OMG this is sooooo frustrating from that aspect of a parent (both children and pets..) I still have facebook, to keep in touch with a couple of "friends", and some other groups of interest, and this was posted today:
"My rooster Looney has turned into an a$$hole. He got his name from when he young and was always on the go. He has been sweet up to this past week. He’s about 19 weeks old. I came here to ask if there is any hope for him?
He first lunged at my 1.5yo about a week ago. She got a couple nasty scratches, she cried but moved on. I chalked it up to him wanting her granola bar she was holding and her not sharing (which she usually does). Second time two days later she was in the coop (which she does on a daily) and was Taking their feed and sprinkling it on the ground. He was in there at the time and scratched just above her eyebrow. She cried for about 30seconds but stayed in there. I didn’t see it actually happen, but saw the scratch after. he then started pecking at her butt which when I looked she has dirt on her shorts and it appeared he was just pecking at the dirt. Again, I let it go. next day, he started pecking away at my dog which I thought ok, he’s just protecting his girls. He came at me when I went to check for eggs from behind. He also pecked at my hand another time as I was trying to pick up feed that got knocked out of the scooper on the ground. All of these were fairly small incidents. However, yesterday, my daughter was out by the coop with me and she touched his tail feathers as she was walking by he lost his. He came at her with such force, he knocked her over and then jump on top of her attacking her. I shoved him off and whacked him with a stick!
My poor sweet baby had scratches all down her stomach and back, arms and even just above her lip. I was ready to kill him. it’s like a switch went off in his head. He has even become mean to his ladies. They don’t want to be near him. I had been going back and forth about keeping him anyway. I’m looking at rehoming him. Until I find somewhere for him, can I help the situation other then serving him for dinner?
Side note, he hasn’t once gone after my 9yo son. I now go out with a stick because I don’t trust him."
Why would you not supervise a toddler, around your animals? I mean, the alarms went off when she stated that there had been earlier incidents that weren't serious, warnings that this woman ignored, then this 18 M/O child messes with his tail... of course he reacted, he feels threatened, he tried to tell her by the earlier, gentler warnings. This woman's lack of common sense combined with cockerel puberty is a complete recipe for disaster. Any animal can cause catastrophic injury to a small child, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. Children are notoriously rough with animals. I linked to the article @Shadrach wrote - Understanding Your Rooster.I guess I was an over-protective mother.
This mother should be put in a coop with that rooster.
Does she have any sense at all?
I wasn't always there to intervene and got angry at my sister in law for letting him do that without interfering. And she got angry with me for intervening and correcting the toddler's behavior. At one point, the dog bit the toddler to stop him and growled at any child who came near.
The anything that is harming the little brats are the parents for letting a child of that age anywhere near a rooster.
I just cannot be dealing with that sort of nonsense. When I was a kid I covered in bashes and bangs, gravel rash anf dirt. Wtf is wrong with people?.
