Rooster attacked and pecked my child.

[Jody]

I took home today a 1yr old Barred Rock roo.. He has a wonderful personality, very friendly and docile, so he was until he went after my 3yr old daughter and pecked her in the butt.

My daughter was wearing red. Someone suggested that the red was cause for the pecking. Is this true? Also, my daughter seemed to make the roo nervous as she was running around, throwing a ball, etc and then the roo chased her.

According to where I obtained this roo, he was known to be good with children.

He lets all of us pet him, allows us to pick him up.. even perches himself on my arm or shoulders.

How do you scold a roo for pecking, lol.. Can I teach him like one would a dog or cat, lol

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

I know chickens are attracted to "red"...this is the reason that if one gets a sore the others will pick on it (from seeing the blood). Under CLOSE supervision I'd have her out with you and the roo again and see what his behavior is like (no red pants). If he continues to be aggressive....get rid of him!! Roos are a dime a dozen and there are plenty of "good ones" to be had. I had a Buff Orp rooster that we had to sell at the local livestock auction because he became very aggressive with me! With children and children's friends around, no reason to take any chances.

My opinion...hope it helps

 

[Kittymomma]

Her running around probably made him nervous and nervous = threat. IF he's been a good roo up until now you could Maybe give him another closely supervised chance.

Roos can do major damage to little kids--there's the trauma of being pecked, flogged, and chased AND the very real possibility of him getting to her face and causing eye damage. I'd probably send him to freezer camp. If you do hang on to him don't let the kids in with him unsupervised.

I've heard that people have had good luck packing them around like a football everytime the roo acts aggresive, but the person the roo is attacking needs to be the one that packs him around for that to work.

 

[windtryst]

Get rid of him...not worth it.
I will never have another rooster.

 

[Hoosiermomma]

We have a 2 1/2 yr old partridge rock roo. He has gone after all of us at one time or another. When that happens I usually just grab him and hold him tight. I make sure I love on him in front of his girls.

I have taken his 'man card' away from him. LOL

Whenever he gets the idea he wants to go after someone all I have to do is start walking towards him and he backs off. I could easily get rid of him, but he has grown on us and we wouldn't trade him for the world. He does a great job protecting his girls.

adding....when my daughter wears her red shoes outside, our roo always goes for them...

 

[AHappychick]

well I would give him one more chance, normally I would say freezer camp right away but your situation makes me feel as thouh he should have another chance. I would not have anyone wear red around him though, I have read other threads where roos attacked a red jacket or something else. Also did he just peck or did be try to flog? I think a simple peck might have been more of a scared/irritated reaction mixed with the red color but a flogging thats different...

 

[lngrid]

Is flogging when they beat you with their wings? I've heard swans and geese do that and they can break bones in a small shild...

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i'd give him another chance. it could just be a quick reaction to the movement.

my bantam polish will nip on occasion in the mornings and i've realized it is because he is not fully awake and seeing straight yet. (he's a house pet cockerel and seems to not wake/crow till the light comes on in the room) fast movements by him will cause him to react but he soon realizes that it is just me coming to feed/water and play with him before heading off to work.

 

[SurprisingWoman]

Quote:
He didn't even have a chance to get acclimated to his new home and there was a small person running around, throwing balls and acting like a three year old?

Would you have trusted a dog in that situation? Would YOU have wanted to be thrust into that situation?

NO NO NO

Give him a break and keep the little ones away for the first few days/weeks.

Poor thing, no wonder he was freaked out. He was probably perching on your shoulder to get the fark away from the insanity.

 

[chookchick]

There is no good reason to have ANY rooster around a 3 yr. old child. The risk of him scarring her, taking out an eye, traumatizing her for life is just not worth it. Small children seem to set many roosters off--could be nothing she did. If you want to keep a rooster, keep one in a pen and away from kids. He might be just fine.