Rooster aggression - a given?

[MichelleKing]

Can we start a discussion about roosters?

I have a Serama male, very small. He's my pride and joy. He is a house chicken and has a girlfriend (another Serama female, unrelated, same age). He is about 4 months (16 weeks) old. I hatched him and raised him, he lives in a coop in our house.

I am training him for tabletop showing and while I wouldn't characterize him as "sweet" like I would his girlfriend, I would characterize him as amenable and he is very easy to hold and work with. Sometimes I just carry him around the house and he chills with me.

A few days ago he was roaming the living room while I was refilling his food and water, and my daughter went to pet him, and he bit her hand. I was standing right there. It was all supervised and yet he just did it. I've told my kids they are not allowed to handle him anymore or approach him, just in case. Side note, my kids each have two hens of their own, take care of them, and handle them beautifully and gently.....I did not observe my daughter doing anything out of the ordinary when he bit her.

This morning, I went to take him out for some training and he bit MY hand and wouldn't let go for a few seconds. He didn't seem agitated, he just turned and grabbed my thumb. It was odd. '

So before any rude onslaught begins -- I'm not an idiot. I know roosters are aggressive and can attack. However, he is my first rooster I have kept, and the questions are this:

1. Are ALL roosters typically aggressive as they age?
2. Did my daughter approach him too fast and possibly scare him into biting her?
3. He bit my thumb. I have a bandaid on it. Did he bite me to harm me or was he curious about the bandaid? The bite didnt hurt, it was like he was trying to hold on to my thumb?
4. Am I an dummy for thinking a rooster could go his entire life without biting viciously or being aggressive?
5. Will he get more aggressive do you think?
6. Is it a bad idea to keep a micro rooster in the house as a pet?
7. Even though he is very tiny, could he seriously hurt my kids or me? I have NO experience with micro chickens, all my hens are either bantam or LF; in any case ALL my hens are very much larger than this rooster and his girlfriend.

I wanted to have seramas in the house. We don't mind the crowing at all. It is a little loud but its very quiet in comparison to my farmer friend's full sized roosters. However, I'm just wondering, is this a bad idea to actually keep a rooster as a pet?

Another side note - on the serama forums here and on other social media, it seems like people have roos in their house all the time. I'm just looking for advice and experienced answers.

Thanks!

 

[Pork Pie]

You may find some of your answers in these links:

Topic of the Week - Roosters, Yes or No?
Topic of the Week: Aggressive Roosters - What is the best way to handle them?

 

[MichelleKing]

You may find some of your answers in these links:

Topic of the Week - Roosters, Yes or No?
Topic of the Week: Aggressive Roosters - What is the best way to handle them?

Thank you. I think the best thing I got out of this was that everyone seems to agree small children and roos dont mix. My kids are just about 5 years old, but I think thats still short enough for a flying roo to attack if he wishes.

Thank you for the info.

 

[Kessel23]

Not all roosters become aggressive my oldest right now is 5 and he has never attacked anyone. I have a 7 year old brother so he has been around very small kids throughout his life. But yeah, kids and roosters don't mix you never know when one will decide to attack, or if one will decide to attack.

 

[Shadrach]

Can we start a discussion about roosters?

I have a Serama male, very small. He's my pride and joy. He is a house chicken and has a girlfriend (another Serama female, unrelated, same age). He is about 4 months (16 weeks) old. I hatched him and raised him, he lives in a coop in our house.

I am training him for tabletop showing and while I wouldn't characterize him as "sweet" like I would his girlfriend, I would characterize him as amenable and he is very easy to hold and work with. Sometimes I just carry him around the house and he chills with me.

A few days ago he was roaming the living room while I was refilling his food and water, and my daughter went to pet him, and he bit her hand. I was standing right there. It was all supervised and yet he just did it. I've told my kids they are not allowed to handle him anymore or approach him, just in case. Side note, my kids each have two hens of their own, take care of them, and handle them beautifully and gently.....I did not observe my daughter doing anything out of the ordinary when he bit her.

This morning, I went to take him out for some training and he bit MY hand and wouldn't let go for a few seconds. He didn't seem agitated, he just turned and grabbed my thumb. It was odd. '

So before any rude onslaught begins -- I'm not an idiot. I know roosters are aggressive and can attack. However, he is my first rooster I have kept, and the questions are this:

1. Are ALL roosters typically aggressive as they age?
2. Did my daughter approach him too fast and possibly scare him into biting her?
3. He bit my thumb. I have a bandaid on it. Did he bite me to harm me or was he curious about the bandaid? The bite didnt hurt, it was like he was trying to hold on to my thumb?
4. Am I an dummy for thinking a rooster could go his entire life without biting viciously or being aggressive?
5. Will he get more aggressive do you think?
6. Is it a bad idea to keep a micro rooster in the house as a pet?
7. Even though he is very tiny, could he seriously hurt my kids or me? I have NO experience with micro chickens, all my hens are either bantam or LF; in any case ALL my hens are very much larger than this rooster and his girlfriend.

I wanted to have seramas in the house. We don't mind the crowing at all. It is a little loud but its very quiet in comparison to my farmer friend's full sized roosters. However, I'm just wondering, is this a bad idea to actually keep a rooster as a pet?

Another side note - on the serama forums here and on other social media, it seems like people have roos in their house all the time. I'm just looking for advice and experienced answers.

Thanks!

