Right decision to cull?

[mattsinger]

gotta do what ya gotta do.

 

[MBagel]

I would have done the same thing and so would have my husband. I do not believe in a mean rooster I have had them and gotten rid of them. I will also say my 2 yearl old comes first bought a nice goat for a decent price but she would ram him evertime he would go outside. I sold her the same week. Cant have a mean animal and small children.

 

[Jkm0518]

Well now my wife says that I didn't explain to her daughter soon enough about why we had to kill the roo. Now I gotta figure out out how I coulda resoned with a five year old in the five mins it took between the rooster attack, me dispatching it, and her taking the child and leaving. Lord have mercy

 

[bugglesmommy]

It might be a different bird but my husband was attacked repeatedly as a small child by a Tom Turkey. His father refused to dispatch it and now as a grown man he is still terrified of turkeys. A mean bird can traumatize a child for life. You did the right thing.

 

[bobbi-j]

Coulda, woulda, shoulda - It's done now. Next time you know. You tell the child, "Honey, this is a mean rooster. We're going to (kill, butcher, slaughter, send to "freezer camp"... you fill in the blank) him now so he doesn't hurt anyone else ever again. He will taste so good for supper!" And then you go tell the wife that you have dispatched an animal that has the potential of causing serious injury to (your, our, my) child. Still sounds like your wife is having more of a problem with it than the kids, and her attitude is going to influence them. You need to be stronger and more convincing...

 

[Sparrow]

Does your wife have any suggestions on how she would have dealt with this rooster/child situation, as opposed to just complaints about how you handed it?

I have kept many very mean roosters before and I don't mind them at all...but I was the only person entering the pens/yards with them, and I have no children. I can handle myself around any number of them, but kids definitely warrant extra precautions.

 

[misskeeter]

Mean dog, mean roo... I wouldn't let anything attack my kids.
You did right, jkm.
I would buy the missus flowers, though...

Absolutely, you did the right thing!

Tip for the future:
If any animal will "come at" YOU, he will most definitely "come at" a weaker, less dominant human (your child). You had warning - twice.

It might be a different bird but my husband was attacked repeatedly as a small child by a Tom Turkey. His father refused to dispatch it and now as a grown man he is still terrified of turkeys. A mean bird can traumatize a child for life. You did the right thing.

I agree 100%... I was attacked by a roo once. He got to live another 2 minutes after that. My grandmother took me in the house and told my grandfather what happened. He went straight outside, and that was that...

I have always wondered if I could kill a chicken.. however...
Nothing hurts my babies.. NOTHING...

 

[Tarac]

+1. I was tackled by a rooster at my Grandparent's farm when I was 3-4. My grandmother, who was taking me to collect eggs, itty bitty thing that she is, took her camera by the cord, swung it and knocked that rooster clear across the yard. Before he could recover from the blow he was dead in her hands. I learned important lessons about our food and my grandmother's secret superhero identity that day, as well as awareness of the instinct to protect one's young, chicken or human.

 

[goldfinches]

When I was young, probably about your daughter's age, my parent's rooster attacked me. I can still remember laying on the ground, screaming while it battered my face. My father shot him.

Then, their other rooster did the same thing. Flogged me. My father shot him too.

I remember feeling so secure in his love that he chose protecting me from any further harm over the life of the roosters. I would have been traumatized if my parents had tried to rehabilitate the roosters. Or left them alive until they explained things to me. I wouldn't have ventured out the front door.

You did the right thing.

 

[RyanFunFarm]

Great input from rooster victims themselves! Thx for sharing, this really helps