Rooster struck at husband, now me. What can I do?

[Bantam BCM]

Agreed. The first year I raised babies there were no roos in the mix. The second year, we adopted Napoleon who then taught the postdate cockerels that my Fanny raised to respect the hierarchy (me included). Don't try to reward him if he's acting like an ass. Invest in a good hose and a hockey stick. That will teach him who is boss in the rink!

Absolutely agree. Incubated roos can easily be arsholes while a lad learned proper by the matriarch tends to have proper manners. A gang of incubated roos can be terrorists to fringe hens. Those lads get the penalty box for a few weeks...or the ice box till soup day.

 

[Chickenclaude]

IDK...their eyesight is wonky so if your movements startled him...he’s supposed to protect his girls,right? I have an American a that pecks or jumps up at me when I go to feed them..my feeling is they are hungry and impatient. I drop a bit of feed on the ground for them to go at first while I hang the feeder. I just brush them off if they hop up.
I think that they need to acclimate to your presence. You just spend time w them in their pen so that they are comfortable with your presence.
Now, if your roo continues to be aggressive and begins hopping up, sad as it is...perhaps it’s time to relocate him?

 

[pasdechat73]

Absolutely agree. Incubated roos can easily be arsholes while a lad learned proper by the matriarch tends to have proper manners. A gang of incubated roos can be terrorists to fringe hens. Those lads get the penalty box for a few weeks...or the ice box till soup day.

Ha! That is too funny...I haven't heard anyone say 'ice box' in a time!!

But about the proper matriarch, we're so lucky to have our Fanny. She's a 5 yr old bantam cochin that still goes broody 3x per year but produces eggs no more. She rears all our young (including sitting on a clutch for 3 weeks+) and lets a junior roo tend to them too. I tell you...it teaches them the ropes!

 

[kcan2]

Absolutely agree. Incubated roos can easily be arsholes while a lad learned proper by the matriarch tends to have proper manners. A gang of incubated roos can be terrorists to fringe hens. Those lads get the penalty box for a few weeks...or the ice box till soup day.

@Bantam BCM can I ask where are you from? You talk too cool to be from the US, lol

 

[atalanta]

As someone who has owned and been bit (many times) by a Macaw (a bird that has a can opener on his face, break open a brazil nut as thick as a finger or chew an entire couch in an afternoon) I find this thread quite amusing.

Roosters can be trained just like the Macaws not to bite. https://hubpages.com/animals/Are-You-Teaching-Your-Parrot-to-Bite
Roosters are not...velociraptors...

 

[kcan2]

As someone who has owned and been bit (many times) by a Macaw (a bird that has a can opener on his face, break open a brazil nut as thick as a finger or chew an entire couch in an afternoon) I find this thread quite amusing. View attachment 2039875
Roosters can be trained just like the Macaws not to bite. https://hubpages.com/animals/Are-You-Teaching-Your-Parrot-to-Bite
Roosters are not...velociraptors...
View attachment 2039876

I will certainly check this read out! I have actually wondered before if any of my parrot knowledge would be useful, or if it would be lost in translation on the limitations of the "chicken brain."

Here is my little "can opener," his bite just never scared me much. Now, if he bites, it's always due to a miscommunication or if I'm moving too quickly. On the flip side, he bites my husband with no reservations. I think I am beginning to sense a pattern...either that, or my husband just looks generally tastier to birds as a rule?

 

[divediva]

View attachment 2030556
I hope so because this makes me so sad! Where it went through my glove. Doesn't hurt but hurts my feelings, lol

