please help! i don't want to get rid of my rooster!!

[QueenOfMyCoop]

my 4 month old seabright bantam has started attacking us and I NEED to figure out how to tame him! He is a wonderful rooster to the hens but not so much to us. I'm hoping for some advice of what to do as I don't want to find him a new home.... Thanks!

 

[Ruthster55]

Could you put him in a pen with some older and bigger hens that might be able to teach him manners?

 

[Zoethedog]

My almost 5 month BR rooster has started doing the same! I have had him and 9 hens at 5 weeks of age. He was no problem but in the last 2 weeks he has gone after my husband and drawn blood. He got my 19 yr old son. I thought I was ok because I was the hand that fed him but now he has come at me twice! Maybe he doesn't like my orange shoes? The hens also just started laying. I swatted him with a broom but he came back at me 4 times. It's like he wants to fight! We now carry an umbrella around. Roger gets out of the way now. He is a really good rooster with his hens. Anything else I should be doing?

 

[Folly's place]

These boys may not reform, but you can try. Look at @Beekissed 's article about managing difficult cockerels, and @Shadrach has information too.
With first time chickens, it's likely that you didn't recognize warning behaviors, until actual attacks happened, and you don't have adult roosters and hens to help raise these cockerels either.
Your best bet is to rehome these cockerels, with full disclosure, or send them to freezer camp, and get some chicks next spring, when your then adult hens can help.
You will get lots of conflicting advice here, and some may help, and some not.
At least wear jeans and shoes, and carry a stick to encourage him to stay out of your personal space. Move him away every day, by walking out there confidently, through him, never around. Be ready for sneak attacks from the rear too!
If you have small children or visitors, get him gone ASAP.
Mary

 

[Weeg]

Our rooster attacked us ounces and we kicked him. He stopped emediatly, but he was a pretty mellow fighter. I've heard thats not such good idea, but just thought I'de throw it out there. I once brought home my friends rooster, and bathed him, because he had mites. He was a FIGHTER! Little did I know that that was not a good idea, and he became very hypothermic. I hair dried him and put him in our green house for about 15 minuets, and he is the sweetest rooster you've ever seen now! I doubt you want to give your rooster hypothermia, but just thought I'de share! Good luck, Avery

 

[QueenOfMyCoop]

My almost 5 month BR rooster has started doing the same! I have had him and 9 hens at 5 weeks of age. He was no problem but in the last 2 weeks he has gone after my husband and drawn blood. He got my 19 yr old son. I thought I was ok because I was the hand that fed him but now he has come at me twice! Maybe he doesn't like my orange shoes? The hens also just started laying. I swatted him with a broom but he came back at me 4 times. It's like he wants to fight! We now carry an umbrella around. Roger gets out of the way now. He is a really good rooster with his hens. Anything else I should be doing?

it drives me crazy that he's like this now! i found a few different ideas, one being a squirt gun (or hose).. i'm gonna try that! i really don't want to get rid of him!

 

[QueenOfMyCoop]

These boys may not reform, but you can try. Look at @Beekissed 's article about managing difficult cockerels, and @Shadrach has information too.
With first time chickens, it's likely that you didn't recognize warning behaviors, until actual attacks happened, and you don't have adult roosters and hens to help raise these cockerels either.
Your best bet is to rehome these cockerels, with full disclosure, or send them to freezer camp, and get some chicks next spring, when your then adult hens can help.
You will get lots of conflicting advice here, and some may help, and some not.
At least wear jeans and shoes, and carry a stick to encourage him to stay out of your personal space. Move him away every day, by walking out there confidently, through him, never around. Be ready for sneak attacks from the rear too!
If you have small children or visitors, get him gone ASAP.
Mary

Thank you!! i will look at those articles now!

 

[QueenOfMyCoop]

Could you put him in a pen with some older and bigger hens that might be able to teach him manners?

all our birds are the same age

 

[NatJ]

my 4 month old seabright bantam has started attacking us and I NEED to figure out how to tame him! He is a wonderful rooster to the hens but not so much to us.

My almost 5 month BR rooster has started doing the same! ...he has gone after my husband and drawn blood....He is a really good rooster with his hens.

Both of these are a hard problem to address.

No-one likes to hear this, but butchering the rooster, or giving him to someone who will butcher & eat him, is sometimes the best option.

Yes, both roosters are beloved pets. Yes, both are nice with hens. But they are still a problem. Roosters certainly can hurt people, and they also tend to make people afraid of roosters.

I have seen many suggestions for how to re-train roosters, but as far as I can tell: they never make the rooster safe with ALL people. They might (or might not) make the rooster quit attacking the specific person doing the training. The rooster will still be dangerous to visitors, and to any family member that has not been working with him. (And sometimes they don't cause any improvement at all.)

Re-homing the rooster is usually not a good idea, because he will probably attack people in his new home. The exceptions: someone who intends to eat the rooster, or one of the very few people who keep flocks of attack-prone roosters in a safe enclosure and are willing to deal with them. Your chance of finding such a person is pretty slim.

Sorry to be a downer, but I strongly suggest @Zoethedog that the rooster be butchered or else rehomed with full disclosure (given that he's already drawn blood when attacking, he is a definite danger); and I think that would be best for @QueenOfMyCoop too (that one isn't as bad yet, but looks to be going the same way.)

The other thing that might work would be a secure chicken pen, such that tending can happen from outside and no-one ever goes in. Not really fun for the person or the rooster. (How to clean the pen? Have a divider that can be managed from outside, so you can clean one part at a time; or put a blanket over the rooster, pick him up, and put him in a cage during cleaning time.)

 

[Folly's place]

Second what @NatJ has to say. You both might succeed, but be ready to say goodby, and soon, without major improvements. We've never had an attack bird totally reform for everyone, and don't bother trying any more.
Nice roosters are delightful, the others, not so much.
Mary