Help, my rooster attacks!

[thedollysmama]

I was attacked by a rooster 41 years ago that spurred me violently and pecked all the way through my hand. I was a whopping 3 at the time and had gone with my dad on a job tilling a field and since we had tame hens at home i assumed all hens were tame. My 80 year old mother still speaks of the horror of it all and I have the scars to show it.
Fast forward about 5 years: my dad was digging a trench in the yard for a water line. I was doing my daily chicken chores when one if our adolescent barred rock roosters, his name was Sarge, attacked me. My father promptly gathered up all the roosters in the adolescent band and dispatched them, putting the bodies in the trench and burying them.
I have a small hobby farm. I have all sorts of people over all the time. I can not and will not have any animal on my property that will attack people, people of any age. I don't want to be working in my yard and having to watch my back. I know how it feels to be attacked by most common domestic animals from a cat up to a horse. If I was having to arm my family so they had to go outside people would question my sanity. You need to decide for yourself what you feel is best, the rights of an aggressive bird to run your life or not.
Just my opinion.

thedollysmama

 

[jackhorn01]

Blast em

 

[featherfriender]

Re: rooster attacking....try this. My rooster did a few stealth,side-ways jumps at my leg,but when I looked he was innocently pecking grass...so ,not sure,I ignored it. Third time he was braver,faced off & jumped me,head on...despite a gentle chest kick he repeated it,the next day,to a couple of kicks. He is gorgeous, great with the hens so I decided to try & dominate him but not break his spirit....a little rebirthing ceremony So, got gloves, net, caught him, turned him upside-down then sat with him on my lap, holding feet with one hand while stroking belly/under wings and talking sweetly. Once was probably enough but did it three days, in a row...3 rd day I allowed him to sit up/still restrained &gave treats, while I had all the power. So far,so good. I will not do the treats,anymore after another's advise but will repeat weekly or whenever I see warnings. But, try the belly rub...blew my guys little, mind without hurting him. Knock him off any hens he tries to mate or don't get close when he is breeding. I even crow & wave my arms in a display of power, if near him after he does. He keeps his distance and has resumed a respectful attitude.

 

[12321]

featherfriender, could you please update us in a few weeks? I'm interested to see how this works out.

 

[featherfriender]

Dear 12321...my Rooster is still better with occassional reinforcement. He has only attempted to jump at me after not holding him a few days

 

[chooks4life]

I am mostly concerned about my two female turkeys - he has punctured their waddles and ripped out LOTS of their feathers, and the turkeys literally lay down on the ground and take it.


Just wanted to say, maybe your turkey hens are amorous? Mine always sat for the roosters if there wasn't a turkey male around. They'd even chase a rooster around, sitting as close to him as possible, moving when he moved. They can attempt to proposition a rooster.

Unfortunately I didn't have a roo willing to try a T hen! I wanted to see if I could get hybrids...

About your attacking rooster... I'm in the cull crowd, he could kill a child, and it's astonishing the damage even a tiny, blunt-spurred, wobbly-spurred rooster can do. They can main as well as kill humans, easily. You don't want to be responsible for a child's death or disfigurement.

About the training someone quoted before, I've tried all that and more, with good initial success, but in my experience it's a much better bet to only breed males who never once even look at you funny.

 

[Opticell]

It has been mentioned here, to hold and pack around the rooster under your arm, and holding onto the feet. I tried it and it worked. Here's the story. My 1 yr old BPR rooster has 13 hens to tend to, and he does a great job at it. Whenever I passed by him, once I am continuing on not looking at him, that's when he charges, and if I don't catch it, he lashes me 20 times. Of course I get pretty upset, first by charging him, and that works for that particular event. A day or 2 later he is at it again. My Blue Heeler/Aussie dog (Name: Van) is chicken friendly and has assisted the rooster several times with hawks that swoop in. This didn't stop the rooster from challenging Van though, so the Rooster is missing his longer tail feather for it, yet he still tries occasionally.

I took to booting him, and that worked, he would back down, then days later he would be at it again. Several times the booting, I figured, was knocking the wind out of him, yet days later he's back. When I think of all the attacks and when being attacked, I want to cull him and be done with it. But afterwards I remember his purpose (sorry, free range 1 acre) to care for the hens and he is very good to his hens. So read from the lady about holding and carrying the rooster, so that was what I would do the next attack.

As I am walking away, he goes for the attack, but just before he gets to me, I am looking out of the corner of my eye, and turn toward him, he's arms length away. I kneel down, then reach and snatch his legs. Picked him up holding his legs, and tuck him under my arm while I continue my rounds to the chicks chicken tractor, feeding them. All the while he is not happy, but seems to understand this is my time now. I did stroke his feathers a few times, and about 10 minutes later I gently released him.

To my amazement, apparently that was what he needed, nothing in his relation to the hens has changed, he still very lovingly cares for them, what has changed is his desire to attack my dog and I. It has been two weeks, and I am ready to give another lesson, but he gives me the space and has never challenged Van or myself again. I think he even crows just a bit less now. Just today Van walked 2 feet away from him, and he squaks like normal, but never considered attacking Van. With such a big improvement in Just one lesson of holding and packing around vs 20 bootings not counting fights with van having no affect at all. I am really happy with this solution, there are enough predator's around for this rooster to worry about, I do want to keep him around for the hens.