Hi there, I'm not a chicken expert by any stretch, but your post is close to my heart so I have to answer. I have 2 red star hens which I raised from 10 days. When they were 6 weeks old I adopted a day old feral chick that was orphaned. Of course it turned out to be a boy. He is bantam sized and the girls wanted to kill him, so he was pretty much in the house and a momma's boy. When he got older he was able to be out with then as he could easily outrun their attacks. When he got to about 8 months old, he started being a dick and when I brought him in for snacks would jump down and go and sexually assault my glitter flip flops. A couple of times he tried to grab my feet and he pecked my hand once. I was also hurt and upset that my precious boy would do this to me. I have only shown him love and affection, and do not hold with all the anti rooster comments on here that advise you to hit them with buckets/sticks etc. Any time he did anything dumb I picked him up cuddled and kissed him. At age 10 months I saw him mating the girls for the first time. He still wing dances for me when I let them out, but that is early morning testosterone and I actually think it's cute.
He lets me pick him up and hold him, and when I stroke the back of his neck he starts to close his eyes and gets completely chilled out. What you have to understand is they are not very smart, and pretty much instinctive in their needs. For the roosters this is protecting the girls and passing on their genes. He is not being mean or vindictive, they are not capable of those vile human traits. Keep being a loving mom, your little boy is still in their and he will come back.

 

[Folly's place]

I want to comment about parrots vs. chickens. Parrots are VERY smart, and so are much easier to train, and have a different social structure, as I understand it. Chickens aren't as intelligent, and are different in other ways socially. It's just not a fair comparison!
Mary

 

[Bantam BCM]

@Bantam BCM can I ask where are you from? You talk too cool to be from the US, lol

I'm from Ontario Canada. I started talking different when I got serious with my homestead. I figured it about time I looked and sounded how I felt. The world outside is just too far from my soul so I slowed it down any way I could. No more fancy boy doing the mating strut lol. I'm just a hillbilly country bumpkin chicken crazy philosopher with wifi to boot. Howdy!

 

[atalanta]

Oh he's soooo cute! kcan2 You have a little parrotlet . So you got the basic idea of what I'm talking about. Right now I have a Sun Conure (I rescued from a girl who taught it to bite, literally chew your skin. Took me over 6 months to get it to stop and they have beaks like scalpels ), a Peachface lovebird (who just loves me all the time)

and a couple of Blackmask lovebirds who pretend they are feral. Yes parrots are more intelligent than chickens but chickens can also be "clicker" trained so they do respond... just takes a little more a little different.

I have given away a rooster who was "mean". It was mean to the other chickens and to my favorite Rooster. Those kind are just removed because that's a death match waiting to happen when you aren't home. My Roosters have always been cuddlebugs, are almost as intelligent as the parrots and insure that I too get my share of dances and fresh bugs.

Just like parrots, they know when you are afraid of them and so do the hens. I have friends with over 20 chickens and 3 roosters. The flock they raised from chicks are all tame, but the friends (green acres, citified people) are afraid of them . When I go over there to collect some eggs for the incubator the friends are afraid to take the eggs from the sitting, growling, broody hen... "hold my basket...Its Ok, I've been bit by a macaw (actually I think the Sun Conure has been worse)...I can handle this"...talk to the hen, pet her, calm her down and take the egg. Same with the cochin rooster who chases people...if you know he's going to chase you and attack why are you wearing shorts and flip flops around him? Bright white featherless legs and rubber things slapping your feet! The rooster chases when you turn your back on him and move too fast. The hackles flare and away he goes... but you can pick him up, pet him, haul him around like a football and he's like "Ok", set him down and he's Ok for a few steps and then pow, hit by a puff ball with a sharp beak. I use the same signaling to him that I use with the parrots...tell him NO, flick his beak (yes sometimes you have to do that with a parrot for them to get the idea that biting is NOT acceptable but rarely and after a relationship has been built) and don't run or walk away, STOMP, STOMP, STOMP. He's like "OK your the big Roo". Pick him up when he gets near again and pet him. The Roos test. You run... that's it...game on.

This is NOT their cochin. This YouTuber made a channel from his inability to manage his Rooster, Kyle... (actually the owner seems to be amused),

Know what triggers your Roo. Fast movements, certain clothes, kicking out, Kyle has learned to expect a fight from this man. They have a unique relationship.

If you are NOT a Youtuber and just want a nice Roo. Never kick out to a Rooster! Game on!
Pick him up... pet him...put him down. Stand there. If he moves to get you...repeat. Its like catching a bowling ball. If you put him down and he sees you move fast that could be a trigger. Petting is best. Only use the Stomp tactic if you are experienced.