Rooster incompetent? Bullying?

[The Rinaest Rina]

Hello. Everything was fine until a few weeks ago. Now my rooster is constantly in my space and challenging me. He will crow and shake his head and then run from across the garden towards me. I have to make sure I have a stick in my hand to fend him off! It's quite scary and slows down everything I do in the garden. I even walk the long way around to avoid him. How do I take back control?

Soup! But if you really want to keep him, you must understand why he does what he does and try to counteract those reasons. With some work you might strike a peace treaty with him, or he might be too set in his ways and genetically aggressive. I've observed (though my experience is somewhat limited) that my roosters only attack me when my boots move too fast towards them. Doesn't quite sound like your situation but it could be somewhat similar- he feels threatened and he wants you out of his territory. Or, if he's trying to land on your back and he dances around you, he might be trying to court you. In which case you must tell him that this is an unacceptable proposal- pin him and give him a hard eye-contact stare. When they're in the throes of puberty and their hormones start to surge they can get pretty excitable. If you make a thread for this question you'll get a lot more advice.

 

[FrostRanger]

Hello. Everything was fine until a few weeks ago. Now my rooster is constantly in my space and challenging me. He will crow and shake his head and then run from across the garden towards me. I have to make sure I have a stick in my hand to fend him off! It's quite scary and slows down everything I do in the garden. I even walk the long way around to avoid him. How do I take back control?

By inviting him to dinner. This behavior is not likely to get better (and is likely to get worse). He should be culled before someone gets hurt