Help! My rooster is attacking me!

[7L Farm]

The rooster ? I live on a 100 acres I have 6 pens around 50 chickens & about 200 quail. I don't have time to walk around the yard with a bad roo. To me there either good or bad. If they show aggression towards me they need to go thats it. I'm not gonna walk into my coops & have to look over my shoulder knowing that this one guy could attack me. I've played those games with them before. I've had no luck & don't do it anymore. There gone thats it.
But there's a lot of people here that only have a few chickens & have time to try & fixs stupid. I don't. I have 5 gardens & plenty of other stuff to do. I can't have a roo I can't trust period.
I have three roos now & they leave me alone & I leave them alone. I can pick up their hens right in front of them without being attacked. To me thats a good roo. My boys watch after the flocks, give me fertile eggs, & crow every morning very early & continue crowing all day. I say there either good are bad. I hatch all my own birds & I can tell within a few months maybe three whos good or who's bad.
If your looking over your shoulder at your roo I'd say adios amigo.

 

[PrairieChickens]

I'm all for taming a rooster if he can be tamed, but not every rooster can be tamed, and not every owner can tame a rooster. I have three roos in my flock, and they run the spectrum. Mars is by far the most agreeable, and although he doesn't let us pick him up or handle him, he never does anything remotely aggressive towards us. Elvis is a bit more uppity, but since I can scoop him up and handle him readily, he's been manageable so far and can still be saved. Then there's Milton... Milton who decided for reasons unknown that any human being was a threat and had to be thrashed.

We tried handling him. We tried giving him treats and carrying him around. After more than a year of failed attempts at taming him, I did resort to the "broom handle" method, out of self-defense if nothing else. I had one good go with him around the chicken run a couple of months ago after he thrashed me for the last time, and he has given me no problems since. At first, yes, he was just afraid of me. Now he will come up and take treats from my hand, and is calm when I move about the run. He doesn't posture or charge at me anymore, and I haven't personally had any problems with him since our encounter a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, he still charges and even attacks other people, and just today he tried to thrash my dad while he was filling the feed trough. Unfortunately for Milton, my dad had the trough in his hands at the time and was more than capable of defending himself. Now the trough has a dent, and Milton is keeping his distance from my dad. Is it a less than ideal arrangement? Of course it is, but you can't expect people to just stand there and let the rooster beat the everlovin' tar out of them. If you're being attacked, you have the right to defend yourself, regardless of the attacker's motivations.

Like I said, if you can tame a rooster, great. If not, I have no issues with sending it to the stewpot. I love my chickens very much, but at the end of the day we have them for the purpose of providing food--they aren't pets. My time and energy is better spent taking care of the entire flock than worrying about one cranky rooster who can't be reasoned with.

 

[Sally8]

Not wanting to argue, but would like to add that we had a young Barred Rock that went to the crock pot for not only attacking me but my 4 year old grandson. I had always heard that they were a calm breed too. Right now we have a BCM roo and 3 EE roo's (trying to decide which one to keep) and they are all friendly. Who know's what causes one to be more aggressive than the next. Sometimes it's heart breaking. Sorry it turned out that way.

 

[HOUDINI1961]

Yes, there is a big difference in our situations. I'm not running a business, my animals are more or less pets, so I do look at them a little differently. I'll have to see what happens with B.J. Right now I only spend about 10 min. a day with him and his hens because of time restraints. If I started getting attacked everyday, he would definitely have to go.

I guess for me, when you see them grow up from chick to adult, you can't help but get attached.

 

[HOUDINI1961]

Yes you are definitely right about every rooster having different personalities and different levels of tameness.

One thing I forgot to mention in case others are reading this. Roosters are VERY territorial. If a stranger approaches the coop, I think they have the right to charge the fence. Wouldn't you want your rooster to do that if a large fox or raccoon approached the coop?

If a stranger enters the coop, they have a right to attack. One of their main jobs is to protect the flock, it's in their DNA. They have no idea if that stranger is a relative, a loving child or a giant predator on two legs ready to kill the flock.

You do have to respect a rooster who is doing his job.

When I enter his coop, Buff does nothing. When I enter Lucky's coop, he flaps his wings, does the rooster "shuffle" around me and then realizes, "Oh, yea, this person is a good guy." It takes him time to calm down from his rooster DNA traits.

I just could never physically and emotionally ever kill a rooster. If anything I would find a farm for him to go to. So as far as I would know after that, he was living a happy life. If he attacked the farmer and became stew, I would not know it and don't want to know it.

I just really "poo-poo'ed" the broom treatment because when I first put Buffy and Mookie in the coop, the owners of the coop went in to feed them and were attacked. I'm sure my roosters were kicked, etc. Not being familiar with roosters, the owners went in the coop again and again and got attacked. To this day, 2 years later, Buff still hates the owners(Mookie has since passed away). Buff starts crowing when either of them are near the coop. Even when Buff hears their voices, he gets riled up.

So it leads me to believe that a rooster does not forget who hit them and will hold a grudge. That could be the case with B.J. That first day when he attacked me, I picked him up from outside the coop, opened the door and threw him in the coop, all the while yelling at the top of my lungs. I may have f'd myself by doing that. He's been leary and untrusting of me since.

I know **** well, if I started kicking around my other two tame roosters, they eventually would turn on me.

