I have read many threads on this issue, and I guess I hope someone can suggest something else I haven't yet tried.
I have a black australorp rooster, about 1.5 years old now, who I am very attached to. However, he doesn't feel the same about me. I raised him in the house from a chick (we were supposed to have three hens, but got one roo and two hens). He began showing signs of aggression by 5-6 months. I held him all the time, and this seemed to help. I was astounded to find out he attacked my dad who was being their caretaker for the weekend, and he had to defend himself with the old christmas tree.
At about 1 year old, I had to separate him from his two girls because he was too hard on them, and he seemed to get more aggitated at this point. He flies at me with his spurs, bites me, and actually got me on the face while I was holding him the other day when I got distracted and let my guard down. At first, I tried defending myself with fists, boots, and sticks because this was all frightening. After this seemed only to exacerbate the situation, I have tried dodging and picking him up at every attack. This is very time consuming and he is still very unpredictable, but he did seem to make a lot of progress. He often will walk away from me after I put him down.
We visited a farm this week that he could be rehomed at, but I just couldn't leave him there...with no grass, hundreds of scraggley chickens, and unclean conditions. I am determined to try again. He is now living with my 8 hens and I am hoping this will be a better ratio so he can stay with the hens in the tractor. This is his last chance.
I am now scared of him, and I think he knows this. He doesn't try to attack my husband, who has offered to "take care of him" literally thousands of times. I continue to pick him up every time he attacks, and he seems to calm down after a few minutes. But when I put him down he gets aggitated again. He even senses when I am about to put him down and turns to bite at me. I hand feed him treats because this seems to make his aggression dissolve temporarily. I am at a loss, and don't know what else can be done. I am covered with bite marks and bruises from his blundted spurs. I want to be responsible for this animal I raised, and to kill him or pawn him off on someone else doesn't seem right, and then there's the fact that I really care about him too. Keeping a dangerous animal long term is not a workable situation for us.
Is there any hope at all for this rooster to be a nice bird?
What can I do? Thoughts? I'll try anything ! ...
I have a black australorp rooster, about 1.5 years old now, who I am very attached to. However, he doesn't feel the same about me. I raised him in the house from a chick (we were supposed to have three hens, but got one roo and two hens). He began showing signs of aggression by 5-6 months. I held him all the time, and this seemed to help. I was astounded to find out he attacked my dad who was being their caretaker for the weekend, and he had to defend himself with the old christmas tree.
At about 1 year old, I had to separate him from his two girls because he was too hard on them, and he seemed to get more aggitated at this point. He flies at me with his spurs, bites me, and actually got me on the face while I was holding him the other day when I got distracted and let my guard down. At first, I tried defending myself with fists, boots, and sticks because this was all frightening. After this seemed only to exacerbate the situation, I have tried dodging and picking him up at every attack. This is very time consuming and he is still very unpredictable, but he did seem to make a lot of progress. He often will walk away from me after I put him down.
We visited a farm this week that he could be rehomed at, but I just couldn't leave him there...with no grass, hundreds of scraggley chickens, and unclean conditions. I am determined to try again. He is now living with my 8 hens and I am hoping this will be a better ratio so he can stay with the hens in the tractor. This is his last chance.
I am now scared of him, and I think he knows this. He doesn't try to attack my husband, who has offered to "take care of him" literally thousands of times. I continue to pick him up every time he attacks, and he seems to calm down after a few minutes. But when I put him down he gets aggitated again. He even senses when I am about to put him down and turns to bite at me. I hand feed him treats because this seems to make his aggression dissolve temporarily. I am at a loss, and don't know what else can be done. I am covered with bite marks and bruises from his blundted spurs. I want to be responsible for this animal I raised, and to kill him or pawn him off on someone else doesn't seem right, and then there's the fact that I really care about him too. Keeping a dangerous animal long term is not a workable situation for us.
Is there any hope at all for this rooster to be a nice bird?
What can I do? Thoughts? I'll try anything ! ...