Can a rooster have PTSD

[chicken19]

Poor, poor rooster.

Aggresive roosters CAN be fixed!!!

 

[runt325]

He is going in the pot.  If I gave him away or sold him he would just be in someone else's stew pot.  

I can take him but

 

[Sydney Acres]

Seriously people??!!?? You're trying to make this woman feel guilty for protecting her children? Unbelievable!

Some roosters can be reformed, and some can't.. But until they are reformed, they can be very dangerous, especially to children. And there's never a guarantee that they won't revert back to being a jerk. I am a very experienced handler, and I've had aggressive roosters inflict some serious wounds. One day I was 15 feet up a tree, pulling a rogue hen down who decided to roost there instead of in her predator-proof pen. The rooster snuck up behind me on a large branch, flew at my head from behind, and tried to spur me right into the ear. Luckily I heard him lift off and turned my head to look, and instead of a straight-on blow, he hit me at an angle right behind my ear. He was a huge, powerful boy, and he hit so hard that he almost knocked me out of the tree. The pain was unbelievable. If I had turned in the opposite direction, he would have hit me directly in the temple, or the eye, with the force of a narrow hammer. Best case scenario there would have been that I fell out of the tree, but a direct temple hit with that much force could kill someone. He had been excessively aggressive for at least 6 months, but that was the last straw. He was slaughtered the next day.

Another rooster rushed me one day, but instead of his usual method of attack he changed things around a bit, so I didn't move out of the way properly. He ended up burying a very long spur up to the hilt in my inner thigh, hitting bone, missing my femoral artery by less than an inch. The spur was long and angled downward, so he was unable to free himself, dangling from my inner thigh by the implanted spur. I was 600 feet from the house, no one else was home, and I didn't have a cell phone with me. If he had hit my femoral artery, I would have bled to death before I could have gotten to the house.

I cull for temperament, but occasionally chose to make an exception for an otherwise exceptional rooster. I'm an adult, and accept the risks of my choices. And with rare exceptions, I have the skills to avoid injury, even from the meanest birds. But I would never, under any circumstances, subject a child to a bird that is so dangerous. In addition to the obvious risks, it is a miserable experience for a young child to have to deal with such an animal. Children just want to enjoy their pets. They want to bond to them, and expect for the relationship to be mutual. That relationship teaches them to respect pets and livestock, and that gives them the best chance to grow up to be humane and respectful farmers, or pet owners. If that relationship is tainted by fear, and distrust, and pain, they're probably not going to grow up to enjoy and respect those animals. Most adults have the ability to understand that some individuals are just jerks. Children are more likely to be scared of all chickens if they are forced to deal with one bad apple. I would never do that to an impressionable child.

The fact is that most people on this site are not vegetarians. Many of us love our birds, but most do still cull individuals from our flocks, either because we are breeding to improve the breed and can't keep all the birds that we don't use for breeding, or because homegrown meat is one of our reasons for having chickens in the first place. Unacceptable temperament is a valid reason for culling a bird. It is unfortunate that this boy became aggressive (seemingly) because of a dog attack, but that doesn't change the fact that his behavior is dangerous, and it is diminishing the family's enjoyment of the flock. Not everyone has the skills, time, willingness, or the right situation to be able to "fix" an aggressive rooster, with no guarantee that he won't revert without warning, and people that chose to humanely cull such a rooster should never be criticized for making that difficult decision.

 

[Ravynscroft]

He is going in the pot.  If I gave him away or sold him he would just be in someone else's stew pot.  

Or might attack another completely unsuspecting child... you made the right decision, Mama...

Seriously people??!!??  You're trying to make this woman feel guilty for protecting her children?  Unbelievable!