I don't believe that the size of the rooster makes much if any difference to their behavior towards humans. What it does make a difference to is the damage they are capable of inflicting.
You seems to have discovered the first rule of rooster/cockerel keeping; roosters/cockerels and children don't mix. You are bound to get posts where people will tell you they've had wonderful, gentle, child friendly cockerels and roosters and their kids pet them without problem. Your most recent experience should tell you all you need to know.
Unfortunately imo one of the messages promoted on a number of Internet forums is chickens make great pets. I don't believe they do. They can be fascinating to keep, gorgeous to look at, a great addition to a semi self sufficient lifestyle, a provider of meat and eggs, but as pet, as anything I understand by the meaning, they're a disaster.
You can't house train them, they don't like being handled, you can't really take them for walks.......
Please bear in mind, I love the chickens I care for. I have 5 roosters here, all of which I can handle. I've had many more in the past. I let chickens in my house. I have a permanent nest box here. I'm completely fascinated by them.
BUT, I have one very simple rule here; children are not allowed anywhere near the chickens.
I could give a number of possible explanations for your roosters behavior. I could make suggestions as to how you might adjust it. I'n sure you'll get a range of opinions from kill the rooster to behavior modification ideas.
I'm just going to suggest one rule; don't try to mix children and male chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

I keep a lot of roosters and use several working around kids / public. You and kids may need to adjust your approach to how you interact with him. Most of rooster "experts" still do not get it and I will not waist time bantering with them while trying to help you. PM if you like, or follow the "experts".

 

[Shadrach]

If cenrarchid is prepared to help you with this problem, given he does work with the public on his property where he has a lot of free range chickens then I would take him up on his offer.
I have no real experience of teaching people how to interact safely with the chickens here
and from the few incidents here where people have come into contact with them I've had to intervene; once when a mother of a toddler pushed a toddler towards a fairly aggressive hen with chicks who i had seen recently attack a donkey for getting to close and another when a mother placed food scraps on her child's lap while he was in a pushchair and then encouraged a cockerel to come and get the scraps.
For me the risk is just not worth it. The problem is rarely the chickens, it's the people.

 

[Acre4Me]

It seems like your goals are a bit different than many who keep roosters. Yours is tiny, and your goal is to use him for tabletop showing.

Personally, I can’t ever imagine keeping a chicken IN my home (other than a sick one or small chicks), but I have BIG stinky chickens and my goals are different than yours. I have kids, youngest is a tween and has been the target of one cockerel’s aggression, so we re-homed him and kept the mild mannered one. Not telling you all this to judge you, but to give perspective.

Can you confine him to an indoor child-free area or cage for the times you cannot give 100% attention? With smaller kids, it would seem prudent to be focused on him when he is around/interacting with them. He is likely entering his hormonal stage and this is likely why you are seeing aggression at 4 months old.

 

[Folly's place]

I too have multiple cockerels and adult roosters, but not as pets in the house, and I've never tried to have any out in public being handled by children. I have taken several to the vet clinic at different times, for health issues, and non of them have tried anything rude to anyone.
I have zero tolerance at home with cocks or cockerels showing human aggression, so the bad boys don't stay on or reproduce, and wouldn't be taken out there anyway.
Centrarchid may have valuable advice, check it out! Otherwise, my take on this cockerel is that he may escalate his rude behaviors as he matures, not good.
Mary

 

[Alexandra33]

1. Are ALL roosters typically aggressive as they age?
No. Certainly seems like the probability of aggressive roosters is greater, but still, it's not all.
2. Did my daughter approach him too fast and possibly scare him into biting her?
Anything's possible. However, chooks don't naturally bite out of fear; they flee. It's much more likely this was a display of aggression.
3. He bit my thumb. I have a bandaid on it. Did he bite me to harm me or was he curious about the bandaid? The bite didnt hurt, it was like he was trying to hold on to my thumb?
Depends on the nature of the bite. Striking quickly, akin to a snake, is aggression. If he peered at the band-aid closely beforehand, it's probably curiosity.
4. Am I an dummy for thinking a rooster could go his entire life without biting viciously or being aggressive?
Once again, you aren't dumb. Almost all my well-behaved males (with the exception of one) went through a short phase around 5-6 months where they bit and wing danced. These two behaviors I can handle if temporary, but flogging means an instant one-way ticket to the chopping block.
5. Will he get more aggressive do you think?
We have no way of knowing the future, sadly. He may or may not.
6. Is it a bad idea to keep a micro rooster in the house as a pet?
While I've never personally experienced this, a close family member did with a d'Uccle rooster we gifted him. Most will probably feel otherwise, but I think it's perfectly fine as long as your little man isn't making life miserable for everyone. Especially since Seramas are commonly kept as house pets.
7. Even though he is very tiny, could he seriously hurt my kids or me? I have NO experience with micro chickens, all my hens are either bantam or LF; in any case ALL my hens are very much larger than this rooster and his girlfriend.
I once had a runty Old English Game bantam rooster who likely wasn't much larger than a Serama, and let's just say, the anger he took out on the back of my head proved to be painful. Anything with claws, beak, and flaming attitude has the ability to inflict hurt. Children are easily accessible, and at greater risk for eye injuries.

Preparing myself for backlash over this, but....here goes: young children and roosters can mix. It simply takes consistent supervision until the roo proves himself over the course of a year or two to lack human-aggressive qualities. My brothers are 3 and 5....we currently own 7 amazing roosters/cockerels. (what you don't see behind the scenes is all the untrustworthy males dealt with to get here)

You should take centrarchid's wise counsel to heart.

~Alex