Roosters and children

[nbenevento]

I just some responses in another thread ( and put this same thing there) but I decided to make this another separate thread / question.
I have 6 adult hens, and 23 younger birds from 5 weeks to 13 weeks old. A few of the 13 week olds are cockerels. I also have a 7 year old daughter and a 5 year old son. My daughter doesn't care about the chickens and walks right through them when they are down near the house. My son however loves the chickens but gets chased very easily by the adult hens and he runs off crying. My plan is to keep a couple of the roosters, an Australorp and a BCM. I do not coddle or try to hold the birds. They know I am the boss and none of them dare to be aggressive towards me. I feed them and give them treats and when they see me, they come running to me, but like I said, they know I am the boss. So, how bad is this going to be for my son? Should I be worried about my daughter as well? I hate to keep them locked up while the girls free range. Any advice for me?

 

[Judy]

I think everyone needs to assess their own situation. Chickens who will chase a child can also fly up in their face or jump on their head or shoulders. Of course, the danger is particularly to the child's eyes.

 

[centrarchid]

First be prepared to cull aggressive birds with very small children involved. In this instance, since chickens are a long-term interest, work with child to build his confidence around chickens. Improper behavior by child whether it be aggression or submission can promote situations where birds will need to be culled,

I grew up around chickens, most were games, and I got more than attacked by rooster. Cause was generally my making it a mission to catch bitties. Hen then rooster would pop me good and it smarted. The relationship did not improve until I left birds alone and also learned not to run or otherwise react when a bird challenged me, Hens and rooster new I was a problem even when not actively going after bitties. Even as a four year old I was much bigger than the biggest chicken and I had to learn I held all the cards.

 

[Daisy8s]

You'll have to feel your way along and make your own decisions...but here is what has worked for us.

I have two boys, we got our flock when they were 4 and 8. I worked to teach my boys to freeze, totally stand still if approached by any chickens. I never let the boys hand feed the flock so soon the entire flock lost interest in the boys. To this day the hens leave them both alone...they're just not interested.

After we got a rooster we took more precautions. If the boys have friends over then the flock is contained in their yard (I'm not ever going to risk another person's kid getting hurt by my rooster). But, usually the flock and my boys co-exist just fine. Every once in awhile the rooster gets a bit aggressive (e.g. after chicks hatch) and then the boys might carry around a stick or croquet mallet or tennis racket or bucket or anything else that's handy. They never have to use it...just carrying it is enough to keep the rooster at bay. I've even waved a piece of paper at him to get him to back off.

If we have to handle any of the flock we do it at night when they're more docile. Chasing chickens is guaranteed to bring on an attack by the rooster, but then, that's exactly why we have him--predator protection. I can't fault him for doing his job.

We have a pretty mild rooster and a very big yard so it's all working for us. But every situation is different. Good luck!