My Rooster started attacking me.... :(

[Sexxytaytay]

My rooster has suddenly turned into a little feathered ninja, launching surprise attacks on me! It appears to occur the day after I spend only 5-10 minutes with them. Have I merely spoiled him, or is he attempting to convey something? I do not quite understand why he behaves this way; he is otherwise very sweet. I cuddle with him and everything, and he is never aggressive. Is he displaying dominance, or is there something wrong with him? Additionally, how often do they crow? He seems to start crowing the moment he hears my voice and continues until I stop by. Is that normal?

 

[Rose the Legbar]

How old is he? He could just be an aggressive rooster and sadly will never get better.

 

[lagrange chicks]

From what I have learned reading here is a Rooster will turn out better with less contact, to be more afraid of you (respect you).

 

[theoldchick]

He's asserting his dominance over you. I use a fishing net to move them around the coop and snatch them up. I've trained my roosters to get on the roost when I enter their area. If they don't, I'll move them around with the net and make them uncomfortable. Most figure out that getting on the roost is the safest place to be. The ones that can't learn that will go to the man down the road.

 

[FrostRanger]

It may not have been anything you did, some roos are going to turn out aggressive no matter what you do or don't do. In any case once they start attacking it's rare to be able to get them to stop so I'd cull him

 

[MountainWoman73]

Usually roosters who are going to do this do so around 1.5-2 years old. It's not due to anything you did. I had one who we really liked (my daughter used to toddle around trying to feed him her baby bottle, and he was really gentle). He turned aggressive towards her right when he turned two, and I killed him and put him in stew. My friend had a similar experience with a group of several cockerels she kept from a hatch. They coexisted peacefully with each other and her old man roo for about 20 months, and then it suddenly turned into a blood bath and she had to cull them all.

 

[SamLockwood]

Usually roosters who are going to do this do so around 1.5-2 years old. It's not due to anything you did. I had one who we really liked (my daughter used to toddle around trying to feed him her baby bottle, and he was really gentle). He turned aggressive towards her right when he turned two, and I killed him and put him in stew. My friend had a similar experience with a group of several cockerels she kept from a hatch. They coexisted peacefully with each other and her old man roo for about 20 months, and then it suddenly turned into a blood bath and she had to cull them all.

Mine started fighting each other for dominance before they were a year old. I had three shifts in the pecking order and one killing over the next six months.

By late summer they calmed down (roughly 16 months old).

 

[SamLockwood]

My rooster has suddenly turned into a little feathered ninja, launching surprise attacks on me! It appears to occur the day after I spend only 5-10 minutes with them. Have I merely spoiled him, or is he attempting to convey something? I do not quite understand why he behaves this way; he is otherwise very sweet. I cuddle with him and everything, and he is never aggressive. Is he displaying dominance, or is there something wrong with him? Additionally, how often do they crow? He seems to start crowing the moment he hears my voice and continues until I stop by. Is that normal?

Honestly, I'm not a fan of "chicken cuddling" for a variety of reasons beyond the mere fact it's a good way to pick up a salmonella or e coli infection.

Chickens aren't like dogs or cats. Their behavior is much more "hard wired" than a lot of traditional pets. They only really interpret physical contact as related to either fighting or mating.

So, it could be that when he was younger he interpreted your touching him as you asserting your physical dominance over him and now he's returning the favor.

Alternatively, if you also cuddle your hens he may interpret that as you trying to mate with them and he sees you as a rival he wants to drive off.

The third option is that he's just overly aggressive and wants to attack you no matter how you raised him.

How often roosters crow and what it means depends on a lot of things. Sometimes its to show dominance, other times they're just excited. My three roosters will often split the flock into different foraging parties, and they'll crow from time to time to keep track ov where everyone is.

Another time one of my roos snuck into the house behind me to raid the cat's food-dish. When he was done he crowed to let me know he was ready to go back outside.

As far as what you should do it really depends on what the nature of the "attack" is. If he's only posturing and trying to herd / chase you, you might be able to work with him and get him to calm down. If he's flat-out trying to damage you (pecking, kicking, beating you with his wings, and / or trying to use his spurs on you) it's probably gone too far to salvage him.

It also depends on whether or not you have small children or if you frequently have strangers come by. Small children try the patience of even the most docile roosters, let alone the tetchy ones. Some adults are even dumber than small children when it comes to interacting with poultry.

 

[Daisy June]

My rooster has suddenly turned into a little feathered ninja, launching surprise attacks on me! It appears to occur the day after I spend only 5-10 minutes with them. Have I merely spoiled him, or is he attempting to convey something? I do not quite understand why he behaves this way; he is otherwise very sweet. I cuddle with him and everything, and he is never aggressive. Is he displaying dominance, or is there something wrong with him? Additionally, how often do they crow? He seems to start crowing the moment he hears my voice and continues until I stop by. Is that normal?

I see you say that "he is never aggressive" when you "cuddle with him," but he is aggressive, and I can only imagine how disappointed you are. You raise some interesting questions, and I hope some BYC friends answer them. I have, however, been around an unpredictable rooster, and I did not like that at all.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

My rooster has suddenly turned into a little feathered ninja, launching surprise attacks on me! It appears to occur the day after I spend only 5-10 minutes with them. Have I merely spoiled him, or is he attempting to convey something? I do not quite understand why he behaves this way; he is otherwise very sweet. I cuddle with him and everything, and he is never aggressive. Is he displaying dominance, or is there something wrong with him? Additionally, how often do they crow? He seems to start crowing the moment he hears my voice and continues until I stop by. Is that normal?

Is he a rooster (over a year old) or a cockerel (under a year)? Not that it makes much difference, but I'm betting he's a cockerel if this just started. Probably 4-5 months old, that's when the hormones usually kick in, and that adorable chick suddenly turns into a raging lunatic. If he is attacking you, he is aggressive, so stop telling youself he is not and that he is sweet. He is now unpredictable and he could hurt you, or a child, if there are any around.

You could pen him separately for a while so he cannot feel that you are interfering with "his" hens and see if he settles down with age, but, in all honesty I don't think that's likely. I believe that once a cockerel starts attacking, that behavior is likely to conyinue and escalate. But I'm only one person and that's just my opinion. I'm sure others will opine.