Rooster chased my little girl today

[edster951]

I'm always very cautious of our roo...

He has shown no aggressive tendancies to anyone yet. He is a year old.

When I'm in the run, I do, occasionally, chase him into a corner, flapping my arms.

I note he does this, stands tall and flaps his wing, then crows. So I immitate this against him.

When I leave the run, he stands in the middle and crows, saying "This is my area and I let you in and out". Funny little bugger.

My boys (9, 11) are OK in the run, they do get eggs occasionally and he leaves them alone.

From the start I have tought the boys and my wifey how to show dominance to him. They walk in and show him respect and talk to him, calling his name. No bad behaviours yet.

 

[ChickenyGoodness]

Hi, new here

This rooster issue is so common, and I think a lot of it has to do with people treating their roos as if they're cuddly little snugglies...Roos are HUGE on the dignity thing.

The only thing that's really going to allow you to live in peace with a rooster is letting him know that YOU are head roo, not him. When you're inside, he's the boss, taking care of his ladies, and in turn being the centre of their world. But the moment you set foot outside, he becomes beta male and submits to you. I don't mean being afraid of you, but being cautious, and careful of overstepping the line.
Roosters are consistant...they'll take a swipe at the beta for no reason other than to remind him who's boss. This might sound nasty, but you should do that too. If he's getting too cushy around you, and not keeping an eye on you, then charging him briefly reminds him that YOU are the head roo. And if he dares to court one of YOUR ladies in front of you, chase him off.
Don't ever get down on eye-level with him...one reason being that being down at his level does nothing to assert your dominance, only weaken it...also, he can take your eyes out

And by all means, cuddle him as often as you want, he'll be fine with that if he knows that you are in charge.
They ARE little snugglies, really...

 

[the1much]

im not pointing ANYONE out,, or trying to "start" anything,,, BUT,, all these people that say the roo would have been dinner ( i LOVE eating my extra's) ,,, your blaming the roo, for YOU not teaching it,,,,, what do people do when their puppy growls, or nips for the first time? do you TEACH it that he was wrong,, or get rid of it?

 

[seedcorn]

i LOVE eating my extra's

unless you need that specific rooster for breeding, just call him an extra and make him into lunch. No big deal.​

 

[the1much]

i also feel responsible for TEACHING the animals , their wrong,, seems lazy to me to not at least try.

 

[the1much]

my "extras" are the LAZY roo's that are'nt aggressive,, i use roo's for what their MADE for,, protecting my flock, have ya ever seen a thread on here about " my roo got aggressive with a dog,hawk,or cat and saved my hens,, now i want him culled" ?


edit: but their NOT allowed,, and taught NOT to be towards my family,,ONLY ,, if ANY stranger comes to my yard,, they DONT get in, but my 4 year old walks in , they RUN away.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
This is true, the1much, but I do have to say as a mother of 5 and having a wonderful rooster that turned aggressive, there does come a time when you have to say enough. We hand raised my roo and he was held and loved on everyday. He was babied all of the time and one day, when provoked by my little girl, turned bad. My little girl was punished for teasing the hens (she's only 4 and was being a 4 year-old) and the rooster was held. From then on out, my rooster got more and more aggressive. We worked and worked on the roosters behavior. Held him, had my little girl hold him, went on walks with him, sat in the swing with him, hand fed him, etc... It just seemed like the harder we tried, the nastier my rooster got. He never tried to attack me, as I established that I was alpha roo with him but everyone else was getting attacked for no reason at all (he even went after my DH one night

). If anyone was close enough for him to chase them down, he would do it and attack them. This became a daily ritual for this bad boy and I finally decided it was time for him to go before he really hurt one of my kids badly. My little girl always took the brunt of the attacks (one time he got her with his beak from the bottom of her chin all the way down past her belly button) and I just couldn't tolerate it any longer. You can teach and teach an animal, but sometimes the teaching doesn't work for whatever reason. That is when you have to decide what is more important. The child's safety or the rooster. I loved my rooster and it was very hard to get rid of him, but I love my kids more and wasn't going to have an animal in my yard that hurt them. I really do hope that you can retrain your rooster, OHMYCHICKIES. I wish I could have retrained mine. He has been missed, but I do not regret my decision in getting rid of him. I know my kids are safe now when they go outdoors to play. That peace of mind in itself has definitely been worth my beloved rooster being gone. Good luck with your rooster! My fingers are crossed for you that he will be a good boy.

 

[seedcorn]

if ANY stranger comes to my yard,, they DONT get in

never seen a rooster that well trained. If you want mean roosters, no problem for me.

I'm old school, if a rooster gets mean and I don't need him for anything, he's lunch. Guess mine are all lazy, free loaders.

My roosters jobs are to crow, make babies w/hens, and fend off cats. We're pretty laid back here--ie lazy....​

 

[Salt and Light]

I came on here this morning to post that my rooster "attacked" my 3 y/o yesterday. And what do I find but this interesting thread! <smile>

My rooster is just starting to get spurs so he didn't do any damage but I watched him chase down my son and jump on his ankles. It scared my son and despite my best pleas for my son to face down the rooster, he wouldn't. So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Somehow, he's got to assert dominance over the rooster otherwise he'll be at risk from attack.

It' s interesting reading all the different responses on this topic.

 

[hensonly]

I ended up with two roos by mistake (thanks to the local farm store!). One matured much earlier than the other, and at just about 4 months he jumped at my knees and kicked me. Being new, I just thought he was after the treats I had in my hands - all the hens jump up to get a head start on the treats!

But the next day I went in and the roo bypassed the treats (escarole) and pecked my wrist, taking off a layer of skin. I was startled and MAD, and just reacted without thinking - I winged the escarole at him, hit him square in the side, stomped over to him yelling Don't you do that! Don't you dare!, and followed him around the coop pointing my finger at him, glaring, and scolding. He backed right off and hasn't bothered me since. I just reacted, didn't think about it, but from what I read here, I guess it was the right thing to do.

The second roo, I didn't wait for him to get feisty, I give him the glare and an occasional nudge to make him get out of my way, and he just moves. Neither of them is afraid of me, but they do defer, which is all I want.

So - my answer to the roo problem is... grow some escarole!!