Rooster went after our little girl...

[txchickie]

I think your husband did the right thing. I have a 3 year old daughter and we had an OEGB roo that snuck up on her (while she was planting flower seeds, minding her own business) and attacked her, he lived for about 2 seconds after that. My DH grabbed him by the neck and it was over.


No way will I allow any animal of mine to attack my babies who cannot defend themselves. There are plenty of nice roosters out there, and my child does not need to live in fear of her animals. I have 3 other roosters that are as pleasant as pie.

 

[Bill in Hamlet]

Sorry to hear about the attack on your daughter. We have a Buff Orpington Roo that is just so sweet and attentive to his girls and still knows how to keep them in line. We also have a Alpha Hen that knows were his snooze button is, but I digress. This Roo is named Dumplin' and he has attacked my 5 yr old Grand Son, Nathan. Nathan was flailing his arms about dancing wearing his favorite Red shirt and the Roo went bezerk. Three of us were screaming for him to put up his fists to protect his face and give the Ol' Roo and swift kick. In the confusion all he did was turn his back and cry because everyone was screeming and running at him. That night we learned about the Forward Snap Kick and about putting up a guard to protect the face and eyes. Today Dumplin' heard the truck coming up the drive and left his girls to their own and charged across an acre and a half to once again challenge Nathan. Nathan put up his fists took a hard stance and then ran in the house. He said he ain't afraid of Dumplin' and he didn't want to make him look weak in front of his girls.

I think you should hold off the Roo thing till your daughter can better defend herself . I was routinely compromised by a Roo when I was younger till I stood my ground and kicked him across the yard. I then went and kicked him again for good measure. We never made friends after that. We just avoided each other.

Fair Winds,

Bill

 

[wjallen05]

I think you should be very happy and not at all disappointed. The rooster would have attacked again later. It would be hard to explain to your daughter after she had been injured...."Sorry, sweetie, but he is our ONLY RIR rooster!

I think you people are missing the point where I said:

I had NEVER let him out of the pen before. The ONLY reason he was out is because we had THIRTY inches of rain and the pen was FLOODED. I had a 4 month old pullet DROWN in the next pen over. I opened it to let it sun out and let them get out of the mud. I was not aware that my daughter came down the steps. I had actually told my husband to catch the rooster and put him in the non-muddy pen with my mixed hens. He just hadn't gotten around to it yet.​

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Well I have a 2 year old and I keep a watch real good when I know she is around and I am working with the chickens, but you never know when she will slip on by, because she sees Mom doing something. I have RIRs as my primary breed. I suppose they are aggressive, but no so much as leghorns or minorcas.
I understand that if you only had one RIR roo and that RIR was your preferred breed, you would be suddenly upset, because you couldn't hatch out any pure breeds for a while. I hope you had a young roo from him, before his 'accident.' We flood here too a bit and sometimes we just have to hurry up and tend to the animals before they all drown. I have a back up plan in the event of very high water......temporary, of course.
About your husband......men are wild at heart. That is in their design. They hunt, fight, protect, fuss and want to control things. Just start over with another bird and shrug your shoulders. Deep down he was trying to do the right thing. And really he didn't do anything wrong.
I once had 3 identical leghorn roos and was going to throw out my table scraps along with my (another child) 2 year old daughter and my sister-in-law accompanied me with her 2 year old son. Sis-n-law didn't know to watch the roos and her baby was jumped. I tried to catch the roo, but i couldn't and seeings as I couldn't tell them apart I shot and killed 3 identical white leghorn roos within the next few minutes.

 

[Minniechickmama]

WJ
I understand about the flooding pen and all, you didn't intend to have him out with your daughter. I am going to avoid at least two breeds because I know of their aggressiveness first hand as a kid growing up with them: RIR and Lakevelders. There are plenty of other breeds out there that are just as good, so I don't even want to try with those. I did however get a trio of New Hampshires and am now wondering if they are aggressive since they are a result of breeding with RIR. So far, the NHR cockerel isn't the top roo in the group, so we will see how it all works out this winter when they hit their maturity age.
I sure hope things dry out for you guys down there. We have been on the other end of the rain stick up here, hardly any rain this year.