My rooster attacked me

[momoftwinsinwi]

My cochin roo is super sweet.....and beautiful.....

 

[Rammy]

Roasted rooster

 

[cassie]

I need some advice about my rooster. He’s always been aggressive towards my kids, so built a nice big run for my flock and I’m the only one that goes in, so I kept him to breed and protect the flock. We live very rurally and only ever lost a few chicks to predators once.

I just added four ducklings to the flock. The hens were eating all their food, so I sectioned off part of the run just for the ducklings. I carried them to the coop for the night so they would have the warmth from the chickens.

This morning when I tried to pick up a duckling to put it in its area, the rooster attacked me. I’ve had him come at me before, but he would not back down this time. He drew blood with his spurs through my boot! I had to kick him hard enough he flipped, then came back for more.

I’m not scared of him, but I have a healthy respect for him, watch him closely, and never turn my back on him.

So my question is: should I be proud of him for protecting his flock or cull him for being aggressive? He’s two years old and he’s beautiful. I’m very fond of him. I want a rooster that protects the flock. But now I have also seen what kind of damage he could do if he got near my kids somehow. His spurs are huge! If I cull him and keep a rooster from my current chicks, will a calmer rooster protect/alert from predators? I have mixed feelings.

As others have said, eat him ASAP. Remember, one trip to the ER will buy an awful lot of chicken feed, and during the present time, visits to the ER are to be avoided. In this case, your crock pot is your friend.

 

[RoosterML]

Sounds like a heck of a guard bird to me. Keep him. I did get rid of my last one for going after my boys though. Next time don’t grab the duck.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
Sorry I left that out before.
Useful roosters do know the difference!!! There is a genetic component to this, and then management matters. BUT no matter how some cockerels are raised, they will be who they are. Some breeds are noted for having a larger % of human aggressive roosters, and some way fewer, and it's not related to their behaviors with flockmates.
Mary

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes you can have a darn good rooster that will protect hens, and not attack people. Not all roosters will be good roosters. You want a rooster that is alert, when you approach the flock, he needs to be the first bird that sees you. That is his primary defense, awareness of the surroundings. Hens just peck and ignore everything that is not on the ground.

Some say a lead hen will step up, but truthfully, I do have better day time protection from predators with a good rooster. My roosters in the past have taken the attack, one returned tailless, lost all of his tail feather, but all the hens were fine. And once when the coyotes were getting way too brave, I lost a rooster just in the time it took me to go get some fresh bedding. Again my hens were fine. However, neither of these roosters were either my pet or my foe. They respected me, and kept about 5-6 feet away from me, and did not give me the stink eye.

Raising a rooster in a multigenerational flock, I think gives you better roosters. If you want a rooster now, contact your local poultry group, or county extension agent, or the feed store. What you want is a rooster that was so nice, he did not get culled is close to a year old. As I have never had good flock protection from a rooster until he was a year old.

No need to keep a rotten rooster, but I will admit it can be tricky to find a good one.

Mrs K

 

[cassie]

Sounds like a heck of a guard bird to me. Keep him. I did get rid of my last one for going after my boys though. Next time don’t grab the duck.

Sorry. He sounds like a potential ER visit to me. He isn't worth it. There are a lot of roosters that do a fine job of protecting the hens without being aggressive to people. He isn't one of them.

 

[RiverOtter]

Cull right now. Think about it - he's "protecting" them from the person who's brought the food every day of his life? No.
No he isn't protecting anything except his place in the flock. Ignoring you unless you touch a hen isn't good behavior, it's how they treat submissive cockerels - they get attacked the instant they infringe on his territory.

Which is exactly what he just did to you.

Cull him before it goes to his head more than it has already. In his mind, he won that fight - you left. He's going to tolerate less and less from you.

 

[Smlondon11]

That makes perfect sense. Thank you for explaining it that way! I never thought of it like putting me in my place - I always thought he was protecting the flock. But you’re right, if he’s fine until I get too close to a hen, that’s not him feeling threatened by my presence, it’s threatening his dominant role. Wow, eye opening for me!

 

[sciencegrrrrl]

How many hens do you have versus ducklings? Most roos need 10+ hens, if you had fewer then he may have already been a little wired up and is working hard to get a comfortable number of hens in his flock. I agree with the cull/ rehome posts, even if you add more hens at this point he may not change the path he's on. I had to cull a roo years back because we lost a number of hens to predators and could not build the flock back up quickly enough to stop his aggression. It's not an easy choice but better than him causing harm to a family member. Best of luck, pls let us know how it turns out!