Some roosters can be reformed, and some can't..  But until they are reformed, they can be very dangerous, especially to children.  And there's never a guarantee that they won't revert back to being a jerk.  I am a very experienced handler, and I've had aggressive roosters inflict some serious wounds.  One day I was 15 feet up a tree, pulling a rogue hen down who decided to roost there instead of in her predator-proof pen.  The rooster snuck up behind me on a large branch, flew at my head from behind, and tried to spur me right into the ear.  Luckily I heard him lift off and turned my head to look, and instead of a straight-on blow,  he hit me at an angle right behind my ear.   He was a huge, powerful boy, and he hit so hard that he almost knocked me out of the tree.  The pain was unbelievable.  If I had turned in the opposite direction, he would have hit me directly in the temple, or the eye, with the force of a narrow hammer.  Best case scenario there would have been that I fell out of the tree, but a direct temple hit with that much force could kill someone.  He had been excessively aggressive for at least 6 months, but that was the last straw.  He was slaughtered the next day.

Another rooster rushed me one day, but instead of his usual method of attack he changed things around a bit, so I didn't move out of the way properly.  He ended up burying a very long spur up to the hilt in my inner thigh, hitting bone, missing my femoral artery by less than an inch.  The spur was long and angled downward, so he was unable to free himself, dangling from my inner thigh by the implanted spur.  I was 600 feet from the house, no one else was home, and I didn't have a cell phone with me.  If he had hit my femoral artery, I would have bled to death before I could have gotten to the house.

I cull for temperament, but occasionally chose to make an exception for an otherwise exceptional rooster.  I'm an adult, and accept the risks of my choices.  And with rare exceptions, I have the skills to avoid injury, even from the meanest birds.  But I would never, under any circumstances, subject a child to a bird that is so dangerous.  In addition to the obvious risks, it is a miserable experience for a young child to have to deal with such an animal.  Children just want to enjoy their pets.  They want to bond to them, and expect for the relationship to be mutual.  That relationship teaches them to respect pets and livestock, and that gives them the best chance to grow up to be humane and respectful farmers, or pet owners.  If that relationship is tainted by fear, and distrust, and pain, they're probably not going to grow up to enjoy and respect those animals.  Most adults have the ability to understand that some individuals are just jerks.  Children are more likely to be scared of all chickens if they are forced to deal with one bad apple.  I would never do that to an impressionable child.

The fact is that most people on this site are not vegetarians.  Many of us love our birds, but most do still cull individuals from our flocks, either because we are breeding to improve the breed and can't keep all the birds that we don't use for breeding, or because homegrown meat is one of our reasons for having chickens in the first place. Unacceptable temperament is a valid reason for culling a bird.  It is unfortunate that this boy became aggressive (seemingly) because of a dog attack, but that doesn't change the fact that his behavior is dangerous, and it is diminishing the family's enjoyment of the flock.  Not everyone has the skills, time, willingness, or the right situation to be able to "fix" an aggressive rooster, with no guarantee that he won't revert without warning, and people that chose to humanely cull such a rooster should never be criticized for making that difficult decision.

Well said!

 

[alaskamamaof2]

Thank you sydney and Ravyn. Sydney that was very well said, it was a difficult decision but my kids safety and the safety of those who visit will always come first and you are right they stopped enjoying the flock. They used to go and sit with the flock and the chickens would hop up on their laps and the hens loved to be carried around. After he became so aggressive the kids were avoiding the flock because of the aggressive roo. The hens would see my kids outside and come running to see them and my kids would scramble to find anything they could to protect themselves from the rooster who would of course follow the hen. Now we can get back to peace and enjoying our flock because we love our flock.

 

[FridayYet]

Don't let others get you down, you did the right thing. Your kids are safer and there is peace in your yard.

Enjoy your flock!

 

[NanaKat]

Don't let others get you down, you did the right thing. Your kids are safer and there is peace in your yard.

Enjoy your flock!

X 2

 

[runt325]

If she killed the rooster then that breaks my heart

 

[235chickens]

It not your decision.

 

[BabyandCotton]

An aggressive rooster is not a good thing to have around. He will hurt the hens, hurt you, and possibly carry down his aggressive trait to his offspring. If he was culled, it's better for everyone.
-Liv