Hen’s protecting me from rooster?

[Ricky Ray]

My 8 chickens are now around 8 months old. This is the first time I’ve ever had chickens and so far I’ve loved every second of it. We have 4 Barred Rocks, 3 Golden Sex Links and 1 Ameracauna Rooster. Our rooster has finally began to take up the role of a protector. I’ve seen him chase cats out of the backyard and he’s even batted at my leg a couple times when I needed to hold a hen for whatever reason. One thing that I noticed is anytime he does come at me and hit me with his nubs (not quite spurs), some of the hens will actually run up to him and peck him the face almost as if to get him to stop. I would assume they’re saying “hey come on knock it off or he’ll stop giving us treats!”

Anyone else ever notice this behavior in their chickens? Is it normal or do my hens really just love me enough to protect me?

I attached a photo of my rooster. I began to hold him in order to get him to stop being so aggressive towards me. His name is Spunk.

 

[Keziah]

aww spunk is such a cute roo! i would think that the hens are just trying to protect you, but i have never had this happen, so i do not know. Sorry!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Please read beekissed's article about managing roosters, ASAP. I hope you can get this boy in hand before things really get worse; he's already being human aggressive, a very bad trait.
I have had roosters for a long time, and only keep the 'good ones', as in the ones who don't have bad thoughts toward me, or any human, ever.
Your cockerel is just maturing, and need to be better, before he causes harm to you, or anyone else.
Mary

 

[The chicken whisperer 5]

Hi so I have had a lot of experience with Roos I raised one and tamed one what you need to do to get spunk very pretty btw to trust you you can do this by holding him a lot like at least ten mins a day give him his favorite treats just him and then just keep doing that get him to know that he can trust you and then eventually you will be able to pet his beak in the coop. He will still peck you sometimes mine does but he needs to know you and who is the alpha spunk is the alpha right now. then after that pick up some of your hens in front of him after he trusts you. This should do it when you hold him it needs to be a nice calm place. Hope this helps.

 

[New2Chicks97]

Your girls are probably trying to protect you. Hopefully Spunk changes his tune and quits attacking you as it is clear that you like him. Good luck getting him to behave. We have tried unsuccessfully to change a rooster’s ways.

We are on our second rooster now. Our first was a huge Buff Orpington we raised from a chick. He was not handled a whole lot because even as a chick he was the first to peck and try to take a bit of your finger when anyone fed them. He got so aggressive that we decided he had to go. The last straw was when he flew at my 10 year old daughter’s face and knocked her glasses off.

Now we have an absolute gem of a rooster that respects everyone’s boundaries (even the hens) and doesn’t attack people. He is a lovely Swedish Flower Hen we got from a local breeder. The breeder said he was flock raised rather than handled as a chick. She said that makes for the best roosters because they don’t see you as a member of the flock that they need to dominate. So far he has been awesome at protecting the girls and refereeing their squabbles.