- Mar 31, 2010
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So I have a flock of 15 chickens - All but 3 are only a few months old (they are huge) and my now integrated flock plus 2 ducks get along fantastically (very lucky with so many breeds). I have 3 adults - a silkie/2 frizzles.
I have one rooster from my original 3 - about a year old - I've tried everything and he continues to attack me when I come into the yard to do chicken duties. I've sprayed him with water - and generally that staves him off for the care session, but he forgets the next day and we're back to attack mode. Water is the only thing that works, but in winter, I will not have a hose readily avail...I wear pants but he is so strong now he can bruise me through even jeans. My legs have scabs all up and down them from his sneak attacks (always the shins), and I'm just about at my wit's end.
Of course, no behaviors like this are addressed when you get chickens, and all my chicken books don't talk about how to deal with or how nasty roos can get. I don't have any friends with them either. So a naive mistake on my part. But I'm willing to take care of the problem & responsibility for him myself, and this doesn't mean dump him at a shelter.
So outside of chopping his head off - and craigs list (no one wants a nasty roo and trust me craigs list is full of posts for "free rooster")...any suggestions for behavior modification?
...outside his sneak attacks, he's actually a beautiful bird, I can pet him if he's roosted high on a fence post, and he's a character (3 faces of eve I guess) - the main reason I keep him is that he's "out there"...incredibly visible - comes over my 5 ft. fence to forage in the yard, roosts high - bottom line - he will be the first one eaten if a predator comes along, he will also warn the hens - he's a great watch dog for ongoings. We live on 20 acres so the wandering outside the fence isn't an issue. He goes back in when he's had his fill (into the fenced area). He's a frizzle. And I don't want to spend 500 dollars on fencing to keep him separate.
What have others done in this situation? And it's ok if you say, 'cut his head off...'...as I'm really angry at him right now.
I have one rooster from my original 3 - about a year old - I've tried everything and he continues to attack me when I come into the yard to do chicken duties. I've sprayed him with water - and generally that staves him off for the care session, but he forgets the next day and we're back to attack mode. Water is the only thing that works, but in winter, I will not have a hose readily avail...I wear pants but he is so strong now he can bruise me through even jeans. My legs have scabs all up and down them from his sneak attacks (always the shins), and I'm just about at my wit's end.
Of course, no behaviors like this are addressed when you get chickens, and all my chicken books don't talk about how to deal with or how nasty roos can get. I don't have any friends with them either. So a naive mistake on my part. But I'm willing to take care of the problem & responsibility for him myself, and this doesn't mean dump him at a shelter.
So outside of chopping his head off - and craigs list (no one wants a nasty roo and trust me craigs list is full of posts for "free rooster")...any suggestions for behavior modification?
...outside his sneak attacks, he's actually a beautiful bird, I can pet him if he's roosted high on a fence post, and he's a character (3 faces of eve I guess) - the main reason I keep him is that he's "out there"...incredibly visible - comes over my 5 ft. fence to forage in the yard, roosts high - bottom line - he will be the first one eaten if a predator comes along, he will also warn the hens - he's a great watch dog for ongoings. We live on 20 acres so the wandering outside the fence isn't an issue. He goes back in when he's had his fill (into the fenced area). He's a frizzle. And I don't want to spend 500 dollars on fencing to keep him separate.
What have others done in this situation? And it's ok if you say, 'cut his head off...'...as I'm really angry at him right now.