The problem is common many times to new time chicken owners who do not understand chicken society. Add a good dose of hormones, and genetic disposition, and you can have a darling turn into a nightmare that gets worse and worse.
Chickens are not like puppies and kittens, where they if treated nicely when young, they are nice when old. As chicks the roosters are often the delight, they are brave and approach you. They are inquisitive, and will be the first to sit on your lap. People love this. The problem is that the rooster is not afraid of you, and chickens equate fear with respect. The rooster has no fear of you, but as the hormones kick in, he wants you to respect him, and to do so, you need to be a little afraid of him. Hence the attack.
There are people on here who swear that you can retrain a rooster, but there are a lot more failures. Usually what happens is that the rooster gets worse and worse. Roosters tend to attack small children first, then women, then men. They can cause severe damage by clawing, spurring, and flogging. It is no treat to be attacked by a rooster, and a child's face is very vulnerable to damage due to their shorter height.
As mentioned above, I too, do not make pets of my roosters. I don't let them sit on me, I make them get out of my way, and I startle them occasionally, and even chase them a bit. I want them to realize that I am higher in the pecking order. These are things that a flock master will do to rooster chicks being raised up in the flock. Rooster chicks raised in a multi generational flock, have some manners thumped into them that rooster chicks raised in a flock mates only don't get.
Rooster chicks often grow faster than the pullets, they can bully the pullets, this gives them confidence to bully anything it meets that it is not afraid of, including you. Often times, people new to chickens do not recognize the warning signs of attack that he has been giving. If asked, I recommend an all hen flock for a couple of years, until a person gets a little experience. Roosters take some experience.
I recommend culling this rooster, he has given you the warning, and the attacks most probably will get worse.
Mrs K
