Rooster Problem

[willowbendbb]

Our Rooster has started charging when you get close to the flock. It is especially bad when we let them out to free range, but he will do it sometimes even in the run. We like having him because we live in a very rural area and helps protect the hens, but being attacked is not fun! Not to mention I have two small boys that I will not let them come in the run with me anymore and they love to feed the chickens! Is there anything we can do to stop him or help with the problem??

 

[jettgirl24]

There are a couple of things you can try but I have bad news for you, often times when they go mean they stay that way. The first thing I'd try: when he attacks you, hold him down to the ground until he stops struggling. This helps establish you and the dominant presence. If that doesn't work, hold him down until he stops struggling, then pick him up by the feet and hold him upside down for 5 or 10 minutes. Again, you're establishing dominance. With my mean roo I finally just took a broom out with me and whapped him (not enough to hurt him, just to get him away) every time he went after me. This went on for entirely too long because we had never culled before and were hesitant to do so. Eventually we had a nice rooster dinner because he was a lost cause. He was mighty tasty though

 

[moetrout]

I went through this same thing early this last spring. We did many things trying to reform him. None of it worked. If you read enough on here you will begin to realize it is not very likely you will reform your bird. An axe solved my problem.

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

what i do is i catch them with a net and hit them and tell them no. show that YOUR the boss not him. then if he continues to do so i catch them again with a net and i pour water on him. the first time i did this he ran away from me and stayed away until i got rid of him for picking on my hens WAAAAY too much

 

[speckledhen]

Once they start that, they rarely stop. Life is way too short for a human-aggressive rooster and you DO NOT have to live with a mean rooster for him to protect the hens properly. I have several, different breeds, all calm, even-tempered, won't bite, rush or flog, but they will look out for their respective hens. My avatar is one of them. They're just smart enough to know that the hand that feeds them is not going to harm them or their women. A friendly rooster is a joy to have.


ETA: Even with my sweet roosters, I won't allow small children around them because kids' jerky, sudden movements make even the calmest rooster nervous.

 

[RiddleMe]

Quote:
I would say freezer camp. Even if you do convince him that you are dominant, that won't automatically translate to your boys and he will still see them as fair game. And keeping them out of the run isn't 100% foolproof, what's to keep him from going after them when he's out free ranging? I was spurred by our rooster as a kid, I wasn't anywhere near his hens or interacting with them in any way, I was actually just filling our dogs water bowl and he came up behind me and attacked. After he went after my dad, he became dinner.