Cockerel behaviour towards child

[Chicalina]

My very docile Silkie cockerel attacked my 6 year old child, mainly because said child was chasing some hens to try and pick one up. I don't blame the Cockerel, he was only doing his job. But obviously I need harmony and safety in my home.
I picked him up and sat him on my lap and got my son to stroke him, to try and build a bond. I am not sure if I should try and make sure the cockerel sees my son as 'friendly and not a threat' or as 'dominant so don't mess with him'. All was fine until about 2 weeks later when the cockerel chased my son, and all he did was walk past a bunch of hens (they free range).

Cockerel has never, and would never attack me. I pick up his hens all the time, and some of the less time ones squawk like crazy when I do. I'm not sure if he sees me as dominant to him, or as just not a threat. Probably dominant if I think about it. I can reach out and put my hand on his back and if he doesn't run away first, he squats. I can pick him up and he never pecks me, just sits there. I raised him as a day old chick. I don't want to keep them penned up but I need to be confident my son is safe around him. He is 2 years old btw and has never attacked any other human. He is generally really chilled.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aart]

It's the child's behavior that needs to be changed here....
....pretty hard for one so young to understand how to behave around livestock.

 

[Mrs. K]

You and your son has had a warning. A lot depends on the set up, does your son share the yard with the chickens? Because if so, then any running by the child could be misconstrued by the rooster.

If the chickens have their area, and your son has another play area, this might work.

However, is there in not a large brain in a chicken, and once a rooster attacks, one of two things happen, they either never do it again, or they do attack again, and the attacks become braver and more aggressive. It is pretty typical for a rooster to start attacking children first, but many roosters move up to women after that, and then to men.

So you and your son need to be aware, you have had your warning. I just rather question when people start blaming people for a rooster attack. Not a real nice way of living or having chickens.

Mrs K

 

[boskelli1571]

My very docile Silkie cockerel attacked my 6 year old child, mainly because said child was chasing some hens to try and pick one up. I don't blame the Cockerel, he was only doing his job. But obviously I need harmony and safety in my home.
I picked him up and sat him on my lap and got my son to stroke him, to try and build a bond. I am not sure if I should try and make sure the cockerel sees my son as 'friendly and not a threat' or as 'dominant so don't mess with him'. All was fine until about 2 weeks later when the cockerel chased my son, and all he did was walk past a bunch of hens (they free range).

Cockerel has never, and would never attack me. I pick up his hens all the time, and some of the less time ones squawk like crazy when I do. I'm not sure if he sees me as dominant to him, or as just not a threat. Probably dominant if I think about it. I can reach out and put my hand on his back and if he doesn't run away first, he squats. I can pick him up and he never pecks me, just sits there. I raised him as a day old chick. I don't want to keep them penned up but I need to be confident my son is safe around him. He is 2 years old btw and has never attacked any other human. He is generally really chilled.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

O boy!
Well, I don't have kids but maybe my thoughts can help a bit. Firstly, 'said child' needs to be told not to chase the hens - period. Apart from putting him in danger from the roo it can play havoc with the egg cycle!
My best suggestion is to have the child sit quietly holding a compliant hen with you sitting very close by holding 'roo in your lap. This may need to be repeated several times.
When you go into the chicken yard take child with you and have him/her stay close to you. Repeat frequently and have child pet hens (no chasing).
For the childs' own safety s/he probably should not go into the chicken yard w/o you for a while until things settle down.
http://chickenrunrescue.org/filter/Care-and-Rehabilitation/Rooster-Behavior
You sound like you are cool with your 'roo but the above link does have some good points if you care to read it, I think your 'roo recognizes you as a 'non-threat' now the trick is to extend that to your child!
Kids don't realize that fast movements around the flock upsets them and puts them on alert, so try to slow things down a bit.
Hope my ramblings are of some use to you

 

[BaaKaaawk]

So two things here as you've seen already- need to help the child understand how to act around the flock. I have a 5-year old and she used to chase my chickens too when younger (I guess we have chase instincts in humans too!) and I had to correct that. It really comes down to the fact that they just want to hold one- so help them catch one in a calm manner and they get to hold it and all is usually good.

The second is - need to help the cockerel understand how to act around the family. On my farm it is unacceptable for a cockerel to attack humans, period. The first time a cockerel challenges me (which they ALL will do at some point it is their nature) I chase him down, pin him, pick him up and carry him around upside-down by his feet for about 5 minutes in front of all his hens. Of about 10 now, only one has turned on me after that and he was removed.

 

[LaFleche]

Agreed to each their own- but in my experience when you get them upside-down they just stop. They don't fight, they don't go crazy (aka harm themselves writhing around) they just kind of go limp and hang there. That's the time I like to think that they have time to reflect on their bad behavior and remember the outcome.

They do not reflect about "bad behaviour"or whatever, but due to their typal physique they are close to passing out if you hold them "upside-down". Nothing funny about it.

 

[Chicalina]

Having reflected a bit, the cockerel wasn't asserting dominance or challenging my son, he was just protecting his hens from my son running after them trying to pick them up. So I don't think my son needs to do any dominance training with the bird, I think my son needs to prove himself to the cockerel to be a trusted and safe human around them. I think I need to work on helping them build a bond together, and some mutual respect. Treats will certainly help, as will my son being respectful and allowing space around the hens and cockerel.

Thanks everyone for your input. It has helped me figure this out.

 

[SueT]

Calm down. Fly? It is a bantam Silkie. He didn't get his spurs up any higher than my 6 year old's knees!

Thanks everyone for your input. It has helped me figure this out.

Well, you have to make sure your son doesn't lean over, squat, sit on the ground. I had an aggressive rooster and that was one way he'd get us. I followed the advice of the top BYC experts to no avail, patiently trying to reform this bird. Each time I was sure I had it figured out until I realized I didn't. Finally I found someone who took him in spite of his history. It was the first time I felt I could finally relax in my own yard and not have to look over my shoulder.

 

[CindyinSD]

I've had a couple of bad'uns. It wasn't their fault. They couldn't help it they had testicles as big EACH as their heads. I learned this by inspection. They made very good chicken & rice.

Roosters attack children way more than they do adults. We can speculate as to why, but the only thing we *know* is that they *do*. Of course there are many roosters who never attack anyone, but overall, small children are a much more likely target. If the rooster has sharp spurs, this is dangerous, even if it's a diminutive breed. I have no small children about the place, so my aggressive roos (young enough that their spurs weren't a problem) were allowed to remain until I was done hatching for the year. Now they are gone. If I had a six year old justifiably afraid to wander around the back yard, I would definitely at least blunt those spurs in one way or another.

If I'm honest—though I hate to cause hurt feelings—it goes way against my grain—I would butcher the rooster and if necessary, get another one. They're not hard to find. Or if it was a super-special show-boy, I would confine it with a few lady birds I wanted to breed.

 

[Chicalina]

thanks for the replies. Yes I've told my son not to chase the hens. He didn't mean any harm, just wanted to pet them. He was scared by the attack more than injured, but the spurs did scratch his legs. He is now super careful around all of them, so i think he has learned his lesson!! He totally understands the rules, just pushes against them sometimes!

I've kept chickens his whole life (he is 6) and another 10 years before that. I've never had a cockerel problem before. Not that this is a problem, just some bird behaviour that needs managing and I know it's up to the humans to do that, not the cockerel. I think we all got a bit complacent.

Great idea to have him hold a hen while i pet the cockerel. Will try that.

Any more thoughts on whether he should hold the cockerel too? I think he is too scared to though.