Alright y'all.... I am a new chicken owner. We are at about 8 months into our first flock of 6. We have 2 unintentional Cockerels from Tractor Supply, Lord Kluck and Cluck Norris. The boys are in a separate pen because we don't have enough girls to prevent over breeding.
I want to preface this by saying that my chickens are pets for me. If you don't consider yours pets, thats cool but think of it like I am talking about a dog or cat here.
Lord Kluck has always been a stand off, protective, but never mean. A gentle giant as he is a big bird. He is excited to get hand fed and loves to see what I bring him each day. He has protected me on occasion and I think he would follow me around the yard like a cat if we were able to free range.
Cluck Norris, well.....he's not any of that. He is the smaller of the 2 and makes up for it in aggression. He is always picking a fight with Lord Kluck (and always loses). On Thanksgiving day I was in the run cleaning their water bowl and he began attempting to spur my shins and pecking really hard. I got bigger boots but now he has learned he can reach above the boot (just at my knee) and get me. So every time I go in there hes doing the "dance" and pecking and jumping up at me claws out.
He might calm down, or he might actually get worse. You don't really know what you've got in a rooster until they're at least a year old.
There's three levels of aggression with roosters (or chickens in general):
The first level is posturing and verbal: they'll snap their wings, stand as tall as they can. Roosters will crow or they'll do this weird little head waggle that means they're annoyed.
Level 2 is where they try to chase, herd, or even peck you. I've even had hens do aggressive pecking, usually from behind. Roosters will either run at you from behind (and if you turn around they'll stop and act like they weren't doing anything) or they'll try to get you to back off or run by doing the "herding dance" (one wing down and they either walk a half-circle around you or shuffle at you sideways), or he'll stamp a foot or try to "chest bump" you.
Level 3 is what you're experiencing: they take the fighting stance with the hackles raised, wings spread, and tail fanned out and are actively attacking you.
Level 1 you can safely ignore and it usually doesn't escalate: Out of my current 3 roosters two of them are level 1's, especially the beta rooster. He rarely shuts up and he'll follow me around muttering constantly and if he thinks treats are around he gets rather noisy. He likes to crow a lot, too.
Level 2 you never want to ingore. He's trying to take you down a peg in the pecking order. There's lots of theories on how train them out if it, I prefer the ones that are the least dramatic. Just remember rule #1 of dealing with tetchy roosters: never bend forward and look him in the eye. You're mimicing the fighting stance and he'll likely just automatically trigger his fighting instincts. Plus, all you're doing is bringing your eyes that much closer to his face.
I have a level 2 roostser that I was on the verge of culling until he seemed to be responding to training, then he got injured in a hawk attack and almost died from the resulting infection. Either that or the age he hit calmed him down a bit, but he still likes to "test" me from time to time. As I don't have any children or nearby neighbors and he isn't terrorizing the rest of the flock (he's the "bottom" rooster in the triumvurate) I let him stay.
Level 3 is where your Chuck Norris is at. He's flat out trying to drive you off or injure you. Even if there's some small chance you could reform him, you have to ask yourself if it's really worth it?
He might get lucky and get one of your eyes or nick an artery and send you to the emergency room. He might injure or kill your Lord Kluck. Some roosters are rather devious and they'll deliberatey back off or run after starting fights because they're either looking for weaknesses or trying to just wear their opponent down.
If he manages to get out, he might injure someone else or a neighbor. Are there any children around your property?
The problem with chickens is they aren't dogs, cats, or people. They have a much simpler brain structure and much more of their behavior is hard-wired than in mammals or primates. They really don't even have the neural architecture to process complex emotions like love or empathy or engage in abstract reasoning.
This means if your rooster is flat-out attacking you his brain has put you in the box reserved for rival roosters and predators. He's trying to either kill you or drive you away from his territory. You're not going to be able to reason with him and teach him the error of his ways.
The best you can hope for is to terrorize him enough that he's too scared to mess with you any more. And even then he may just decide to try taking you on again when you're bending over to pick something up.