I am also one that loves to have chickens around the 1 acre back yard and field. The hens gather around me in hords, while the rooster stands off 10 feet pointing to the the ground and inviting hens to see what he found. I am an electronics hobbiest too, which helps to protect them at night, the door automatically closes, and in the morning opens. I don't have children for the rooster to threaten, they've all grown and moved on. I would venture to say about the turkeys. If carrying the rooster makes the person the alpha, then there is a chance the rooster will stop beating up on the turkeys. I have seen similar in Cesar Millan's video on the importance of becoming Alpha among your pack, good advice and maybe it works for roosters also.
Cheers from Utah

 

[featherfriender]

At opticell. Glad it worked for you. I advanced to carrying mine around,too but he has gotten too mean. So sad...thought I'd found a cure but well worth trying. I've no kids and he only hates me and mom so I won't make him dinner until no choice.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have found, that if you dominate him, he will be better for a while, but he is always watching for his chance. The best rooster I had ignored me, tried not to look me in the eye, put space between us, and seemed to think we were co captains..... he called his hens to the feed, but stepped away from me and them as they ate. He was priceless. He was raised up within the flock with older hens.

Then a predator wreck, and I lost him. Had some chicks left all the same age, and one turned out to be a roo. They grew up together, in an earlier post, someone showed the picture, that staring eye, sizing me up. Each day, I backed him down, I chased him, I would not let him mate in front of me..... he got to crowing from the moment I showed up. Louder and louder, puffing up, sneaking around back of me...... and then I had my niece with me and realized, "Why the hell was I keeping this bird, what exactly was I trying to prove.

Me and the hens are happier since he is gone.

@Roosterandhen - how old is your flock? I see you have just joined, and it might be that you have not truly experienced a mean rooster, there are a lot of people on here, who have raised chicks just like you said, with lots of handling...... and been totally surprised by the size and intensity of the attack from the pet.

Mrs K

 

[ChickSter99]

My Astralorp roo, Bruce, is one year old. He is like a puppy to me. He follows me around, eats out of my hand, enjoys being rubbed under his wings each night. To start with when he was younger, he would do what my kids call 'the sideways shuffle' (drop one wing and shuffle sideways)at me. I would just stop dead in my tracks and stomp or clap or snap anything to distract him while calling his name in my 'momma voice' (that's what the kids say it sounds like when I'm upset). I also noticed that he would react more like this if I wore boots. So, I swapped the boots for tennis shoes that were lighter colored. We eventually got to where we were on the same page. I would also hold him each night when I closed them up for the night or pet him on the back until he relaxed and squatted down on his perch with his yes closed. My daughter (10 yo) likes to go make sure all the broody chickens are off the nests and out ranging when they aren't hatching. Well, Bruce wouldn't have this when he heard the ruckus one of his ladies was making. He flew into the coop behind my daughter who was squating down in front of the nest boxes with the hen in her hands. Bruce made a warning screech and charged her. He caught her across the back and in the corner of her mouth with his nails. Thankfully, I had just trimmed his spurs. I called my husband to let him know what had happened because I knew once he saw her face it would be over. Sure enough, when he walked in he went straight for the gun case. My daughter saw him come through with the gun and begged her daddy not kill him (he never would have shot him in front of her). She pleaded that she had been the one to start it by bothering the hens. It took every ounce of strength he had not to kill him right then. I've never seen him so upset. But because that is what she wanted he is still here. He has since chased her several times also. My husband has also been on his hit list. My husband can walk out into the yard with Bruce nowhere in sight and he will magically appear. He has spurred him twice in the shin piercing through thick camo pants and socks. My husband booted him in an attempt to defend himself, but Bruce would not stop. It was like he was programmed to kill or be killed. Finally, after about the fifth boot, my husband yelled at him. You would think after this that he would think that my husband is dominant, but he doesn't. He still picks up grass and throws it when he sees my husband and he will attack if he's not watching him. My son has been on the receiving end of his aggression also. These attacks do not happen if either of them are with me. I place myself between Bruce and them and I stop right in front of him if he starts showing signs of aggravation (like throwing grass or sticks or shuffling). He will back down when I'm with them.

On the other hand, I have a one year old Golden Laced Polish roo "Little Bit" that attacks no one but me. He's very standoffish to begin with and crows constantly. He has never attacked or attempted to attack any one but me. I have to be careful opening the coop door because he will fly at my face. Cleaning waterers is a challenge because when I lean over I'm looking away. He's very clumsy so I hear him coming at me and am able to soak him with the water hose. Anytime I go in the coop, I make him leave. When he tries to come back in while I'm in there, I put my foot in front of the coop opening to head him back into the run. Bruce is really protective of Little Bit also. If I catch Little Bit he makes the worst racket you have ever heard. Bruce will jump off of his roost to come look for Little Bit. He has attached my husband for picking him up. Little Bit has even charged at my face when I leaned over to pick up eggs that had been kicked out of the nest. I've also caught him grabbing the hens by the top of the head and yanking them out of the nest. My OEGB takes care of any of the misbehavior from him with the girls. If they make a noise because of him, you can bet he'd better have his runnin shoes on because that OEGB does not play when his girls are calling. Lol.

So, I have two roos that need to be soup and I really foresee it real soon. Actually sooner than later.