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No. We raised him from a chick---he's one of Janet's crosses. Once we heard him crow, we were sure he was a rooster, so the kids named him Fred. He was a nice little laid-back chicken, the kids could pick him up and carry him around, and he was fine. BUT once the girls started laying eggs, in September, he started coming after me. I learned to carry a squirt gun, and one squirt of water would make him run away. I never knew what he doesn't like about me. But we figured that in his own way he thought he was protecting his girls, and well, that's not a bad thing to protect the girls, so maybe if a predator came, he'd try to protect them then too. One by one, over the next few months, he ended up attacking my hubby, and the two older kids. So we all carried a squirt gun or a 3 foot stick---and Fred always ran away from those. The kids started calling him Evil Fred. Then when snow fell, we stopped letting the chickens out on our lawn---they have to stay in their fenced run-----and Fred was no longer attacking us....so i thought maybe he felt they were more protected in the run than out on the lawn, and he didn't seem to feel threatened.
Then a week ago, he started coming after after me inside the coop---i saw him coming and slipped out the door, shutting it between us. Yesterday, i had not seen him in the crowd of girls in the coop, and my back was too him as i was stepping out the door. That is when he lunged for me, and caught me off guard. Fortunately he didn't get my leg (i had pants on anyway), but he hit the basket in my hand and sent the eggs flying! All the best eggs were broken. UGH! I went to pick up the broken eggs, and he lunged for me again. I grabbed my shovel that i use to scrape the dropping board, and chased him out the little door into the run, where he went underneath the coop out of sight.
That was totally the last straw---if Fred is determined to be mean and attack us, then he needs to go. I certainly don't trust him around the kids, so i told them they cannot go out to the coop alone. Mostly, they are in school when i go out, but on weekends they like to help me with the chickens. Yesterday, I made it clear again, that they can't go out there alone, at all, until Fred is gone.
Yep, he definitely has to go. He'll just keep it up and if you hatch eggs by him, his nasty attitude might carry on to the next generation. We don't keep aggressive anything here, no matter how attached or how beautiful. We have 2 younger kids that are a perfect height to catch a nasty spur or claw in the face, and that is too scary to take chances on (especially with our big turkey toms that could really do damage - even just a wing smack can make you see stars if they hit you right). There are plenty of good, friendly boys out there to not have to put up with a psycho demon chicken.
