Help! My rooster is attacking me!

[big mami]

Here's the story: I found out after the fact that my animal-sitter couldn't come close up the coop after dusk on Saturday, so she went early and "shooed" them in. But my roo thought she was attacking the girls, so he tried to attack her. The next morning, he did it again as soon as she let them out. Flew at her and everything.

So now he tries to attack ME when I go into the run! Not my husband, and I'm too afraid to let my daughter in there yet. One idea: I had the sitter wear some garden shoes we have outside the run, so she wouldn't bring in anything from her family's chickens. And we never use them ourselves. But since the weekend, I've been changing into the garden shoes and the roo has gone crazy at me. So maybe it's the shoes? I'm going to try going into the run without the garden shoes on tomorrow and hope he's better.

I will not stand for a roo who attacks me, or anyone else. I read somewhere here that holding a rooster often will show him who's boss, so we will try that soon. Any other ideas for re-training him? Worst case scenario he will become stew and we'll start again with a new roo chick. BTW, my flock is all Barred Rock, which I heard were quite tame. Sigh.

I'm really bummed at my animal-sitter. She really screwed us up.

Please help!

 

[lisascenic]

I'm not sure the animal sitter was the one who caused the problem. Roosters are very aggressive animals.

 

[big mami]

Well, he was fine before the weekend.

 

[Mavrik]

A rooster can turn aggressive at anytime for no apparent reason. Sounds like stewpot time.

 

[leadwolf1]

I wouldn't give up so easily. Roosters do notice footwear and he could still be miffed about the weekend 'attack'. Roosters can be mean, that is for sure but, not all roosters that have a bad day need to be destined for the stew pot. Not if that roo was fine up until a huge change came his way.

My son's silkie will attack me every time I wear my Muk boots. No other shoes, just the muck boots. He hated the things. All winter I dodged him...come spring, my sandals went back on and I haven't been attacked since.

I would change the shoes, talk to him before I opened the coop and scoop him up as many times as I could. Hold him while you walk around, talking softly. Give it some time for him to remember who the good guy is and that the evil boot lady isn't returning. I do know that if she kicked him with those boots, they are now the enemy and so is anyone that wears them.

Don't eat him yet. If he was a good enough roo before to give him a little therapy time, I'm pretty sure that he will be fine again. I think, if I were you, it would be time for a new pettsitter!

 

[heybarb]

I agree with the previous poster...give him a little more time with you. A few days before we went on vacation, I started noticing some behaviors that were on the "aggressive" side so I held our rooster as much as I could before we left. When I called to check in, our chicken sitter said that she had been bringing her kids with her. She said the rooster was fine the first few days, but then he started "flying at her" but didn't hurt her. The last 2 days she came, she said she had to use a plastic chair to keep him away from her and thank goodness, her kids wouldn't get out of the car. I was thinking he'd be stew for sure when I got home. He did try to chase us around the first few days we were home, but I told my son to stand his ground and take one step forward. Our rooster backed down immediately.

After more reading on here, I tried a little therapy...carrying him around, then someone else had mentioned holding their head down - like he does to the girls, so I tried that a few times and allowed my kids to do it too. After 2 weeks, we don't have any more trouble from him. He will definitely stand up at alert when we come outside, but he just watches as my son continues to pick the girls and carry them around.

 

[Daisy8s]

Another helpful thing is to lay on the treats. Remind him that you provide good things (food) not bad (attacks). I don't mean you should provide a lot of treats, but rather try to do it often. Once or twice a day approach him with something yummy (a grape, a small tomato, etc.) and offer it to him over any of the others.

P.S. Love your avatar--look at mine and you'll see why!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

You could use your hand to push and hold him down on ground like he does with hens. It will show him you are the dominant roo. Hold him down until he stops resisting and hold him there a little longer. If after a few times of doing this he doesn't change, then hold him down and roll him onto his back. This is what a dominant roo will do to show total dominance. They are very vounerable in this position.

 

[Daisy8s]

You could use your hand to push and hold him down on ground like he does with hens. It will show him you are the dominant roo.

I would respectfully disagree with any advice along the lines of trying to show dominance or act like a rooster. No chicken will ever be so confused as to think that you, a human, are another chicken. I'm not sure where this line of thinking began but it always strikes me as mildly funny that people think they can enter into the chicken world and become a part of the pecking order.

Any physical interaction that the rooster doesn't like will most likely be interpreted as aggression. Doing something he doesn't like continue to make him afraid of you and wanting to attack to chase you away.

Use treats to woo him. Teach him that it's rewarding to be near you. Teach him that you are safe to be around and non-aggressive.

Of course it's necessary to have animals that can be handled in the event you need to provide veterinary care, etc. But, I do this at night when they're on their roost and docile. Chasing them around the yard in order to pick them up to show dominance....it seems to me that the chicken would only interpret that as an attack upon them.

 

[Quahog]

I would respectfully disagree with any advice along the lines of trying to show dominance or act like a rooster. No chicken will ever be so confused as to think that you, a human, are another chicken. I'm not sure where this line of thinking began but it always strikes me as mildly funny that people think they can enter into the chicken world and become a part of the pecking order.

Any physical interaction that the rooster doesn't like will most likely be interpreted as aggression. Doing something he doesn't like continue to make him afraid of you and wanting to attack to chase you away.

Use treats to woo him. Teach him that it's rewarding to be near you. Teach him that you are safe to be around and non-aggressive.

Of course it's necessary to have animals that can be handled in the event you need to provide veterinary care, etc. But, I do this at night when they're on their roost and docile. Chasing them around the yard in order to pick them up to show dominance....it seems to me that the chicken would only interpret that as an attack upon them.