How to protect myself from rooster

[Fishychick]

This is a long post. Sorry. I have a rooster. His name is Angel but it should be Satan. He is the fifth rooster that I have had in 18 years. Of the other four, two were nice (one I hatched, one raised by a hen) and two were mean (got those as newborns). On the day Angel was born, I saved his life many times. After trying to hatch for 24 hours, I opened a hole in his egg because he was dying (air cell too small). He still couldn't get out so I literally hatched him in my hand. Then, he couldn't stand so I had to give him a warm bath to get stuck yolk off so he could move. Then, when he was in the brooder, the three girls tossed him out in the cold so I had to put him back in the incubator. After I removed most of the moisture sources, the temperature spiked, and he almost got cooked. Anyway, he owes me, doesn't he?

He was born last April, and now he considers me his biggest enemy. He is big, an Easter egger, tall and strong. After a few beatings, I now bring an old snow shovel in with me to gently push him away from me. This morning though, as I held the shovel in my left hand and bent down with my right hand and put the food down (food he should be grateful for), he pummeled my right arm, and I got an instant hematoma. I bruise easily (doctors can't figure out why as all tests are normal) so it's going to be a bad one. I close the chickens in a 6'x'6 house during the night (foxes dug in the run years ago so now I'm paranoid but also to keep in the warmth). They have a huge run. I paid $20,000 (yes, you read that right!) for a massive new chicken run with a walkway on top to get sticks off the top. The run went from 112 square feet to 317 square feet. I have a 7' sliding board that was supposed to be put on but never was. And, they were supposed to make a small house and quarantine run for rooster(s) or chick(s) but they never finished. On their last day, they left the fence loose on top, and I was not happy. They blamed me ("you wanted us to risk our lives in the rain?") instead of offering to fix things so I got rid of the only contractor that I trusted. So, the quarantine was never made. My brother, who moved out in 1998, has forbidden me to spend any more money saying his evil (his words, not just mine) wife wants it all, and his daughter so I must never spend my money or my father's because it's really theirs. Anyway, how do I protect myself from Angel? After he went after me, it was my natural animal instinct to strike back and want to hurt him. I don't want to kill him in a fit of anger. I understand it's not his fault. It's either his genetic programming or God depending on your belief. Do I need a little tank to drive in there? I have three frizzle hens. I have dresses on two of them because he tears them up pretty good (partly because he's so big). I expect they'll go broody soon, and I may let them have some babies. Without a quarantine, how do I protect the babies if he (or one of the other hens) turns on the babies which I've had happen before. What do I do with Angel's sons? They will try to kill each other as did a father and son I had before. In that case, I kept the father in a tiny little area for the rest of his life (it was not a good situation). Also, I am never going to "get rid of him" or eat him. I may not like him but he's still my son. Aside from advice to kill him or get rid of him, do you have other advice? Aside from his jumping the girls and trying to kill me, he's otherwise a good boy. He likes to tell the girls about food he's found. I never feel all is right with the world if I don't hear a rooster crow at dawn. Why can't he be sweet like my last rooster? I used to hug him!

 

[DobieLover]

Also, I am never going to "get rid of him" or eat him. I may not like him but he's still my son. Aside from advice to kill him or get rid of him, do you have other advice? Aside from his jumping the girls and trying to kill me, he's otherwise a good boy. He likes to tell the girls about food he's found. I never feel all is right with the world if I don't hear a rooster crow at dawn. Why can't he be sweet like my last rooster? I used to hug him!

Maybe that's your problem. He is a chicken, not a human. So, no, he doesn't owe you for caring for him as a chick.

Try reading this article and see if that helps:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-viewpoint-on-raising-cockerels.74690/

I'm no rooster expert, far from it, but I applaud you that you want to work with your boy to get him to stop attacking you instead of just killing him. As long as you are the only one at risk, that is your choice. If he was attacking others, especially children, that would be a very different story.

@Shadrach , @BantyChooks , @centrarchid do any of you wish to comment?

 

[Acre4Me]

Rooster: sounds like his own area is s good solution. Complete with a way to feed him without you having to go in his pen often. Find a contractor/handyman to complete the last bit.

Hatching eggs/little boys: you can sell them. We used a livestock auction, got cash. Otherwise, we were going to post on community board at feed store. Third option was friend’s father’s farm.

Family money: you’re an adult, right? You’re brother is an adult. You are both individuals with rights. If he is family money manager, then that’s one thing. if you earn your own money, it’s yours to do with what you want, irregardless of what he or wife wants. However, everyone has an opinion, particularly when it comes to money! Funny, maybe he stays married to “evil” wife bc of her potential claim on that money if they were to divorce, so maybe he’s trying to drag you into the unpleasantness with him -LOL.

Good luck with your rooster!

 

[centrarchid]

I would like to get to know your rooster first. Can you go out and take a few pictures of him so we can see what he is signalling?

For the short term, only go to your poultry area when wearing at least a pair of heavy jeans and a coat so if he does flog it will cause no hurt to you. Do not engage him and do not flee if he attacks. Just stand there until he stops. If you do not move, he will be confused and stop attacking.


Make so his attacks do not appear to impact your behavior.

