Rooster attacked me for the first time, I think it was my sunglasses

[Mikey_d]

My year old rooster was aggressive for the first time ever today, and there's a number of factors present that may have contributed, but I thought I'd just go ahead and ask if anyone else could maybe confirm my suspicion.

Background:. I separated him from the hens a couple months ago so we could get some unfertilized eggs. His run was inside to the hens run, on one side, the entrance to his run is in the hens run. He's never showed any aggression whatsoever, and I've been down on my hands and knees around him plenty of times while working on this or that, and he's always been somewhat of what can probably be described as gentle with the hens.. I jokingly called him a soy boy..

I just recently hatched my first clutch of chicks and yesterday it was time to put them outside so I let the rooster back in with the hens so I could have that space for the new chicks.

This morning I went in wearing sunglasses to feed the chicks, and as I was opening the gate to go in the inner pen, I caught rapid movement in the corner of my eye, turned, as he was rushing me, and I instinctively whipped him with the hat I was wearing. He kept coming at me, rather savagely, and I just kept whipping him with my hat every time he rushed me, till I got out, and as I turned to walk away he attacked the fence right behind me.

I just went back out without my sun glasses on, and he didn't attack me, even when I squatted down with my back to him (just testing if he would).. so I got my glasses back on and he came over right away looking aggressive.

So while I'm pretty sure it's the sunglasses, I think maybe the rush of testosterone from getting to mate again, and maybe he was protecting the chicks from me, (I don't know if that's typical rooster behavior to be more protective of younger chicks).

Is it common for a gentle soy boy type roo to just flip one day?

Either way, I'm halfway tempted to make a meal out of him now, so we'll see how he acts from now on.
Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

If I had to guess, his hormones were running high between spring, being back with the girls, new chicks added and then he saw his reflection in your sunglasses thinking there was another rooster. I would tip over a bucket in their pen, set the sunglasses on top and see what he does. If he goes after the sunglasses then you know you weren't what he was trying to attack.

 

[Mikey_d]

If I had to guess, his hormones were running high between spring, being back with the girls, new chicks added and then he saw his reflection in your sunglasses thinking there was another rooster. I would tip over a bucket in their pen, set the sunglasses on top and see what he does. If he goes after the sunglasses then you know you weren't what he was trying to attack.

Interesting idea, but I won't be trying it, due to the lastest encounter. I just let them out of the pen to free range and he came after me right away. Unfortunately, I won't be able to keep him. I can handle him just fine but I don't want to have to deal with it, and I don't want him to hurt someone else because he's a big boy. I'm going to let him breed them for the next few days so I can hatch more eggs, but that's it for him unfortunately.

 

[Battlepants]

Yea, unfortunately hormones can just make them turn sometimes. It is sometimes possible to bring them back, but it takes a lot of effort and often results in a decent amount of injuries. And even in doing everything right, there's no guarantee you can bring him back to being civil.

Sometimes it's best to just cull, especially if there are other humans (especially kids) at risk.

 

[Mrs. K]

Once they start attacking, it is unusual for a lot of them to quit.