Rooster Gone Sour

[Buff-Blondie]

Hello. I'm new here. I work on a historic farm that is open to the public and help take care of 30+ chickens (we got some new babies and more on the way). One of the roosters, who my friend named Clux, has recently lost his dominance. Over the summer, he used to have a ton of hens following him everywhere and he was nice to me (except he did treat me as a subordinate hen as the months went on), but he has become extremely aggressive this past month. At the time Clux was friendly, we only had three roosters: Clux, a small runt named Nugget, and a fiesty and skittish rooster named Loudmouth. We now have two more grown roosters. Out of all the roosters, Clux is the only one who attacks children, hens, other roosters, and now me (who he is probably fighting because he sees me as either a threat or because he wants my dominance). I liked this rooster and the other worker who owns him wants to keep him and let the other friendly roosters go, but now I'm really scared of Clux. He made me bleed really badly tonight with his spurs (glad I wore my new farm pants instead of shorts). My friend argues that we should keep Clux since "he's the best rooster we have," but wouldn't it make more sense to dispose of Clux and keep the friendly roosters instead? Would getting rid of the nice roosters make Clux friendly again? Is it a good idea to keep this bird at all? I'm afraid to volunteer now because this bird apparently means more than my own and other people's safety!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello. I'm new here. I work on a historic farm that is open to the public and help take care of 30+ chickens (we got some new babies and more on the way). One of the roosters, who my friend named Clux, has recently lost his dominance. Over the summer, he used to have a ton of hens following him everywhere and he was nice to me (except he did treat me as a subordinate hen as the months went on), but he has become extremely aggressive this past month. At the time Clux was friendly, we only had three roosters: Clux, a small runt named Nugget, and a fiesty and skittish rooster named Loudmouth. We now have two more grown roosters. Out of all the roosters, Clux is the only one who attacks children, hens, other roosters, and now me (who he is probably fighting because he sees me as either a threat or because he wants my dominance). I liked this rooster and the other worker who owns him wants to keep him and let the other friendly roosters go, but now I'm really scared of Clux. He made me bleed really badly tonight with his spurs (glad I wore my new farm pants instead of shorts). My friend argues that we should keep Clux since "he's the best rooster we have," but wouldn't it make more sense to dispose of Clux and keep the friendly roosters instead? Would getting rid of the nice roosters make Clux friendly again? Is it a good idea to keep this bird at all? I'm afraid to volunteer now because this bird apparently means more than my own and other people's safety!

If the farm is open to the public and Clux is attacking everyone, it's a no brainer. He HAS to go. He is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[sourland]

If children are present and he has access to the children, he is a serious liability.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
I hope this jerk rooster is gone very very soon, before any more injuries happen, especially to any children.
I find it hard to believe that he's still there, after his first episode!
Mary

 

[aart]

Does your 'friend' own this historic farm?
Who's really in charge here?
Do they have legal representation?
The 'manager' should be decisive in resolving this.
Romance meets Reality...
....someone with logical animal husbandry skills needs to get rid of that bird.

 

[ValerieJ]

Thank you for your replies to my post. Hopefully the manager of the farm can convince my friend to let Clux go. I really want everyone on that farm to feel safe and they are very fortunate that I won't sue them. This isn't the first time he has attacked me and he has gone after three other young children, one was less than a year. I'm just thankful I was the one who got spurred and not a young child.

I don't think anyone here was thinking you would sue, but if someone's child is injured while visiting an open farm, a lawsuit is sure to follow. Sounds like your friend doesn't own the farm and doesn't have the final word. Someone needs to inform the owner of this farm about this problem.

 

[Folly's place]

I can't believe that this farm owner hasn't resolved this situation already! It's not about 'convincing' your friend to fix it, it's about having the bird removed from the property ASAP.
Mary

 

[ValerieJ]

Hi! Welcome to BYC!

That is a hard question to answer. If the roosters belong to your friend, then the option to keep or cull is theirs. On the other hand, if you are threatened by this rooster, you may have to tell your friend you are afraid to work with him. You may have to stop volunteering there if the friend wants to keep him. This all puts you in a tough position, and I'm sure sorry for that.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello. I'm new here. I work on a historic farm that is open to the public and help take care of 30+ chickens (we got some new babies and more on the way). One of the roosters, who my friend named Clux, has recently lost his dominance. Over the summer, he used to have a ton of hens following him everywhere and he was nice to me (except he did treat me as a subordinate hen as the months went on), but he has become extremely aggressive this past month. At the time Clux was friendly, we only had three roosters: Clux, a small runt named Nugget, and a fiesty and skittish rooster named Loudmouth. We now have two more grown roosters. Out of all the roosters, Clux is the only one who attacks children, hens, other roosters, and now me (who he is probably fighting because he sees me as either a threat or because he wants my dominance). I liked this rooster and the other worker who owns him wants to keep him and let the other friendly roosters go, but now I'm really scared of Clux. He made me bleed really badly tonight with his spurs (glad I wore my new farm pants instead of shorts). My friend argues that we should keep Clux since "he's the best rooster we have," but wouldn't it make more sense to dispose of Clux and keep the friendly roosters instead? Would getting rid of the nice roosters make Clux friendly again? Is it a good idea to keep this bird at all? I'm afraid to volunteer now because this bird apparently means more than my own and other people's safety!

I'm sorry if this comes over as a bit blunt.
Whoever owns/runs/is responsible for this historic farm is incompetent.
If a rooster has managed to draw blood through your work trousers then they are not fit for purpose. Get some heavyweights and boots.
Volunteering is great but when there are free range roosters around you need to know what you are doing. That often means experience and training. I get the impression you have neither.
It's a constantly reoccurring problem. The media image of chickens as lovely cuddly fluffy butts is not only misleading; it's plain wrong.
If no one has made an effort to tame the chickens that the public have access to both the males and females can be a liability.
This rooster, like it or not, is doing what a good rooster should. It's unfortunate that his natural behavior is likely to be the death of him.

 

[Buff-Blondie]

Ditto Dat!!!^^^

The owner should 'order' the worker to do what's right.

I agree with you 100%! The only problem is I am a measly volunteer with no say-so. But it shouldn't be my job to shield little kids from that darn bird. Most of the parents don't do squat anyway and say, "Oh! He's fine!" or just sit on their phones and let the kids chase the birds. Meanwhile, I'm trying to maintain order while all of this is happening. At least the owner is smarter than my friend and will most likely get rid of Clux on Tuesday. Out of all 24 grown birds, he is the only one showing behaviors like this. It makes no sense to get rid of the nice roosters and only keep this mean one. He's not going to change.