Evil Rooster: Advice Needed

[mydog8it]

So as it turns out, one of my "guaranteed female" chicks turned out to be a rooster. He had been really sweet up until about 2-3 weeks ago when he randomly started attacking people. He's about 6 months old now and is still sweet most of the time - he likes to be snuggled and will eat out of my hand - but his attacking is really starting to hurt. We've been picking him up and just carrying him around when he starts to attack, which had been calming him down, but tonight when my husband picked him up he latched onto his finger, wouldn't let go and drew blood

He seems to be escalating.

Is there anything we can do to fix this behavior? I'm really attached to him (not to mention he's a really pretty roo) and I'm a vegetarian so cooking him isn't an option. Has anyone ever neutered a rooster, and if so, did it help?

 

[SpringChickens]

If you could find someone to do it, you could have him caponized (castrated). It is a risky surgery, and won't be as likely to work since he's already gone through puberty and started some of his misbehavior.

Truthfully, your best option would be to try to give him away or sell him at auction.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you have children, or children that visit, he can be very dangerous. If it is just you and your husband, and you are willing to take the risk, that is where you are now. He has given you several warnings. He most likely will keep trying. He can seriously cause damage, drawing blood is just the beginning.

I do not see the advantage of giving the problem to someone else, but I would not keep him. I like to enjoy having chickens, not protect myself from chickens, and I would never risk a child getting hurt.

MrsK

 

[Judy]

Caponizing is done at a very young age, a few weeks, much younger than 6 months. Roosters that are handled a lot, picked up and snuggled, etc., are very likely to become human aggressive when they reach about 6 months and their male hormones kick in. There is a great deal of info on here about ways to try to subdue him, and the question of what to do with an unwanted roo comes up almost daily.

 

[mydog8it]

Quote:
Bummer. That's what I was afraid of.

I found this post about being proactive rather than waiting for him to attack - maybe we'll give this a try:

Quote:
I'm sure the neighbors will think I'm insane when they spy me hiding around corners stalking my rooster with a broom...

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[SpringChickens]

Quote:
Bummer. That's what I was afraid of.

I found this post about being proactive rather than waiting for him to attack - maybe we'll give this a try:

Quote:
I'm sure the neighbors will think I'm insane when they spy me hiding around corners stalking my rooster with a broom...

Thanks for the feedback.

Good luck. I really hope it works for you.

I had a barred rock roo when I first started raising chickens - he was very sweet and easy to handle at first, but then he went through puberty (cue dramatic music). We used a broom or branch to keep him in line and it helped, but it never fully cured him (and I haven't heard of anyone whose rooster was fully cured). Even when we had a broom or other stick in our hands, he would think about going after us so we ALWAYS had to pay attention. We never felt like we could go outside without having to be on our guard, but he was pretty and the girls like him so we kept him around.

One night a raccoon got him. Once he was gone, our girls started becoming friendlier and more social AND we didn't have to fear going outside any more. We never realized what a negative impact he had on our flock until he was gone. We have two roosters currently, a Salmon Faverolle and a Buff Orpington, both of them the nicest gentlemen you could ever hope to meet. If we ever have a mean rooster again, he won't be sticking around very long, I can tell you that for sure.

If you really want to work with him still, you should look on Rooster Red's BYC page

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2588-Roo_behavior

He has a lot of really good advice for working with difficult roos. More in depth and effective than what you have posted above, too.

Good luck!

 

[rancher hicks]

Well you could get a Delaware rooster. I have several and none has attacked me.

However here's some advice from Minnie Rose Lovgreen's Recipe for Raising Chickens. Trillium Press

" I have one too that pecked at my legs, so I swatted him with a piece of board. He watches out for me now."

Minnie Rose was born in the 1880's and moved to the states you can get a copy of her book it's filled with her old fashion wisdom.

Wish you success with your boy

Rancher

 

[NYRIR]

Quote:
Bummer. That's what I was afraid of.

I found this post about being proactive rather than waiting for him to attack - maybe we'll give this a try:

Quote:
I'm sure the neighbors will think I'm insane when they spy me hiding around corners stalking my rooster with a broom...

Thanks for the feedback.

Hope it works out for you...if not...do you have any friends that eat meat? Not to be insensitive but I've seen aggressive roos (so far I haven't had any myself) and it's not pretty.My DD's grandmother owned one that was HORRIBLE about flying into the kids faces and attacking...AFTER it attacked a young girl and took a chunk out of her lip,she finally got rid of it

We kept telling her....

 

[mydog8it]

Well, no attacks today so we will see! It may just be a fluke though - he hasn't been consistent about his attacks. We "pecked" him on the head and chased him around with a plastic yellow bat a few times and he seems confused but didn't retaliate. Fortunately the neighbors were not home when the rooster chasing occurred, so we've maintained some of our dignity.


Quote:
We had been doing that and it worked for awhile, but he's just escalating and biting while we hold him now. We haven't tried holding him upside down though.

I don't know anyone who would be willing to actually kill and eat him (we're in the suburbs...our friends think it's "gross" to have to collect eggs, let alone pluck a chicken) but I could probably find him a new home as a last resort. We don't have any kids running around so I'm not too worried, but I totally understand what you mean about having to be on guard all the time. I have a dog kennel I was sticking him in when I needed to clean out the coop or focus on other things outside without having to watch my back

 

[ladybug99]

Mine has become aggressive as well....he is just over 7 months.. first it was just at me.. my BF thought I was crazy....till it happened to him last week.. I told him... you need to keep one eye on what you are doing and the other on him... his behavior is easy to predict... the first thing he does is size you up.. he cocks his head sideways and gives you a true stink eye... then he starts to fluff up and gives you a little dance and before you know it he is flying straight up in the air.. he hasn't come at us just up in the air...but he is doing his job as the rooster, it is just his natural behavior, he does not know any better.. so now what we do is evey time we go into the coop we walk in with a broom and we swish it at him... we give him the stink eye first....and we even stomp our feet... if he even tries to get close to us we swish the broom.... we show the big boss behavior before he does and that makes us the leader. This has worked for us.. he gives us the space and respects us for our visit....but each day is a new day and we have to repeat it all over again. He will test us every once and a while. I feed my hens by hand but if he tries to get some, I swish him away, I can't allow him to eat from my hand because that makes me the weaker one.

If you watch your rooster the hens really respond to him.. when he finds some juicy bug he makes a noise and they all come running to see....he keeps a watch out for what he thinks is danger.. if two hens are fighting he is right there to break it up... mine is funny every time he hears an airplane over head he makes this weird growling noise and they all run back into the coop.

I love my birds and they are my pets and all my visitors know of the roosters behavior now. I don't have small children so this behavior for him is OK because we know how to handle it... and god forbid someone enters the coop to steal our eggs or hens... they will have to contend with that rooster first.. and I feel that is a good thing for us.

It is all a matter of preferance small kids and an agressive rooster don't mix.. and it may be sad to give him away or to make him dinner but you have to do the best thing for your situation