Terrorized by roosters! HELP!

[dianneS]

Okay, I think I made a mistake. I got rid of my nice roosters and kept the mean ones!!!

(One full-sized and one bantam) "Why???" you might ask... well, because my husband "likes" both of them. He felt bad for them.

Because both of the aggressive roosters were lower on the totem pole and got picked on by the more dominant roosters. However, both of these roosters only attack me.

I can only guess because I am a threat to them. I control the hens: they come when I call. I also clean the hen house and collect the eggs. I also control the food supply. I've even been flogged by these guys when trying to fill the feeder!!! My husband does none of this stuff. He only interacts with the chickens when he wants to feed them goodies from his hand, whenever he has the time.

Our chickens are free-range most of the time and I feel bad keeping them confined. When they are confined, they are really aggressive since I have to go into their territory to fill water and food and collect eggs. Anyway, I agreed to get rid of the dominant roosters (the nice ones, who never, ever flogged me!!!!) hoping that it would cure the lesser rooster's "inferioriority complex" and make them behave better. Well it hasn't.

I can't go outside without being stalked by roosters, both big and little. I can hear them sneaking up behind me in the grass. I can hear their claws scraping on the driveway when they are trying to sidle up next to me to take a cheap shot when I'm not looking. The little one is so bold, he will try to attack the lawn mower and weed whacker!!!

I have permanent scars from both of these guys from last summer.

I still have lumps under my skin and new bruises and cuts too. The big rooster has learned that my boots protect my lower legs, so he has begun attacking higher up on my legs and body! I have to look around every time I bend over to make sure no one is going to come at my face!! That is my biggest fear, that they are going to go for my eyes next... and they will. These guys aren't stupid.

It takes me so much more time to get outside chores accomplished since I have to take the "long way around" to avoid confrontation with roosters, as well as constantly surveying my suroundings to make sure that all is "safe". Its ridiculous.

My husband doesn't seem to give a crap and seems to think I can "make friends" with the roosters if I just give them treats, like he does. I've done that. It doesn't make a difference. I know once roosters are floggers, they always will be. You can't break them of it.

I just don't know what to do??? I can't get any work done around the property now that I'm not able to wear insulated cover-alls and high boots. Its swealtering hot here and I must wear shorts this time of year if I'm working outside. But with those roosters around, I feel like a sitting duck!!! I can't take much more. My husband doesn't seem convinced that this is a serious issue. Its like he won't be convinced until I lose an eye. He's never been flogged. He thinks its like a cat scratch. He doesn't understand how serious this is? What should I do??

 

[Pumpkinpup]

If it were me and I was that bothered by them, I'd wait until hubby was not home and the two roosters would go in the stew pot! That simple

 

[dianneS]

I did whack the little one the other day and he flipped over backward and flopped around, eyes rolling back in his head. I thought he was dead.

A few minutes later I hear a miserable sounding crow and thought "who was that"? After a few more attempts, the little bugger regained his voice and he was back to normal!!!

I thought maybe he'd learned his lesson and he'd leave me alone, but no, he's after me again.

I can't take it any more.

Next time I will whack him hard enough to get the job done for sure!

 

[Melanie 11]

x2

you can't live like that. Good luck.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

I feel for ya. I have yet to meet the rooster I can live with long term.

 

[LeadHead]

A few years back we had a white Leghorn rooster with big ole long spurs, and he was a cantankerous old cuss. Our kids do most of the work taking care of the chickens and at that time our oldest son was about 9 years old (and small for his age, at that). As time went on he was getting pretty intimidated by "Big Boy", as we called the roo, and would get flogged by the rascal whenever he'd go into the coop. He'd come to the house with large bruises on his legs where Big Boy had spurred him. One day I finally told him, "Jared, you're going to have to be confident when you go into the coop and show Big Boy who's boss when he comes at you." I told him to take a piece of 1x2 board with him into the coop and and use the rooster for batting practice. He did this a few times without much improvement until one day while the rest of us were working in the garden he once again laid him out on the ground with the board. A few minutes we looked up to see him come walking to us in the garden with a docile rooster in his arms saying, "Look, Daddy, Big Boy likes me now!" From that day forward we never had any more problems with that bird and Jared was pretty sad when it finally died.

 

[TreeHugger]

I'd give them away on Craigslist or put them in the stewpot. Either act like you don't know what happened to them or say a predator managed to grab both of them at once and run off.

 

[ralleia]

I'm sorry that your husband likes these roosters and doesn't seem to care that they are attacking you. You needn't put up with abuse from roosters.

We have two *very* well-behaved roosters now, but in the beginning we had a Buff Orphington rooster, "King Henry," that would attack me. And it NOT a question of my confidence--I have plenty of confidence dealing with headstrong animals, since I am that way I was paired with the most obstinate horse during riding lessons, and deal with some pretty big dogs.

However this rooster would NOT respect me, even after I started chasing him around the chicken run until he would cower and hide his head in a corner. Weeks passed.

Then came the day.

I went into the chicken coop with the baby on my back in a carrier to collect eggs. There were no chickens in the coop. I went about my business.

Suddenly, there was an explosion of feathers. I looked down to see the BO rooster squaring off against me. I noticed that my leg hurt. He had spurred me in the thigh, a few inches from where the baby's leg rested.

When my husband arrived home that day I was still carrying King Henry by his feet upside down, being none-too-careful about what I ran into. He was King Henry soup that weekend.

There are PLENTY of wonderful roosters out there--you need not put up with ones that are dangerous.

 

[Lakemuse.com]

I've had nice and crazy mean roosters. Any rooster that dares spur gets his spurs dremeled dull. Their harmless without sharp spurs. I've heard of people removing rooster spurs with pliers but I've never done this. There are U-Tube videos on how to remove spurs. You shouldn't put up with a mean rooster. Good luck.

 

[Fritatta]

I think they should meet with an 'accident'