Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rooster.

[chicksandchores]

Meet Debbie. We thought he was a girl when he was young because he was a little behind the other cockerels in coloring and such, hence the name Debbie. Debbie is, to put it lightly, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rooster. He’s the beta of the flock and has, thus far, attacked me (his favorite person to try to spur), both of my sisters, my boyfriend, my sister’s boyfriend, and my cousin whom he had never met before. He luckily has very short and dull spurs, however my patience has grown thinner with time. Today he has finally done the one thing I said would guarantee his demise: he broke skin. I was giving scratch to everyone, with some poultry conditioner added because my old highschool’s ag day is coming up and my sister and I plan to take some of my chooks to show the kids. All I did was walk around him, I wasn’t even looking at him, and he attacked feet first. He got me good enough to leave scraped and welts and one place he did, in fact, break skin. Debbie has been doing this since a couple months after the flock was well established and five of the other roosters were sold off, which was in July or August of last year. I’m sick of it. I don’t necessarily want to kill him but in that moment I did and had I been able to catch him, I would have. I don’t know what to do. I’ll kill him if I have to, I’ll rehome him if someone wants him, I just can’t deal with him anymore. I’m at my wits end. This is a rooster I hand-feed treats (like raspberries and blueberries and such) and he STILL attacks me! Any advice?

 

[TwentyOneChickens]

Maybe he's bad because he doesn't want to be called Debbie

I haven't had experience with roosters but I know they're pretty mean. I researched and apparently you should pick them up more, especially in front of hens.

Sorry, I don't have much of an answer, but he's a beautiful roo!

 

[SurferchickinSB]

View attachment 1733557
Meet Debbie. We thought he was a girl when he was young because he was a little behind the other cockerels in coloring and such, hence the name Debbie. Debbie is, to put it lightly, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rooster. He’s the beta of the flock and has, thus far, attacked me (his favorite person to try to spur), both of my sisters, my boyfriend, my sister’s boyfriend, and my cousin whom he had never met before. He luckily has very short and dull spurs, however my patience has grown thinner with time. Today he has finally done the one thing I said would guarantee his demise: he broke skin. I was giving scratch to everyone, with some poultry conditioner added because my old highschool’s ag day is coming up and my sister and I plan to take some of my chooks to show the kids. All I did was walk around him, I wasn’t even looking at him, and he attacked feet first. He got me good enough to leave scraped and welts and one place he did, in fact, break skin. Debbie has been doing this since a couple months after the flock was well established and five of the other roosters were sold off, which was in July or August of last year. I’m sick of it. I don’t necessarily want to kill him but in that moment I did and had I been able to catch him, I would have. I don’t know what to do. I’ll kill him if I have to, I’ll rehome him if someone wants him, I just can’t deal with him anymore. I’m at my wits end. This is a rooster I hand-feed treats (like raspberries and blueberries and such) and he STILL attacks me! Any advice?

Bye Bye Debbie!

 

[llombardo]

Did you have a bag in your hand? My one rooster does not like bags of all things.

Another thing that I changed--I put the treats out and then let them out of the coop. This way he gets to call the girls when he finds the treats versus them running to me for them. It made a huge difference and it's no harder to do.

 

[Happy Quack]

A lot of roosters are like that but not all. In my experience with the roosters that start being that way they don't stop. For me they go away for good. We had one rooster that would always attack my dog (us too) and my dog would grab him by the neck hold him down until the rooster stopped moving then let the rooster go. My dog never hurt him. The rooster never learned his lesson and finally went into the crockpot. There have been a few that are the nicest things ever. They get stay.

 

[TwentyOneChickens]

Bye Bye Debbie!

You shouldn't go right to getting rid of the roo. You need to try at least something first, right?!

 

[50-45-1]

I believe you will have to get rid of your rooster. Once they display this behavior, my experience is that it does not change. Only get worse.
What i see is these roosters that are hand fed and coddled have lost all their natural fear if you and see you as competition for the hens.
I never pick up or handle my roosters, only after dark to treat injuries, trim spurs or check for pests.
I keep rooster at a respectful distance and they have just enough fear of me and behave themself.
If you do rehome your rooster, make sure to let the prospective owner of his aggresive behavior. This rooster around children could do alot of damage.
Sorry for your trouble.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

You shouldn't go right to getting rid of the roo. You need to try at least something first, right?!

Well kind of sort of sounds like he has been attacking everyone. We had a Rooster like that on our ranch when I was young and he just kept getting worse and worse until a mountain lion got him. He even attacked my little brother that was only about five at the time, luckily he was not blinded or anything. My dad had to hit that rooster with a club to get him off my brother! No one could even come over!

 

[Shorty22366]

Debbie would have to leave. Like many said once they display this behavior it doesn't usually stop only gets worse.
I am sorry he is a meanie.

 

[TwentyOneChickens]

Well kind of sort of sounds like he has been attacking everyone. We had a Rooster like that on our ranch when I was young and he just kept getting worse and worse until a mountain lion got him. He even attacked my little brother that was only about five at the time, luckily he was not blinded or anything. My dad had to hit that rooster with a club to get him off my brother! No one could even come over!

I'll take your word for it.