Mean Rooster- Suggestions??

[crazymom]

We had a 3-4 Roo's (we were told they were hens when we got them as chicks!). Then my neighbor had too much wine and 'won' 2 chicks in an auction. Of course they grew up to be Roo's. One of those was very, very mean so we culled all except one. He was picked on by the other roosters. The one we kept was sweet, followed us around, cuddled, etc. We had to tuck him in at night and he was a pet.

As soon as the other roosters disappeared, my sweet one became mean. He attacked me a couple of times (although it felt more like a chicken hug as he is a Bantam and I was wearing jeans.) This week, he attacked a neighbor's kid this week even drawing blood.

Suggestions?

 

[delfargo]

my suggestion - keep the kid outta the coop, or put the roo in the crock pot.

 

[emptynester]

Freezer camp, unfortunately. Perhaps then start over with a few birds that are older. Ones you can tell for sure that they are male or female

 

[crazymom]

Bummer, I was hoping that someone would tell me that he'd outgrow it or something. (The holding it upside down thing didn't work for the previous roosters.)

To be fair, this roo was one of the ones that my neighbor bid on (it seemed like a good idea to her at the time! She forgot that she might need a coop, etc.) I was also pretty mad about buying roo's from a feed store as I was told by 3 different people at that store that they were sexed but I got half and half!

 

[turtlebird]

YIKES! attacked the neighbor's kid - drawing blood? You might have yourself a legal liability. For the safety of all, he needs to be culled. So sorry. I am told there ARE good roos out there.....somewhere. Or, I guess you could keep any dangerous roos completely locked up (fort knox, no free-ranging, no access by little fingers). That is a possiblity if you are attached to him. Post a sign indicating his tempermant. I have seen some pretty cool Mean Rooster signs here on BYC

Good luck

 

[delfargo]

yeah, it's a drag to have to come to terms with the fact that you just can't do anything about it. i had the same problem. my rooster was a nice guy and then one day - bam - he became a total jerk almost overnight. we still have him because he is good for the hens. he's not mean to them when he mounts them, is very alert to danger, keeps order, etc...does all the things he is supposed to do, but boy does he hate ME ! i just make sure i don't turn my back on him or he'll come at me - spurs flyin'.
we have no kids, or neighbors for that matter, so it's not really a problem. when friends with kids visit, we tell them to keep thier kids out of the chickens space. maybe a sign would be a good idea - "beware - mean rooster - enter at your own risk"
there are a few folks here at byc who subscribe to the "chicken whisperer" belief that you can turn a mean rooster around, but i'm not one of them. i tried all the advice they gave me, but i had no luck. my roo is not a friendly guy and there's nothing i can do about it.
but he hasn't met the ax yet because he's good for the hens.
so, if you can come to terms with the fact that he isn't going to change but still respect him as a rooster, it can work out. you and him just have to come to an understanding. and if you can't.... well, then that's when you eat him.

oh...and another thing... i wouldn't buy chicks at the feed store. they know about as much about sexing chicks as you do. get your chicks from a respected hatchery. i ordered from mcmurray and they sexed mine 100% acurate.

 

[crazymom]

I agree. No one else was threatened by the Roo until yesterday. In fact he is usually friendly and likes people. It was minor incident as the 9 year old victim said that it didn't hurt. But she did say that she got pecked and there was blood. That said, the next time could be worse. The times he 'attacked' me it literally felt like he was hugging my leg. But since chickens don't show affection by hugging.....

Since we are doing construction, we have a portable coop and there is not enough room to put up a run of some sort until we are done and the equipment is gone and won't be traveling around where the chickens will be.

I was just hoping that there was something I missed.

BTW: The chickens from the feed store weren't even baby chicks when we got them. A couple looked like Roo's to me so I asked over and over to be sure. That's why I asked 3 different workers. Sure enough they crowed a couple of months later and we were told that the sale was final! We got more from a different feed store and they were all hens, so I know where to go now.

 

[Merryment]

Stew pot

 

[v.cyr]

soup... the mean ones are tastier...

but seriously, in a situation like that, I would rather have no birds than a hurt kid, or the legal hassle from some sue-happy jerk... it just isnt worth it...

 

[Charm1704]

I agree with the stew pot! I do not keep any mean Roos, I have found that the purebred Ameraucanas are sweet Roos...were not talking Easter Eggers, their mean..I have several purebred Ameraucanas and my grand children can go into the pens and collect eggs. just my 2 cents on mean Roos. ~Charm 1704