My rooster bit me today

[mmajw]

My Rooster rules the yard during the day as he is free range and the ladies can go in an outdoor coop. The Rooster will go in his own area at night and is only seperated from the ladies with chicken wire, he is still very protective of his ladies if I go in and start any commotion. Maybe you should try and seperate your ladies from your Roo, unless you want them to mate. I wouldn't trade my Rooster for anything he is great very loving even to my kids.

 

[Ma]

My Roo Randy can mate to his hearts delight, and does (note that all my hens wear saddles

). But NEVER in my presence. I do the same thing as mentioned above, I push him off and tell him "these are my hens!". I am waiting for the day he challenges me, and if his DNA is intack, he will HAVE to try.

I let him rule HIS flock, and I LOVE his possesive, agressive nature towards preators, or what he perceives to be a predator---i.e., your interferring with HIS girls pecking order. You have done absolutely nothing wrong in raising him. He is doing what is dictated by nature and what you WANT him to do.

Even as domesticated as our "pets" are, and mine are pets too, you must honor the laws of nature. JMHO.

And enjoy your little society!

 

[Mrs MIA]

This time of the year, the roosters are super protective of their flock... I have a bruised abrasion from the hair line on the right side of my face, down across my eye, and down my cheek from my roo a couple of days ago. I usually have a boot ready for him, but he caught me by surprise as I bent over to pick up one of the new girls. He got me with his claw - didn't break the skin, but I have a black eye because of it. I'm very lucky my head was down and my eye was closed. I am the only one allowed in there until he's moved to the new breeder pens. He is a huge Light Brahma - hard-packed muscle and probably close to 20 pounds. He would have knocked over one of the boys. Yesterday I caught him and had a nice little sit-down "chat" with him, but I always keep a boot ready now. You can't blame him, though. It's his job. If you want fertile eggs, you have to put up with some of that behavior and be ready for it. Otherwise, you have to remove the rooster from the flock. I dare say Hubby wanted to take him to the chopping block, but I wouldn't let him.

 

[wynedot55]

anything that hitts me in the face.wont live to much longer.i dont tolerate such crapp as that.i dont care if he is protecting his hens.

 

[Mrs MIA]

You must not be trying to breed your hens, then. However, if I was keeping him in our personal flock, he'd be in the stew pot by now.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I have young children so I absolutely will not tolerate an aggressive rooster. That said, I have six mature roosters now that all free range on one day or another and none of them will look cross eyed at my kids or myself.

Aggression is highly individualistic in roosters so there will be some that nothing is going to break them of it while others can be trained to an extent. I don’t make pets out of my birds. All of the roosters are named (that’s mostly my girls doings) and they get their share of any treats like the rest of the flock, but I don’t carry them around or fuss over them or anything like that. When they begin to reach sexual maturity and feel like they have to jump everything that moves I put them in their place hard right then and there and do it EVERY time they try to cross me. I’m not trying to hurt them, but it’s important to make them understand that I am the Boss Bird. They are all MY hens and I’m just delegating some lesser authority to them by leaving them with them. They fight with each other from time to time settling pecking order disputes, but they don’t give us any trouble.

I am quite careful to teach my girls NEVER to chase or otherwise intentionally frighten the hens. It’s the rooster’s job to protect the hens and if they convince him that they are a threat he might attack them. They don’t scare him, he doesn’t scare them. It seems to work.

…..Alan.

 

[Sahara]

I have one very large rooster that is half light brahma and 1/2 black sexlink. He is so gentle and non-aggressive. I've had two roosters over the past four years, both light brahmas, and they both have the same mild mannered personality.

I have heard bad stories about roosters but have never experienced it myself. I do not look forward to the day.

 

[wynedot55]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

You must not be trying to breed your hens, then. However, if I was keeping him in our personal flock, he'd be in the stew pot by now.

even if i was trying to breed an raise chicks.he would be in the stewpot.i have 5 turkeys 3 hens an 2 toms.an if a tom jumped me.he would be a dead tom no question.because i dont put up with that nonsense.​

 

[Nugget]

I am pleased with the responses in this thread. It's great to hear peoples opinions and experiences. I am very new to this whole thing.

Today I purposefully scooped up a hen (his favorite hen) in front of the rooster. He lunged without hurting me, but I chased him down and carried him around cradled like a baby on his back in my arms. He is not allowed to struggle and he will only be released if he goes quietly. I did it again, picking the same hen again. You could see the stress within him. He stood tall but at a distance. He paced and paced, then took a step in my direction. Holding the hen I leapt at him and chased him off. He obviously kept his distance after that. I think I'll keep working with this and see how it goes. It's better to at least be prepared for him charging- since it was a total unexpected shock the first time.

On the other hand I am struck by watching him find some little goodie (piece of bread), deeply cluck to call the nearest hen, then GIVE IT TO HER! He is a protective gentleman to his (I mean MY!!) hens. Rooster behaviour is really interresting.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Our roo does that too... I love watching him care for his girls. Now, I did catch him and have a nice little "chat" with him... he's keeping his distance for the time being.