Bye bye roo…

[Stephine]

I am finally getting rid of my roo. It’s bittersweet. He is 5 years old now and I raised him from a chick… Every spring after he turned two, he goes bonkers and starts attacking but has always calmed down somewhat by summer. Last year I was ready to give him away but couldn’t find anyone to take him. This year the farm store is taking roosters again and he will be out of here tomorrow. I felt a bit sorry for him after catching him off the roost last night, he seemed so confused and miserable. But this morning he was attacking me through the bars of his cage when I carried him, so that cured me really quickly…
I can only enter the run armed with a bucket or rake and he still tries to get around those and at me… The hens look so peaceful this morning without this lunatic around trying to herd them away from oh so dangerous me. I was expecting some pecking order squabbles with him out of the picture but today it’s all harmony… Apart from being sooo tired of having to watch my back and fight off a roo all the time, what really did it was that I have chicks getting ready to integrate and I don’t want him to teach another generation to be wary of me, or punish them for getting close to me. Needless to say he was a great protector when they were free ranging, very vigilant. But I had to lock them all out of their run when I let them free range or he would have kept them all in there to be *really* safe, all the time….
I will miss his crow and his gorgeous looks.
Wesley, my bonkers Swedish Flower Roo.

 

[springvalley123]

Hard to do, but hopefully you feel a great weight lifted as you go forward with the new batch of chicks.

 

[3KillerBs]

Are they going to be selling him to someone who doesn't know that he's aggressive and potentially dangerous?

Someone who might have kids who could get hurt?

 

[Stephine]

doubt it. I am telling the store that he is aggressive. Anyone buying any animal, especially a rooster also has an obligation to be careful about it themselves. With this guy, it will be obvious from the get go that he can be aggressive, it will not be a surprise.

 

[whiteboy]

Soup.

 

[3KillerBs]

doubt it. I am telling the store that he is aggressive. Anyone buying any animal, especially a rooster also has an obligation to be careful about it themselves. With this guy, it will be obvious from the get go that he can be aggressive, it will not be a surprise.

I personally would never sell an aggressive and dangerous animal.

I would feel responsible if a rooster I knew was dangerous and wasn't willing to have around myself and my family ended up hurting someone.

If he were mine I'd eat him myself to make sure he never injured anyone.

 

[whiteboy]

I personally would never sell an aggressive and dangerous animal.

I would feel responsible if a rooster I knew was dangerous and wasn't willing to have around myself and my family ended up hurting someone.

If he were mine I'd eat him myself to make sure he never injured anyone.

Plus there is a little revenge in there to make you feel better.

 

[Stephine]

I personally would never sell an aggressive and dangerous animal.

I would feel responsible if a rooster I knew was dangerous and wasn't willing to have around myself and my family ended up hurting someone.

If he were mine I'd eat him myself to make sure he never injured anyone.

Yeah, but he’s mine and I can’t do it. I do feel responsible and that’s why I will give him (not sell) to somebody who has lots of experience with unwanted roosters to deal with as he sees fit. I will tell this person what I know about this roo. I am not pressuring anyone to take him, nor hiding that he is aggressive. He will most likely end up in someone’s stew pot and that’s ok. I just don’t want him in my pot.

 

[Stephine]

Plus there is a little revenge in there to make you feel better.

I don’t get the revenge thing. I am sad that I am out of ideas and energy to give this guy a good life. He is not a person, he doesn’t know he is doing anything wrong. He certainly isn’t willfully misbehaving. It’s just that his sense of what constitutes a real danger to him and his hens is out of whack. I am sure he doesn’t enjoy it. He has lost a spur in a recent attack and his comb is bloody from trying to attack me through the cage wire when I carried his pen yesterday. He felt cornered and got scared.
yeah, I am not enjoying any of this.

 

[Stephine]

I thought it might be interesting for some to read an update on my newly roosterless flock. Just as I had hoped, the flock has calmed down a lot. It is such a relief. I used to hear screams and squabbles and have hens run in and out of the coop while cleaning the poop boards and waterers in the morning - now: blissful peace. Rarely a squawk, no chasing. And also, like I had hoped, without a rooster constantly “telling” my hens that I was dangerous and punishing them for getting close to me, now my hens are completely at ease around me. I just found out that that has its downside, too, when I tried to shoo them into their coop a few minutes earlier than their bedtime I actually had to pick them up one by one and put them in, and they’d still come out again… Ha! Before I could just gently wave my arms near the ground and they would scoot.
Well I much prefer it this way! Hopefully one of the hens will step up and help our dog with the hawk watch - that is the only good reason I can now think of for having a rooster. But I have high hopes for my new Bielefelder pullets, they seem very sky/predator aware. We’ll see.