Roosters behaviour.

[farmer90]

Last spring I hatched out some chicks. My luck of having girls is not good so I ended up with only two hens. All the mean roosters got invited to dinner by autumn and I left two gentlemen as I couldn't decide which one to cull. So right now I have 2 hens and 2 roos. I know my ratio is far from being perfect but they get along fine. Everyone is happy and healthy.

So now to the problem. Both roos have been nice to me and to my kids, never shown any signs of aggression towards us. My husband is a stranger to them, he prefers to keep away as keeping poultry is my hobby. One day when I had a long day at work I asked him to change water and collect eggs. Both rooster attacked him.

I was genuinely surprised. Did they think of him as an intruder and protected their territory? Could the behaviour transfer towards other people or did they decide to just hate him? One of them will be dinner by spring anyway as my movable summer coop will be too small for both of them. Now I'm thinking whether I should consider culling them both? I'm not sure what to do. Towards me they're still perfect and polite gentlemen. Today we went in together and my favourite roo was attacking him again.

 

[thecatumbrella]

You'll likely get a lot of differing opinions. Personally, I've never had a rooster, but I intend to try one with my next flock. I would not tolerate any aggression towards humans. Like you said, you and your kids are familiar to him. But what if one of your kids has a friend over? That child is now a potential target. I would cull both out of an abundance of caution.

 

[farmer90]

Thank you for responding. I've had kids friends came over, feeding them and petting hens and it's all been fine. I'll definitely be more alert from now on and look for any signs of aggression.