What the problem is is that not all roosters are created equal in that regard. You can really only expect them to be an early warning system, since they spend so much time watching the skies while the hens are head-down eating. Some will sacrifice themselves so hens can get to safety but most will die in the process, unless you have some sort of Robo-Rooster.
Some more rare ones will fight anything like my friend's big blue Orpington rooster, who has taken on foxes more than once, literally rolling on the ground with them, faced off a coyote, a Rottweiler that invaded their coop, and even killed a stray cat once. He really believes he's invincible, I think. Here is the most amazing story about a coyote that was stalking her flock and had already managed to get one very slow big Cochin hen a week prior to this incident (but Lancelot is one in a million, very smart, still alive and over 7 yrs old): https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-new-pg-10-video-pg-13.521876/#post-6646280
My late Delaware rooster had the approach that he was going to get the hens and himself to safety and only engage a predator if necessary, which seems a very prudent approach to me. Once, he was out on range with his teenage sons and they were confronted with a fox. The sons stood about 10 ft apart and faced off the fox while Isaac got a large number of hens to go with him back toward the coop. We intervened before the fox decided he could take on those boys.
I had a bantam Cochin rooster we miss terribly. Xander never had bantam hens, only big Orps and such. He was quite the little man and he would take on our cat if Finn got too close, until he realized the cat was not a threat. So, again, not all roosters are created equal. Even my current breeding Barred Rock rooster, Atlas, when the cat first began coming around, would get between me and the cat, lower his head and charge the new predator. Later, he relaxed and began stealing the cat's mouse kills, LOL.
Some more rare ones will fight anything like my friend's big blue Orpington rooster, who has taken on foxes more than once, literally rolling on the ground with them, faced off a coyote, a Rottweiler that invaded their coop, and even killed a stray cat once. He really believes he's invincible, I think. Here is the most amazing story about a coyote that was stalking her flock and had already managed to get one very slow big Cochin hen a week prior to this incident (but Lancelot is one in a million, very smart, still alive and over 7 yrs old): https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-new-pg-10-video-pg-13.521876/#post-6646280
My late Delaware rooster had the approach that he was going to get the hens and himself to safety and only engage a predator if necessary, which seems a very prudent approach to me. Once, he was out on range with his teenage sons and they were confronted with a fox. The sons stood about 10 ft apart and faced off the fox while Isaac got a large number of hens to go with him back toward the coop. We intervened before the fox decided he could take on those boys.
I had a bantam Cochin rooster we miss terribly. Xander never had bantam hens, only big Orps and such. He was quite the little man and he would take on our cat if Finn got too close, until he realized the cat was not a threat. So, again, not all roosters are created equal. Even my current breeding Barred Rock rooster, Atlas, when the cat first began coming around, would get between me and the cat, lower his head and charge the new predator. Later, he relaxed and began stealing the cat's mouse kills, LOL.
