Had to kill Mother in Laws roo today.....

[ravencreek]

Well as sad as the title may sound it was quite funny. Well to us anyway.

Today I went to visit my MIL and took my 3yr old with me. My MIL had been having some issues of her Barred Rock roo trying to attack her sister "for no reason". Well today I found out WHY the roo was trying to attack her, SHE WAS CROWING AT HIM AND FLAPPING HER ARMS! He would then crow back at her then charge. I had told them once before to stop taunting him but they thought it was super funny when he was just starting to crow and they thought they were helping him learn. Well Anita(MIL sister) did her rooster thing at him and he attacked her. She went running and screaming across the yard and I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the porch. I know it wasn't really a funny situation but to SEE it was funny. Well she grabbed a rake and tried to fight him off without luck. So here goes my MIL thinking she can do something and the roo turns his fury on her. So she goes running and screaming for me to get the hose. Well no hose was needed for me. I walked over, picked up one of his hens and she starts making a fuss, his attention is now on me. I put the hen back in the pen and closed the door. I then stood my ground with him and he though he would be "smart" and attack me. Well he jumped at me feet first and I must have been very lucky cause I grabbed both his feet and just hung him upside down. He was still trying to attack me and even bit my pants and meant business. Well I carried this roo around upside down for an hour, then did an old farmers trick and swung him back and forth then let go and he gets disoriented and runs away.

We THINK that he has had enough and go back into the house. 2 hours later we come back out and there he is in the yard. We didn't pay him much mind and my 3yr old went to play in his sandbox in front of the porch. Rooster THOUGHT he was going to attack my son, I caught him right before he touched my son. By the wing this time and my MIL was so mad over it that she had me take him around back and kill him. She said she could have dealt with him attacking her and her sister but once he went after her grandbaby thats when he signed his death certificate. So I tied his feet together and flung him over a branch, slit his throat and bled him out, plucked and cleaned him. We were invited to a chicken dinner on Sunday. This was the first roo I have killed and cleaned by myself. MIL watched and told me where and what to cut but made ME do it.
What makes it worse is that I gave her the flock she has right now. I was the one that picked out the roo because he was the sweetest BR that I had. Now her poor hens are without a roo. I plan to replace him with one of my roos that I hope won't turn out so vile. I had to rehome ALL my BR's because they were rude and just plain mean. Never offered to attack me or the kids but were not good with the other chickens. They went to Freezer Camp at a buddies house. Sorry this is so long but I had a rather interesting day.

 

[Tala]

I wouldn't give her another roo.

It sounds more like the human's fault that the roo turned mean, and giving another roo to the same human will likely have the same outcome.

It's really up to you, but I think giving her another roo without solving the problem is pretty pointless, not to mention cruel to the roo.

 

[Mahonri]

you gotta do what you gotta do.

My first group of BRs that I got from McMurray were bossy and mean I rehomed all of them.

A month ago a patient of mine gave me a Barred Rock. She is the SWEETEST, most gentle hen in my entire flock... and she lays 5 to 6 eggs a week. Gotta love that.

 

[speckledhen]

My BRs are wonderful, but then, they are removed from hatchery stock by two or three generations. I actually prefer a BR rooster for my main laying flock. Sounds like the rooster was actually inadvertantly trained to be aggressive by the family member.

 

[ravencreek]

My BR hen is super sweet and nothing like the roos. I wouldn't trade her for the world.

I did explain and gripe that it was their fault he was attacking them. I told them that by crowing at him they were unknowingly "challenging" his rooster status and he felt they were roosters and needed to prove he was top roo to them. I might have been wrong but they thought it sounded right and promised to never crow at another chicken ever again. I think he scared them out of it too. I am wondering if Australorp roos are mean when they reach maturity. I have a few roo chicks that I need to rehome and would rather them be alive than eaten.

 

[Elite Silkies]

Quote:
I have 4 Australorps Roos, you need one

Mine are 6 months old now and they are all very sweet. They have never tried to attack me.

We were cleaning their coop today and my son said that one pecked him, but he did have a trash bag flying around so that is what it was. It just startled the Roo. They are not the hold me type, but they are not aggressive. Mine are well bred and gorgeous birds.

 

[ravencreek]

We are going to keep one of the Australorp roos. But only because my husbands dog attacked him. He now walks with a limp and is missing a large portion of his leg. He became really tame after alot of in the house time and bandage changes. So he will be staying with us. We were only going to keep one breed of roo(Turken) and then have different breeds of hens(pure breed hens only) and see what different color turkens we come out with. Since all my chicks were bought straight run I had to sell lots of roos to get the hens I have and now I am able to tell these apart and have 4 roos outta 6 chicks. But since this roo was injured I kinda became attached to him so I had alot of begging to do to get to keep him.