Roo attacked me!

[Dragonfly75]

So I went out to the coop to get eggs today, and I squatted down to pick up Red and sat her on my knee. Boliver, my 10 month old rooster, came through the door and attacked me. Drew blood on my belly. I stood up and he did it again and got me in the hand, so I kicked him. But apparently I didn't kick him hard enough because he kept raising his hackles and wings at me. So I put my foot up in case he tried to jump again. He did but just barely and never got close enough to me. Will this behavior stop? My 6 year old daughter's chore is to check for eggs when she gets home from school. I only did it today because the wind was blowing so bad. I have held the chickens with him in there before and he never tried to attack me. I don't want to have to watch my back when I go clean the poop boards or feed and water them. Any suggestions?

 

[Blooie]

At the risk of sounding hard-hearted, what are your odds of being able to replace your 6 year old daughter? Now, what are the odds of being able to replace a rooster? And how willing are you to look into her face when she tells you she doesn't want to be out there with the chickens anymore because she's scared? To me it's a no brainer. My grandkids, aged 8 and 9, are my full time chicken sitters when we leave town. I couldn't do that if I had one single bird out there I couldn't trust. I also have 3 year old grandaughter with Spina Bifida and she's in wheelchair - wouldn't even be able to outrun an aggressive roo. Had one rooster attack me. He was delicious.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm not a newbie, and have had good, bad, and very ugly roosters. The bad boys work well in the crock pot, and when small children are involved, that's where they belong. "Retraining" a cock who wants to attack humans rarely makes him safe for everyone. A critter who attacks someone 20X larger, who brings food every day, is too dumb to reproduce! Mary

 

[Dragonfly75]

Well...he attacked me again today and he attacked my two leghorns about 6 or 7 times while I was picking my garden. He is now dead and being prepared to eat for supper tomorrow. I'll let you know how he tastes!

 

[Blooie]

There is a couple of ways to deal with this;
1.Put blinders on the roo
2.Get a chick and hand raise it.

Behavior training takes time a dose not always work.

The chick that turned into the roo that attacked me was hand raised from a day old chick. And behavior training might work except for one tiny detail - just because that roo sees you as the person at the top of the order through training doesn't mean he will see all people in that light. So I might be able to eventually work around him without fear, but there's no guarantee that my grandkids ever can. And how do you teach chicken psychology to a child so they can put that into effect out in the chicken yard? They haven't even figured out why they do dumb stuff themselves yet. Nope, crock pot or bar-be-que grill as far as this chicken lady is concerned. But, as always, to each his own....my way might not be the way everyone else sees things, and that's just fine.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

It's an oft debated thing here.

Personally, and I've raised tens of thousands of chickens over more than 40 years....

Life's too short to put up with a mean rooster.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Go out and bring a broom if he tries anything scoop him away with the broom till he stops if his behavior continues eat him

If you have to resort to kicking a rooster, or hitting it with things, you've already lost control, and the rooster needs to be put down.

You want to be outside the pecking order, not at the top of it. A rooster's job is to be the top of the pecking order - if hes not there, hes going to spend every bit of his energy trying to get there.

 

[Farmer Ken]

At the risk of sounding hard-hearted, what are your odds of being able to replace your 6 year old daughter? Now, what are the odds of being able to replace a rooster? And how willing are you to look into her face when she tells you she doesn't want to be out there with the chickens anymore because she's scared? To me it's a no brainer. My grandkids, aged 8 and 9, are my full time chicken sitters when we leave town. I couldn't do that if I had one single bird out there I couldn't trust. I also have 3 year old grandaughter with Spina Bifida and she's in wheelchair - wouldn't even be able to outrun an aggressive roo. Had one rooster attack me. He was delicious.

We have RIR roo in what we call the axe pen for this very reason. A rooster can jump high enough to hit a child in the face and he may not stop once she go's down.

 

[klilly20]

Would you eat a sick hen? or health rooster that is determined to rule the yard that you could not trust around children.. I am sorry but I will not sit by while the rooster jumping everything that walks by he would be dinner for sure. as the boss says to his employee you can be replaced

 

[Mrs. K]

Older roosters and hens understand the psychology and keep younger roosters in their place. I think that good roosters comes from established multi generational flocks, not flockmates.

Mean roosters can hurt kids, and no one should have to be attacked. Mean roosters ruin chickens for a lot of people.

Mrs K