Naughty Randal

[boxxofrox]

Hey all! To preface; this is my first time raising chickens! I have a batch of 7 month olds: 6 hens and 1 roo. Up until about a month ago, everything was fine. Now, however, my roo has started flogging my 3 year old and now my 5 year old as well. We have tried the "shaming" of picking him up and carrying him around, and then tried the booting him to "teach him a lseeon". My 5 year old will give him the boot when he tries and he will back down, but my 3 year old is too terrified. My kids are well behaved around the chickens, they don't chase or pick them up. When the flogging happens the kids are not even between him and his girls. I'm not sure if this can be fixed or not! The roo is good with the hens. Also, I have 2 10 week old Brahamas that want to join the gang. They've been out with the rest almost every day but if they all go in the run the roo and a few of the other hens lose their minds and attack quite nasty. Soo the babies are back in my basement for now; I would like to get them out so they can adapt to the weather with winter coming! I am in need of guidance and this site seems to be the best resource. Thank you all!!!!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The roo needs to be gone, yesterday!

 

[boxxofrox]

oddly enough "Randal" is the chicken in my profile pic; this makes me sad! I've culled other roosters but this one was my fav. Is there any hope of a rooster actually being good with kids? And there's no rehab for this behavior? I don't want to risk my child getting seriously injured as he doesn't even has spurs yet; and when he does that will be super terrifying.

 

[theuglychick]

Hi, we are glad you're here!

I agree about the rooster néeding to go. Roosters can severely hurt a child. Because I have a 4 year old, I have a no tolerance policy for roosters at my house. If they are good with my daughter and their girls, they stay. I've gone through about 6 roosters before I've ended up with Reggie. So far he's a gentleman with my daughter and his girls.

The minute he shows an interest in challenging or hurting anyone, he's gone! Plenty of good unwanted Roos ready to take his place.

And I've tried, you can't correct, train, or love it out of them. And I train birds and dogs as part of my living!

 

[theuglychick]

I would also separate the Brahmas with some of the established flock members, maybe one or two higher ranking birds that aren't aggressive, that way they will have some form of an alliance when you try again to reintroduce them.

 

[boxxofrox]

I would also separate the Brahmas with some of the established flock members, maybe one or two higher ranking birds that aren't aggressive, that way they will have some form of an alliance when you try again to reintroduce them.

Sorry so many questions; how do I tell which hens to put with them? I am around them consistently but Randal seems to be in charge, hard to tell pecking order of the hens. there are 2 of the hens that seem to really want to be bullies towards them; not sure if that means they are lower or higher in the established flock. Also, thank you for the advice; I will try another roo in the spring perhaps. My chickens free range during the day, without a roo are they more in danger of predators then? We have fox in the area and lost one in the spring (under Randal's watch lol) Thank you again!!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

As to integration.....is the coop/run large enough too be sectioned off to allow cohabing the new birds safely?

 

[boxxofrox]

As to integration.....is the coop/run large enough too be sectioned off to allow cohabing the new birds safely?

Either would be difficult, but more ability to do so in the run than the coop.

 

[theuglychick]

I found great success with getting 2 Roos at a time, preferably established flock mates as they spar less. That way if one doesn't work out, you still have the other. That's how I got Reggie. I had him and his brother Sterling, and Sterling chest-bumped my daughter and was out the door.

I've found that my hens are just as watchful as my roosters. Actually my head hen is far more fierce and braver than my roo. They kind of have to be as there's been times when we don't had a roo because we rehomed them and we're in between roosters.

If you're not sure who is who in the pecking order, you could just get 2 of the most docile ones and keep them together for a few weeks. Expect squabbling when you reintroduce them, but they should all settle down in a few days.

If some hens are persistently aggressive, I separate the aggressors for a few weeks to knock them down a few pegs in the pecking order and give the new birds time to get established. This works really well.

Letting them see each other is a great idea. After quarantine I pen mine in the main coop so they see each other regularly.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

if my dog goes after a kid, he's gone... and I've actually had to do that; put down a dog cause it went after a kid. I wouldn't be able to tolerate that from any animal, especially one that could actually hurt a kid.