I have a 4 1/2 mo silver sussex roo. He has not started to mate (he has 5 pullets). He has been fine up until the last 2 weeks. We keep them locked in their run at night and let them out in the morning to free range all day. The first sign of trouble is when my husband let him out for me one morning, he walked out of the run and bowed up at my husband. My DH stepped up to the rooster and he backed down and walked away. Then my 10 yo son let him out for me, the roo raised his hackles and chased him across the yard. We decided to just give him a chance and have the kids spend more time hand feeding him and to make sure that they speak to the roo before opening the run. Then yesterday my 5 yo daughter walked past him and he bit her pants and started pulling her. This morning I let him out but didn't speak on purpose just to see what he would do. He walked out, dropped his shoulder as he walked past me, changed his mind came back to me, raised his hackles and bit my robe and held on. I said "Kai-Roo NO!" He dropped the robe and I pushed him down into the ground for a second and then let him up to see what he would do. He walked away. I walked after him and called his name to see if he would come back at me and he walked away faster. Not long after that the dog walked past him......the dog has never been aggressive with them and they have never acted afraid of him......and the rooster attacked my dog. He jumped up and attacked. My dog just dropped his tail and walked away.
I want to know....do I have to rehome him or this fairly common behavior for a rooster that is just getting his hormones? My kids are really sad because I told them that he was going to have to go. I am really concerned because I am thinking that once he starts mating he will get even more aggressive. I also have a 2 year old and that is a real concern. Is there anything that we can do to stop this behavior before it gets out of hand? Culling him is not an option. He is also a really large bird but his spur hasn't come in yet.
Here is the offender......

I want to know....do I have to rehome him or this fairly common behavior for a rooster that is just getting his hormones? My kids are really sad because I told them that he was going to have to go. I am really concerned because I am thinking that once he starts mating he will get even more aggressive. I also have a 2 year old and that is a real concern. Is there anything that we can do to stop this behavior before it gets out of hand? Culling him is not an option. He is also a really large bird but his spur hasn't come in yet.
Here is the offender......