Add my voice to exactly what a couple others here have said - choose the roosters that aren't overly aggressive to you or to their hens, yet maintain vigil over their flock. For me, unacceptable would be ANY kind of aggressive behavior towards Mrs or I. That would earn a one way ticket to the dinner table. But small children - that's a whole other story. I agree with the poster who suggested you need to teach the child to be calm and slow around the birds - yet confident.
My avatar pic is of our current flock master, a cuckoo marans who is huge yet gentle. Never plucks feathers from the hens, never acts aggressive to us, yet who steps up and displays when the young boy from up the hill (a little over 2 years old) comes to visit the chickens. My sense is that the rooster sees the child as some sort of threat, and is simply doing his job. Rather than try to change the bird's behavior, we're teaching the child how to behave around the birds.
My avatar pic is of our current flock master, a cuckoo marans who is huge yet gentle. Never plucks feathers from the hens, never acts aggressive to us, yet who steps up and displays when the young boy from up the hill (a little over 2 years old) comes to visit the chickens. My sense is that the rooster sees the child as some sort of threat, and is simply doing his job. Rather than try to change the bird's behavior, we're teaching the child how to behave around the birds.
