Got Flogged by A rooster tonight

[Boichik86]

I have done the handling, hugging approach, the "staff of Moses"(I have never heard it put better), the reciprocating blow. And they all work well in different ways, Hugging works when done habitually. I do it a night when they're easiest to catch. It lets them know that once you've got them, there is NO ESCAPE, and more importantly, there is no danger(unless you plan on killing him...) The walking stick approach works, however the smarter birds will learn that you are herding them and will test/run around smaller, thinner sticks. A cane or poultry hook works wonders. Turkey handlers herd turkeys with long thin poles with plastic bags tied to the end of them. No direct contact with the birds is necessary. You can even separate aggressive roosters, toms,cocks, ganders, etc by swinging a stick at their general direction and yelling a few choice words. If they attack you, which all of the above aforementioned will sometimes do, a reciprocating blow may be necessary. I'm not talking about turning your prize bird into a football, instead giving it a firm but yielding kick/nudge, or gently/firmly pinning him to the ground, and then doing a wing dance. Do not worry about what your neighbors might think, it lets them know where you stand with you flock. This will usually send the message that you are "cock of the walk", so to speak, as you might say. REMEMBER bird bones are hollow, and their necks are delicate, so take caution before having an all out brawl with one of your birds. Large birds like turkeys, geese, roosters, will wantonly attack anything when they get to be of a certain age, and are surging with hormones. They want you to fight back, and every once and a while you might have to rise to the occasion. Theme to "Rocky" plays...Even gentler roos will give the occasional clothing peck, just to see if you respond to pecking order, but this kind of behavior can be more or less ignored.

 

[AVintageLife]

Walking toward the coop the other day to do my chores and suddenly feel my seven month old roo flogging the back of my legs. Caught me by surprise, he'd never acted this way before but I didn't hesitate. I dropped my bucket, whirled on him and proceeded to stomp around him flapping my jacket, stern voice yelling all the while until I had him cornered him in the coop. Then I walked out of the coop and picked up one of his favorite girls for a few minutes. Went out a couple more times during the day to hang out with the flock and see if he would try it again, which he didn't. Decided to see what I could learn about this behavior on this site and found this thread. Took me a few days to read through it all, so much useful information. I know he's coming into his own and he is a really good rooster, so I hope he can take correction and get the message that I am the boss of all. Otherwise he'll be in freezer camp by the spring. I have really missed Bee on the new/current posts; it was so wonderful to see her and her chicken wisdom on this thread. The site really hasn't been the same without her.

 

[Boichik86]

Sounds like I could take a few pointers on "the wing dance" from you!

 

[RockerHen]

My main silver laced wyandotte roo decides he is a big bad guy and will attempt to attack once every few weeks or so. But he's a coward. He'll never attack if you're facing him, only if you have your back to him or walk away. Turn around, and he'll high tail it. Take a step towards him threateningly, he'll really take off. Pick him up, he squawks and panics like a little baby. Put him back down again, he'll hide in a corner for a few hours. And he'll remember that he's just a cowardly chicken for a few weeks, before starting the whole thing over again. He's more of just a annoyance than a threat, even if he's a big hefty dude. He almost never makes contact in his flogging attempts

 

[gabrielle1976]

My itty bitty serama roo has started attacking my son , he never does it to me though . Im trying to teach my son how to deal with the rooster , he has started ether handing him to me and then I hold him till I feel like putting him down and he has to put up with it or He scoops him up and puts him away and leaves the girls out to play with , Ill be reading through this thread more thoughrly for tips and pointers. I guess I shouldnt have been surprised that a rooster would asked like a rooster just becuase he is less then two pounds .

 

[ChicksandWeeds]

someone mentioned they were missing bee and that the site has not been the same without her - what happened? i loved her posts and wisdom

 

[missnu01]

My roosters act like the hens towards me...they are just looking for treats..I have possibly the most docile bunch of chickens every though...something in the air here I guess.

 

[cvchickies10]

Roosters!!! I currently have 10 to many and they are selling at a snails pace. Our first Roo was a bantam!! We loved on him soooo much. He was gorgeous and so tiny. I let him up close and personal right along with the hens. BIG mistake!! Back then his name was some cheesy cuddly name that I can't even remember! His name is now Napoleon or Hasatan. The kids call him flogger. I wore my husbands shoes to run out & toss some scratch for them today & he ambushed me so quick I stepped right out of the shoe into some mixture of a weeks worth of rain, mud and chicken crap. I hate him.! He goes for any human he can find! IMO he does this bc we treated him like a hen. I gave him leverage! On top of that, I instinctively attack back and now it's a lost cause. I have to say he is the best hen guard anyone can ask for but it gets old! When we began expanding our flock I formulated a plan on how to avoid this in the future. The plan came in handy now that I find myself trying to weed out an abundance of rooster. Four of my excess roosters are RIR's (we had 6). I'd be less likely to get flogged if I went out & sat in the middle of them than trying to cross my yard with Napoleon loose. I started handling the new Roo's most importantly by NOT bonding with them as chicks. If you ever have more than one Roo you will notice the underling Roo's keeping their distance from the big cheese. A few weeks after they hit puberty I begin allowing them close but advance step them every now and then so they never get to comfortable with freely approaching me. I do all of their preventative treatments and transports at night after they slip into a coma. About 32 weeks old they go into a show cage for 2-4 weeks if we are about to go to show and for a few days sporadically if not. We have never had a problem out of anymore of our Roo's. The ones we have sold have made their new owners very Happy. I've considered doing this with Napoleon but I don't think it would work now. I've already attempted to hurtle objects at him. He will always think I'm going to attack him now. If my husband wasn't as big of a baby as me about killing them I'd make him exterminate him lol. I've read there are ways to rehabilitate this issue but I'm not holding my breath. Here's a pic of him.

I believe he was 4-6 months old. He looks way more grouchy now. Good luck!

 

[missnu01]

That is a good looking rooster. My roosters just sort of ignore me and the kids, other than looking for treats. My rooster is taller than my youngest son, but he never messes with him even. So I figure he's a pretty good rooster...then again he doesn't really watch over the hens outside either...he just breaks up any fights in the coop. The silkie rooster is the alarm system.
I got attacked by a huge rooster one of my great uncles used to have, there were rumors that he was involved in illegal chicken fighting...that big roo was super mean...huge rooster with giant spurs to boot...most beautiful rooster I can remember ever seeing though. and great at protecting the hens...but terrible with guests...he chased me down one time and flogged me to the ground, and then pecked me in the butt hard enough to draw blood through my jeans and underwear...I hated, but also respected that rooster...You just couldn't go outside without the dog...whenever you saw the rooster getting ready to close in on you all you had to do was say Sam, Speak! and the dog would let out a huge woof and the roo would run off...never went outside without the dog ever again after the first pecking incident...That was a good dog.

 

[DownwardDog]

Please excuse what may see like a silly post, BUT...
I am starting my first flock and will inevitably get some roosters out of the bunch. I've been worried about mean Roos because I have young kids. I notice that just about everyone beats their flogging roosters. Since I train dogs, I wonder if anyone has tried training a Roo an incompatible behavior? Like rewarding it for being held, for keeping distance,etc? Bad behavior gets it separated from the flock while it watches the others get fed treats, etc. Might this work? Our family teaches our kids to respect life and we don't hurt or kill anything just because we can. Plus, I worry that a Roo would beat my 5 y.o. in a fight:-( It just seems to me that a Roo would keep on fighting something that keeps attacking it. No?