So it's kind of like a catch-22. One wants to protect themselves but at the same time that could make you a permanent enemy of the rooster.

 

[HOUDINI1961]

Yes, Barred Rocks are supposed to be a gentle breed. But you never know what sets a rooster off. Mookie was a Barred Rock,but he would nip at me if I didn't pick him up first before Buff, when I first went into the coop. He would get jealous.

Like I said, I've seen pants, shoes, shirt colors, noises, etc. set a rooster off. You have no idea what could have happened just minutes before your grandson entered the coop. Maybe the rooster spotted an animal outside the coop and was all riled up.

Personally, with what everyone knows about roosters, why would anyone let a child near one? Would you let a child go near a pitbull, who are also prone to "go off" at a moments notice? I've let children pet my roosters but ONLY when I am holding them, the roosters that is. If anything they are nervous being pet by strangers.

 

[PrairieChickens]

I'd trust a small child with a pitbull before I would trust them with most people, but that's beside the point.

Our rotten rooster is a Barred Rock too... surprised us as much as it did Sally! We haven't gotten around to dealing with him yet only because it's so much work to butcher just one chicken.

 

[Sally8]

Yes, Barred Rocks are supposed to be a gentle breed. But you never know what sets a rooster off. Mookie was a Barred Rock,but  he would nip at me if I didn't pick him up first before Buff, when I first went into the coop. He would get jealous.

Like I said, I've seen pants, shoes, shirt colors, noises, etc. set a rooster off. You have no idea what could have happened just minutes before your grandson entered the coop. Maybe the rooster spotted an animal outside the coop and was all riled up.

Personally, with what everyone knows about roosters, why would anyone let a child near one? Would you let a child go near a pitbull, who are also prone to "go off" at a moments notice? I've let children pet my roosters but ONLY when I am holding them, the roosters that is. If anything they are nervous being pet by strangers.

I totally agree with everything you said. My dogs sleep in the house with us, the border collie in bed between my hubby and myself with his head on my pillow, we have cats that run the inside show and my chickens, that always run up to the fence when I step outside the house door. Hitting an animal is never an option. Just like hitting children it teaches them retaliation. I protected myself with the hoe when I would go in to feed and water but never gestured the hoe toward him. It was like an extension of my arm or leg. When he went after my 4 yr old grandson, there wasn't a cause on our part but who knows what he was dealing with in his own family. With that many wives.... With that being said, I wasn't keeping him anyway. All my chickens are young, hatched myself and are family. But, we have to keep things in perspective. I'm not a vegetarian, the reason for my chickens were for eggs and meat. My grandchildren are the loves of my life. (Never would I allow them to hurt or tease any one of my fur or feathered friends). I would rather take matters into my own hands rather than another to abuse because they said they were attacked.
Keep in mind that I believe we are all entitled to our own opinions and hopefully we can agree to disagree but I believe that God gave us animals to enjoy, for food and early on for clothing.
It was a very hard decision to get rid of Pickles.

 

[delisha]

Most rooster issues happen between the ages of 6-9 months. When they start to sexually mature. Half of the problem with them is that they have been cuddled, petted, and hugged like a dog or cat. Not all breeds of chickens respond to human emotions. They all respond to food, shelter, and sexual procreation demands. When they start to mature, you can train them to have confidence in you as the Alpha. If you watch them, they do interact with each other physically and form a pecking order. It is important they understand where you are in that pecking order. Cuddling, petting, and hugging teaches them you are a sibling. I prefer not to be though of as a sibling. If you do not mind being treated like a sibling that is OK too. I handle my cockerels and roosters often. The easiest way is to spend an extra few minutes during feed time. If you watch an older rooster he tells everyone where all the good stuff is. It is adorable when he has all of his hens and chicks all gathered around. he is Alpha. No one dare to challenge him. During feeding time, talk to your chickens in a soft but firm voice. It is at this time you will probably be challenged. A young cockerel flips his wings or tries to mount an unwilling hen. You say *My chicken* and stop the activity by walking and herding him away. Go back to the group and continue to feed and talk. When he returns, herd him away again. I use a long slim pole. I lightly touch on a wing or a rump and physically drive him away with very light weight and a push in the direction I want. It teaches many good things. For one if you practice enough you can collect your birds and coop them when they do not want to be cooped. It can save a life. I have use the *broom* stick on a cockerel. I do not advocate abuse in animals, however this was an extreme case that I needed to fix immediately. It was an exceptional bird that I did not want to eat and my regular teaching was not working fast enough. I have culled for aggression with both roosters and hens who were aggressive to other chickens, never for humans. I have found that with feed time training during sexual peek of young cockerels the issue of a mean rooster does not become an issue. However, the peak of sexual maturity is not the right time to make a decision to cull. Sexually aggressive cockerels who *protect* the flock by being aggressive to you, can make the best roosters to *protect* the flock when you are not around. Just some food for thought

 

[LibRat]

I guess I got pretty lucky cuz we got Pigpen for a pet nothing else, therefore we do spend plenty of time with him. He honestly doesn't think he's a chicken (it seems) I can understand others who have their chickens solely for the purpose of eggs, etc... practical reasons. They don't have the time to mess with being all sweet n lovey-dovey with their bird. But coming from personal experience, my rooster is 10 months old and I can put my nose on the tip of his beak and not fear my eyes being picked out lol I think it all boils down to how much time you have or are willing to spend with him/them.