Ugh... hurt my roo tonight. *Update* He attacked DH.

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

I've already posted here a few times about Stewy my roo. I was about to cull him a few weeks ago but I keep seeing how good he is with the hens and I'm reconsidering. Tonight after they had gone in their coop I picked up one of the hens for a health check and he ran at me. He does this every time I handle a hen. Once in a while he'll try to flog me with a wing. He tried it on Sunday night and got a free flying lesson from my foot.

I have been picking him up and carrying him around but tonight after charging me I couldn't catch him and he mounted a hen right in front of me. So I grabbed a big fishing net that we have and scooped him up. After I got him and was carrying him around I noticed some blood near his comb. The net must have caught him in a bad place. I put some ointment on his wound and put him back with the hens.


Sooo... I am still feeling bad about hurting him.

Am I overreacting? I'm so new to chickens that I have no idea what is 'normal' roo behavior. I do not want to make him a pet at all so no one recommend that I cuddle him. I only hold him to show dominance over him.

I see thread after thread about aggressive roos, taming your roo, making your roo a pet, etc. etc. but I'm still not getting it. Is running at me but not trying to bite or spur me mean that he is aggressive and out of control?

I get dogs, I get cats, I think I even get goats, cows and horses but roos? Help!

P.S. In his defense (not that he deserves it) he is fantastic with the hens. He does everything that I read about which makes him a great roo for them!

 

[can you hear me now?]

Sounds like you have a good one. I pick em up when they go nuts too. Today I actually went out and entered my roos a little bit just to remind them who is the boss. Went for food and I basically prevented him from eating it, like a roo will do with hens sometimes. I do this so I don't have the whole my roo came after me thread. Sounds like you are doing just fine. Accidents happen.

 

[silkiechicken]

If he were my rooster, he'd live up to his name pretty quick.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

From my limited experience with aggressive roos, I would say, carry a stick with you. Watch your eyes. And your back.

And put him in a bachelor pad for awhile if needed so that you don't have to be afraid to do your regular chicken care! This knocks him down in pecking order too I think....

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

Thanks for the replies.

So... the fact that he is charging me at all means he is aggressive?

Are there large roos (not Polish, not silkies) who allow people to handle the hens in front of them without reacting at all?

And, I'm not afraid of him. I'm just not sure if he is terrible or if I'm overreacting. As much as I handle other animals (right now a pack of dogs) I know not to back down or act scared around him.

Also, to add he is a hatchery SLW (but gorgeous) and he is 30 weeks old.

 

[twister]

mine started doing something similiar until each and every day , he gained more courage to do more damage to me and my son.

I re-homed my roo w. full disclosure.

Watch your back. The more successful attempts he gets at domineering you... well, someone could get hurt. ( dont feel bad about hurting him...but DEFINATELY watch him... he will not forget that he got a bootfull)

 

[shuizar209]

Quote:
2nd this.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
I have SEVEN roosters right now. I can walk around with absolutely no fear. They have NEVER shown anything but respect for me. I used to have one that attacked me and my children repeatedly - it was just getting worse and worse. We had to put him down.

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

personally, i would like a roo that acted that way. I would think he would protect the hens quite well. imho, i would just net him if i needed to mess with his girls, and other than that, as long as he didnt attack me out of no where, i would leave him be.

 

[wildeflowers]

I would not like him charging me. I would show dominance over him every time he did this. In fact, I do this with our roo. I think he'll be fine. It's not like you hurt him on purpose, and it sounds like a very small wound. No worries. He'd get more from sparring with another roo. It's just your the top roo now, right?