Rooster aggression help?

[Kellyjean86]

 

[nuthatched]

Can you provide more information about the issue, please?

 

[Kellyjean86]

I have 4 roosters and 15 hens. I have hand raised them all at the same time. They are my first flock. I have one, possible 2 (they are a little hard to tell apart at a distance) that have started attacking anyone but ME who comes into their territory. (And by territory I mean wherever they happen to be at the time) Usually from behind. They fly up and sorta do this chest bump thing. He chased my grand daughter and my friend last week and has started bowing up to my dad and my husband even after they knock them down. None of them have EVER done this to me. In fact they have all been super friendly and seem to be attached to me.
I feed them pet them bring them treats and clean their coop daily with no issues but the rest of the family is now afraid of them and calling for their demise. I know we have too many roosters for the amount of girls I have, but aside from getting rid of them is there anything else I can do? I had fantasized about the grand children being able to play around them and feeding them by hand like I do but I can't even risk it at this point. Help please?!!!

 

[nuthatched]

You must cull them if they're a threat to children or anyone. I'm sorry.
Unfortunately, petting and hand feeding can encourage aggressive behavior in cockerls since they lose their fear of people.

 

[Mrs. K]

Hand raising, and being raised together really has very little influence on chicken behavior. They really are not pets like puppies and kittens, where as if those are raised with love, they become life long companions. It is far more genetic with them.

IMO, your day is coming, and probably soon. Most inexperienced people can vastly underestimate the violence of the attack. And the attacks become more aggressive each time.

They generally attack children, then women, then men. I am surprised that they attacked your husband and dad first, but I am pretty confident that they will be sizing you up soon. This forum is filled with stories of the darlings becoming the night mare.

A lot of people have tried to change behavior, very few with long term success, and some while will have success with themselves, any one else is fair game. The problem, is that once they have started to be aggressive, it is too late. They have gotten the high from the attack, and will continue to do so. I do think that one needs to insist on a space of respect, when raising cockerel chicks, I don't hand feed mine or even touch them. But no matter how you raise them, how you walk, what you do, a lot of it is genetics, and when they come out, it is pretty much game over.

You state early in the post, you know you have too many roosters, for the setup, well IMO, these bought a ticket to supper.

Mrs K

 

[Anon112]

If you don't want to cull these roosters, you need to create a situation (like a penned in grazing area/run/etc) where they cannot get at people.

I still have the rooster who sneak attacked me, and he has seriously mellowed since that time and I never have issues with him anymore. But at the time I (a large adult human) got a really nasty puncture would and GIANT bruise and had to go to urgent care for a tetanus booster (henceforth known in my friend circle as the "rooster booster"). After that happened, I had to really be more cautious about when and how he was allowed out and about to free range.

They absolutely should not be free ranging when the kids are around, in my opinion. A rooster can jump pretty high to attack and could easily get at a child's face/eyes/throat with their spurs.

 

[Kellyjean86]

Hand raising, and being raised together really has very little influence on chicken behavior. They really are not pets like puppies and kittens, where as if those are raised with love, they become life long companions. It is far more genetic with them.

IMO, your day is coming, and probably soon. Most inexperienced people can vastly underestimate the violence of the attack. And the attacks become more aggressive each time.

They generally attack children, then women, then men. I am surprised that they attacked your husband and dad first, but I am pretty confident that they will be sizing you up soon. This forum is filled with stories of the darlings becoming the night mare.

A lot of people have tried to change behavior, very few with long term success, and some while will have success with themselves, any one else is fair game. The problem, is that once they have started to be aggressive, it is too late. They have gotten the high from the attack, and will continue to do so. I do think that one needs to insist on a space of respect, when raising cockerel chicks, I don't hand feed mine or even touch them. But no matter how you raise them, how you walk, what you do, a lot of it is genetics, and when they come out, it is pretty much game over.

You state early in the post, you know you have too many roosters, for the setup, well IMO, these bought a ticket to supper.

Mrs K

I know you are all probably right but it makes me very sad. One of the two showing these behaviors was my favorite and alwasy greets me first before anyone else. I will def not be eating them but I know Ill have to find somewhere for them to go and will likely send them to the big coop in the sky

 

[FrostRanger]

A hard truth of keeping roosters in particular there is a time where you will need to cull and that time is now. I would at the very least cull the mean ones immediately especially since children are involved, and see how the other 2 do. Yes, 2 roosters is still too many for 15 hens but it's nowhere near as bad. If the hens are being stressed I would just keep the best rooster and rehome the other (unless he develops human aggression or something in which case cull). It's best to keep as few roosters as possible as the more you have the more likely you are to run into problems. Don't put off culling the mean ones either, roosters can really hurt someone if they get a good hit in, especially a child. We had a case last year where someone's mean roo sent their little sister to the ER twice before he was finally culled. There have also been cases where people have lost eyes or even have their face disfigured. Don't chance it, treat them as any other dangerous animal. As was said as well, retraining seldom works with roosters and they can pass on their bad attitude to any chicks they father

Edit: typing too fast for my own good on mobile

 

[Kellyjean86]

I have 4 roosters and 15 hens. I have hand raised them all at the same time. They are my first flock. I have one, possible 2 (they are a little hard to tell apart at a distance) that have started attacking anyone but ME who comes into their territory. (And by territory I mean wherever they happen to be at the time) Usually from behind. They fly up and sorta do this chest bump thing. He chased my grand daughter and my friend last week and has started bowing up to my dad and my husband even after they knock them down. None of them have EVER done this to me. In fact they have all been super friendly and seem to be attached to me.
I feed them pet them bring them treats and clean their coop daily with no issues but the rest of the family is now afraid of them and calling for their demise. I know we have too many roosters for the amount of girls I have, but aside from getting rid of them is there anything else I can do? I had fantasized about the grand children being able to play around them and feeding them by hand like I do but I can't even risk it at this point. Help please?!!!

View attachment 4267819

 

[chooki]

You can try rooster jail:

I have bought a few of those 2nd hand industrial storage wire cages and use them as isolating pad/chicken jail.

You can also trim perpetrator's spurs. I have used wood file on my only aggressive rooster. The process is very satisfying. You might have to repeat the process regularly for continued results.

BTW, my rascal looks a bit like yours: