Rooster chasing children.

[h_palmer]

Yeah if you live on a farm and you have a gun yeah fine by me but we live in suburbia..... and as it is we have to bring robert inside at night so he doesnt crow to early and disturb the neighbours, his two girls are going to miss him as he is quite protective of them, his spurs are not developed yet but we are worried as he gets older he may cause more damage. At the moment I think he senses my daughters fear and that is why he chases her, if he tries it on my boys they run after him so he has never done anything to them.

Its also a headache of having to catch and bring him in each night too.

Thanks for all the posts everyone...

 

[ladysfield]

Sorry about your dilemma. The advice about the stockpot from this forum is sound. You mentioned his spurs are just now growing. So he's just beginning his natural male aggressive tendencies. In my experience, gentle roosters are an exception. Right now I have five different breeds of supposedly calm dual purpose breeds. And the hens are calm with wonderful personalities. The roosters? All mean, that is, perfectly normal roosters.

I grew up on a farm and I have to laugh as the 'Disneyland mentality' has permeated livestock raising. Stallions, bulls, and roosters are not horsies and cowies and chickies. If you deceive yourselves about their true natures, someone gets hurt.

 

[ladyride]

Quote:

but true nicely said

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

bye bye rooster

 

[h_palmer]

Quote:

but true nicely said

Wholeheartedly agree.... No more roosters in this house hold, but you cant be sure when you have week old chicks and I guess we were lucky enough to get two hens out of three....

 

[allpeepedout]

Do most people expect small children running and playing in colorful outfits to be safe in a typical rooster's territory? Roos are normally defensive. That's their job, the one that mother nature rewards and I imagine the hens appreciate.

Stallions, bulls, and roosters are routinely trained to be safely handled by experienced people and even children. I stopped the aggressive behavior in my young roo quite easily using the several techniques on the BYC in other threads. They seem to work quite well for some people and some roosters. I handled mine lots as a chick and he's now quite the gentleman, but he still will defend against somebody new or something strange. I appreciate that, and I would not expect otherwise. If I had kids, I would simply have a separate lot, away from the play area.

 

[galanie]

You can no more teach a rooster not to attack a child that is scared of him than you can teach a child not to be scared of the rooster that is chasing him or her. Must get rid of it before something really bad happens to one of the children.

 

[bobbi-j]

Quote:
The thing is, I don't think alot of people (especially ones who have never grown up around farm animals of any sort) realize how territorial male animals of any species can be. They see cute little chickies and buy them, dreaming of a nice flock of birds happily pecking and scratching away in the yard where everyone lives happily ever after. Then it's a shock when the hens poop all over the yard where the kids play, and the rooster becomes aggressive and starts attacking the kids. I'm not pointing fingers here or thinking of anyone in particular, so I'm sorry if I've caused offense. None intended, so please forgive me if I have offended anyone.

OP - you're doing the right thing in getting rid of Robert. A small child should not be afraid to go outside and play in the yard because of a mean rooster, and she's too little to be armed with a broomstick or learn how to kick him every time he comes near her. Not to mention the liability you're facing if he spurs and injures one of your kids' little friends. I'd hate to have to call the parents and explain it.

 

[h_palmer]

Well everyone Robert has gone to Rooster heaven........ now off to my local poultry farm to get a new point of lay hen for my daughter who promptly told me before she left for school this morning, what colour she wanted and that she will call her "Daisy".

It has been a learning curve for us and I am glad we did it before he got nasty, he was even cackling like the hens this morning, and I swear yesterday he was trying to bark like the dog next door.

Thank you all for being supportive on this topic and your comments are noted..

Regards
Heather

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

I grew up on a farm and I have to laugh as the 'Disneyland mentality' has permeated livestock raising. Stallions, bulls, and roosters are not horsies and cowies and chickies. If you deceive yourselves about their true natures, someone gets hurt.

x3

My grandfather was a farmer and he'd roll over in his grave if I dared to have a roo in the backyard with kids. Just read a post a few minutes ago about a roo that was shot because it spurred a kid between the eyes. I'm sure the next post I'll see is someone showing their two year old cuddling a roo just to prove that they are cute little cuddly pets.

h_palmer -sorry you had to cull but at least you figured out what to do before someone got seriously hurt. You and your kids will probably be much happier with Daisy!​