 

[Peppercorngal]

A bad rooster is a nightmare. A danger to you, your kids, neighbors and any new chicks that may come along. You can't change him, if you won't sell him or eat him the only answer is to put him in a run and coop all by himself. He won't like it, but you and everyone else will be safe. He's a rooster, not a child and I would NEVER keep a mean rooster, NEVER. Why would you want to???????????

 

[Fishychick]

Angel is confined all the time. He is never loose. I am the only one to go in the pen. I commit to all my animals, no matter how they behave. I took in a semi-feral tom cat who bites and scratches with no warning so I'm pretty tough. Humans can be very mean and, yet, their parents stick with them for the most part. I've been too busy to develop photos of my chickens but here is one from 9/30/18 of Angel (and Billie).

 

[Shadrach]

@centrarchid has given you some good advice. This will help to stop you receiving further injury and may make your cockerel reconsider his actions.
So, there's the first thing, he's technically a cockerel still if he was hatched last April so he's young, hormone driven and as I understand it, doesn't have a senior rooster to keep him in check.
You are making a fundamental mistake in believing a rooster is going to, or should feel gratitude for feeding him and his hens. I've written his in bold because no matter what you do as far as he is concerned the hens belong to him. If you can't accept this then what I write further won't help you.
Cockerels and roosters attract hens in a number of ways. Because your flock is contained some of the ways roosters attract hens are not possible for him. He can't for example escort them through dangerous territory to a nest site. He can't defend his hens from other roosters because there aren't any, etc etc.
What he can do and is very important is provide them with food and/or assert his authority by denying his hens food.
If you feed his hens then you are competition in the eyes of your rooster, especially one as immature. So, the first thing to do is not to feed his hens. If you can hand feed him then hand feed him first and do not let the hens eat until he stops eating. The idea is that you get to the point where he calls his hens to feed. This means to him and his hens that he has found food rather than you giving it. It's a very very important point for the rooster.
Next, don't pick up his hens. If you have cuddled him or carried him about when he was less aggressive he probably believes that this is mating with you. Some cockerels do imprint humans as potential mates. I've had one in love with my boots for a couple of months now. Once they get older and mate with a proper hen they stop finding the boot or whatever quite so attractive. So, if you pick up his hens in his eyes you are mating with his hens and he is not going to be happy about that.
Don't respond to his aggression with aggression. By doing so you are competing with him once again. While you may win the battle, you won't win the war by fighting with him and you will further undermine his confidence.
This is a point many dog trainers go to great lengths to point out to owners of aggressive dogs. Aggression is often engendered by fear and working out what causes that fear is one of the early steps. Chickens are much the same. Many of their responses to humans are built on fear and it's not hard to see why.
I would think about the above points and try out what I have suggested. The key is, is to try to look at the world through the eyes of your rooster and work out what it is that you do, or have done that causes his behavior rather than believe he is at fault.
I hope this helps and if after trying the above out you would like further suggestions feel free to add to this thread and let us know how you've got on.

 

[centrarchid]

Angel is confined all the time. He is never loose. I am the only one to go in the pen. I commit to all my animals, no matter how they behave. I took in a semi-feral tom cat who bites and scratches with no warning so I'm pretty tough. Humans can be very mean and, yet, their parents stick with them for the most part. I've been too busy to develop photos of my chickens but here is one from 9/30/18 of Angel (and Billie).View attachment 1689610

Can you squeeze a lawn chair into the coop? If yes, then consider spending a little quality time with him sitting in the chair as he mills around. If he jumps to be aggressive towards your upper body, then gently brush him off yet stay in place. Take a picture of him while you are sitting there. Read a book or something so he gets used to you. When departing, move slowly and deliberately. Do not handle or move towards hens.

This effort will progress like a flow chart as both you and he start adjusting behaviors.

 

[Fishychick]

I'm not sure I want to sit in a chair in the run! I'm hoping he will mellow out as he ages. Shadrach had some useful points. I do agree that he needs to show "his" girls how great he is. The only thing he can do to show that is attack me. I'm not sure how I can feed him and not the girls as they all come rushing in to eat. He gives the food call while the girls eat first although he will still grab some food for himself. I wish I could pick up the girls but they are very skittish and run from me when I try. Since two of them are wearing dresses (I can't catch the third!), I have to pull them from the roost once a month to change them in to clean clothes. I've had chicks raised by hens and from incubator and these four want nothing to do with me which makes me sad. Even when they were tiny, they were funny in that they were always desperate for food but, when I'd hand feed live mealworms and such, they would zoom to get them and get away as fast as possible. They're never considered me their friend or mother. Years ago, I raised a single rooster from hatching (all the others failed to hatch), and Beebee was so sweet. He was always lonely and crying and liked to be held as a baby, and as a rooster, he was rarely aggressive but he did have another rooster a month older with him so maybe that is why. That rooster, Sugar, was another nasty Easter egg chicken that we bought as a day-old "female" chick. Beebee was eaten by a fox who dug in at two years old (I was devastated), and Sugar had a son named Speckles who was also sweet. Sugar and Speckles became arch enemies. I have lots of chicken stories.

 

[Al Capon]