Rooster attacking me

[maryellen21]

Elvis our 6 month old rooster is now attacking me occasionally. I just went to feed them veggies and i went to put the plate down and he flew up and knocked the plate out of my hands attacking me. He goes in spurts some days he is fine when i am in their yard /pen/coop area and other days he attacks me. He did the same with my boyfriend.
Will he grow out of this or do i need to cull him? Not adopt him out. Or would he be fine with no hens around?

 

[BantamLover21]

Some roosters grow out of their aggression, but many don't. Similarly, some aren't aggressive when they don't have hens, and some are. It just varies with each bird.

If you have a way to do so, it might certainly be worth isolating him and seeing how that affects his behavior. I would also try various corrective measures, like pinning him to the ground when he attacks and "pecking" his head with your hand. Some people also have success carrying their rooster around when they are attacked, so that he knows they are in control.

However, if isolation/correction isn't practical for you, then yes, I would definitely get rid of him. Aggressive roosters are no fun.

 

[mmmeyer]

Have you handled him in the past six months, theres a slight chance this is a faze, but you may just have a mean roo. I've had countless roos...lets say 18-20 in the past 10 years. Only one went out of his way to attack me or anyone else for that matter. I've had a growing hen in this years clutch that would attack me (not seriously) and now 2months later she comes up to me to be picked up, which I will do, then put her down in the coop upon which she will run out the other exit and run up to me to be picked up again....she's silly. With luck his attitude will change if not....dum dum dum duuuumm.

 

[maryellen21]

Thanks, I've tried pretty much everything . Today was the last straw. I have kids that like to hang with my chickens and HA is unacceptable. (Human aggression). I am wondering if this started as a chick as i had him and 2 other chicks and the other two chicks died three days after i brought them all home. He was alone for a week till we got 3 new babies and once i put the new babies with him he got really protective of them and every time i went to their tub to hold and clean them he would flip out and try to keep them away from me..he taught the other babies to run from me( but in the tub i easily caught them all and tried to socialize them. They didn't settle with me until they were put outside them the hens were fine.. Is it possible he imprinted that i took the dead babies from him and i am bad? He was the one that had a bum foot and couldn't walk right, i thought he was going to die first but the other two did instead a few days apart. He survived

 

[maryellen21]

Ps he was a week old when the other two chicks died and 2 weeks old when i got the thee new babies and they were a week old

 

[centrarchid]

He is being rewarded at least occasionally with food. Aggression part of it but food is key factor. Make so when he does it no reward realized. Need to get on this quickly otherwise he can get worse.

Many of my birds learn to fly to me for food, sometimes a couple hundred feet to land on me or feed bucket I am carrying. To stop I make so they can not get into feed when they do such. They can be trained to be even more aggressive for the feed when they are hungry and the reward is something like mealworms. Hens and roosters both will mug me to get eats down to their chicks. Since they have limited means of communication, what they do comes across as aggression. Some will even flog containers in effort to get lid off.

 

[maryellen21]

He does this with no food too to the both of us, its actual aggression. I've handled him since i got him except for one week as a baby. He never had any negative handling with me, just me removing the dead chicks that died

 

[maryellen21]

And yes he goes out of his way when he sees me or my bf to attack us . The other day he attacked me so i pinned him and when i finally let him up he came after me again... The hens all love me and follow me everywhere. Its totally different with him.. I feel bad he is being a jerk as i really dont want to cull him but i cant have him attacking anyone that goes into the yard

 

[centrarchid]

He does this with no food too to the both of us, its actual aggression. I've handled him since i got him except for one week as a baby. He never had any negative handling with me, just me removing the dead chicks that died

You behaviors to be addressed you are not aware of yet. They will be found to be subtle from your perspective, but to him like you are screaming.

 

[welasharon]

Centrarchid has a thread you may want to look up that he is working on some aggression issues. Also I have had success with grabbing him up and tucking him under my arm at hip level....like a football. I then, with the other hand, push his head downward and hold it there for a bit. Let go. If he picks it up, do it again until he leaves it down. So far I have only had to do this twice with only one roo. The rest it only took the once. I had a cock that I had to kill as I could not walk out of the house without being attacked. I found this method trying to prevent having to kill another. Good luck.