of them. He was perfect for what they wanted. By the time I gave him to them, the poor thing had become psychopathically fixated on trying to kill any brooms and rakes he might happen upon, but they heavy handed him well enough to put up with him long enough to get the job they needed done. Since they didn't plan on keeping any cockeral chicks by him, he was a great bird for their mixed flock of laying hens.
My experience with red sex-link layers is the hens are sweet as can be, great layers, but the roosters are awful!

 

[peepmommy]

I agree, no patience with mean roos. I have a rir roo who attacked me once. I gave him a swift kick. He hasn't done it since. I will get rid of him for the safety of my kids. I understand you are attached, but would you keep a dog that kept biting you?? I had a cat who became very aggressive to the point that I couldn't adopt her out. She was a danger to my kids. I put her down and it broke my heart. I used to be a vet tech and maybe all of the years of seeing aggressive animals who people wanted to rehab vs all of the great little animals that were put down due to neglect or other reasons made me a hard ***. Good luck

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Personally I'd give him away, taking him to a vet could cost a small fortune. I've only had a few roos and imo banties and willows are the way to go. The cover the girls and protect them and are sweet tempered.

 

[MamaMarcy]

Don't get me wrong, keeping him is not even an option I'm considering.

The ad on CL clearly states he's mean and not meant to be a family bird. I fully expect if someone takes him it's for the stew pot.

I don't think I could personally bear to kill him myself, and my hubby would be messed up if he had to do it (and he's a manly guy...for some odd reaosn he loves Marylou). I'm not sure I could get past the first bite knowing who I was eating. I did consider dumplings though. I know it'd be better to raise our own birds who have good lives while they are alive than buying mass produced (and abused) critters in the store. It's just a perosnal issue I guess. Maybe this is a good time to get past it?


I bawled when I had to kill a newly hatched poult. How would I manage to do this???

I could have my FIL do it. My dad also offered to. (my mom wouldn't be able to know about it, she'd freak)


Yes. I am an adult.

 

[bobbi-j]

I'd say let your FIL or dad take care of it and be done with it, but I've learned over the years not to get emotionally attached to my chickens, so it would be an easy decision for me. I'll admit, I've never killed one myself. (That's what I keep DH around for.) You might just find that it's not quite as hard as you think it will be.

 

[MamaMarcy]

I'm so in love with my first ever chicken, Batman, that when he dies I plan to have him stuffed.

He's my buddy.