My rooster attacked me

[TheOddOneOut]

I just remembered: I have one hen who is terrified of a pair of wide leg pants I have. She freaks out when I wear them. I still think it's most likely that your rooster is just super hormonal.

I have one who can't handle rings. I've worn rings around her before....she never freaked out as much as she does now. I had a few silver rings on the other day. I was offering tomato. She walked up eagerly, saw the rings, and hauled a** out of there.

 

[McChooky]

Umm…the cockerel already had decided humans were a threat, and so attacked the human. Once a cockerel displays aggression, and attacks, the likelihood that they will do it again is very high.

We had a cockerel suddenly attack a grown man. The man was shocked, and instinctively kicked the cockerel, which went head over feet, landing in the dirt. Cockerel was a bit dazed, man felt bad bc wasn’t trying to hurt the cockerel, but cockerel attacked (unprovoked). Cockerel recovered fine, but always had to be watched bc would attack when given the chance (but never attacked that particular man again!)

A volunteer I know had to kick one with everything he had to get it off of him.( It was a game mix and could fly) It never attacked him again but it still attacks other people.

 

[McChooky]

Hope this is an exaggeration. While I agree you need to firmly prove you're boss, I can't condone actual animal abuse.....40 feet across the yard is too much.

It probably flew half that distance just to get away after being kicked.I have no sympathy for an aggressive rooster that gets kicked once it attacks a caretaker or a child sorry.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

It probably flew half that distance just to get away after being kicked.I have no sympathy for an aggressive rooster that gets kicked once it attacks a caretaker or a child sorry.

Still. No need to beat it to death.....that's redundant.

 

[McChooky]

My chickens are now 5 months old (23 weeks exactly). Yesterday my rooster tried to attack me for the first time ever. Which is odd behavior because he is a good boy Lol I hold him and feed him from my hand. I’m not sure if it was because my hair was down (I rarely have it down with them bc it’s too long), my new glasses, or my jacket. I am thinking my jacket because I fed them some raisins and he was fine I put my jacket back on and tried to feed him again and he tried to attack me again. My male ducks (runner) did not like that he tried to attack me the first time and went after him when he tried to follow me inside and he tried to jump at them but got scared and ran away. 1. Is there way to make sure he does not continue this behavior?
2. I am terrified of my chickens getting gapeworm lol. I see my chickens open up their beaks like if they are yawning I’ve been watching them they occasionally do it. This morning I saw my rooster drink some water and then shake his head twice. He also does the yawning thing as well but this is the first time I saw him shake his head. Is this gapeworm? Or is this normal? I do not know what breed he is. Lol
Thank you

(Edited to say. No I don’t think he attacked me because I gave him treats. He hasn’t done it again. I thought maybe it was my jacket because it had gold maybe it was too sparkly for him. Hurt his eyes. Or maybe my super long hair freaked him out blowing in the wind because it is always in a bun. I am super super new to this. I know roosters aren’t cute and cuddly)
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He used to be a good boy lol. My profile picture shows him in my shirt cuddling with me haha.

Try to avoid making any fast or sudden movements with your hands when around your rooster (especially when feeding them treats) Don't throw any treats at his feet as he may think you're attacking him. Usually I set treats near my rooster so he can call the girls himself .He always calls them(if they're not already standing there) He'll never see you the same way as before now that he's reached maturity. Sorry but anything they try once they'll try again.It's only a matter of time. It's usually human behavior that causes rooster attacks( errors on our part)

 

[alevr]

Update 2 days later he is doing fine. No attacks. Yesterday I held him for 30 min. Today I just walked towards him and he ran away lol. I was doing some yardwork the rake fell and rooster thought it was trying to attack me and he jumped at it and bit it . Hopefully he doesn’t think I am one of his hens lol I held him a little before he went to the roost for bed. He’s a good boy. Hopefully he will stay a good boy after he learns to control his hormones lol
Thanks everyone for the comments. I appreciate the advice.

 

[McChooky]

His testosterone level will increase as the weather gets warmer , the days get longer and he matures. There are reliable methods of taming one that gets mean so you don't get hurt or have to kick him around like a football to keep him off of you.

 

[little-beep]

This bothers me on a bunch of levels. You are putting yourself and your children at risk because you don't understand chicken law. Chicken law is simple. Either the rooster is boss or you are boss. The way he proves he is boss is by attacking you and if you run, he is boss. My 5 year old son came in from the yard crying and shaking because a young rooster had flogged him. He had several scrapes and scratches on his arms and head. I took him back outside and the rooster promptly ran at him to flog him again. I drop kicked the rooster 40 feet across the yard, then told my son to run over and kick him as many times as he could while the rooster was still stunned. He kicked the rooster 5 or 6 times before the rooster managed to get up and run away. The next 3 times my son went outside to play, I told him to make a point of running at the rooster and trying to kick him. The rooster ran away because my son was practicing chicken law. My son was dominant and the rooster knew it. This happens regularly with chickens. A young rooster attacked me a few years ago. I got a 5 gallon bucket and whacked the rooster with it three times until he ran and hid. He never did it again because I made a point of showing him I was boss.

To answer another of your questions, chickens recognize people by patterns. If you are blue on the bottom and gray on top, they know you as blue/gray. Change to a red shirt and now you are blue/red and they don't recognize you. After several months of wearing different clothes, they eventually get used to the idea that your colors change but it is still you. But in this case, the problem is not that you changed clothes, it is that you don't understand chicken law.

Please note, a lot of people have trouble with this because they want to think of a chicken like a dog or a cat. Chickens are NOT dogs or cats. They instinctively understand dominance and they will always try to prove they are dominant. It is up to you to understand that the only way to protect yourself and your children is to prove to the rooster that YOU are dominant.

This reminds me of a woman who had to carry a broom any time she went out in her own yard because the rooster had made her run and knew he was boss. She used the broom to fend off the rooster. If she had instead whacked the fool soup out of the rooster and then whacked him several more times until he ran, he would have understood that she was boss and never attacked her again.

... reading this post cracked me up.. should i beat the snot out of my little button quail roos too ?

 

[DarJones]

No, but turkeys are fair game. Turkeys are the rear ends of the bird kingdom.

 

[Nashv755]

Learn chicken psychology it's fun. I'm friendly but ignore the young roosters and move calmly with the flock especially the hens as they grow up. Mine are freerange but know who the free food comes from. My thinking is a good rooster watches as he matures how you treat "his" soon to be hens. Some roosters are more aggressive than others but if you treat the hens well, he will think you are good but the more aggressive ones will always see you as a threat no matter what if you're ever perceived as one and should be culled if that's not what you want in your flock.

My best rooster only had eyes for the only hen I had of his breed. She imprented on me so she fallows me everywhere when I'm outside. He wasn't happy about it at first and kept his distance from me but was always a couple feet from her. At 2yo now he shows me respect without fear even when I chase the young cockerels for being mean to the pullets. I'll chase them then turn around and walk towards him, I'll say hey Fred, he'll do a little Bawkabawka and I literally step over his tail and he can care less. I like to thing he knows I won't let him breed when I'm around "only out of respect to me" because I'm the king of the yard. But at the same time I throw him a treat when the hens aren't looking then pretend to be oblivious watching the sky so he can tidbit to the ladies for brownie points for when I'm not around. It almost seems to be a running gag between us at this point lol