Violent Cockerel ?!

[niamhblond]

I've had this bird from a chick he's around 9 months old he has plenty of roaming space In the garden and plenty of hens (5) to keep him company . I'm not very tall (5'2)but I was carrying the eggs from the shed in to the house and he jumped up and started peck me on the feet at first it was cute then he became vicious and started ripping out parts of my hair and pecking my shoulder and fluffing up his feathers . I don't know what suddenly came over him because he was never like this before but is he just becoming "mature" and breeding or what ?

 

[Wisher1000]

Welcome to BYC!

It may be that he sees you as one of his hens and is trying to mate, or it may be that his hormones are getting the best of him. Either way, it's not good. There are way too many good, gentle roosters that need homes to put up with a bad rooster. My advice is to get rid of him now. If you want to wait and see, that's up to you. But he may go after children and can do some damage if he wants.

Good luck

ETA - Also, you don't want him to father the next generation of mean roosters.

 

[bobbi-j]

That rooster would have a very short life here. When he started pecking your feet, he was telling you that he's the boss and he has dominance over you. When he got by with it, his little chicken brain told him that he needs to put you further in your place, for some reason or another. In my opinion, you have three choices. You can ignore the behavior and have to watch your back every time you go out to do chores. Or you can look up all the threads on here about how to "tame" a rooster, try them and have a rooster that you will never be able to trust, or you can eat him. It would be wrong to try to "rehome" a rooster that's that aggressive. If he was my rooster, he would have a very short life...

 

[niamhblond]

Welcome to BYC!

It may be that he sees you as one of his hens and is trying to mate, or it may be that his hormones are getting the best of him.  Either way, it's not good.  There are way too many good, gentle roosters that need homes to put up with a bad rooster.  My advice is to get rid of him now.  If you want to wait and see, that's up to you.  But he may go after children and can do some damage if he wants.

Good luck

I completely agree because a child could have lost an eye but I'm attached to him and he is beautiful so is there a method to stop this ?

 

[niamhblond]

. This is him is he worth the beauty ?

 

[Wisher1000]

I know it is hard, but getting rid of him is really your best bet. I know you probably don't want to eat him and likely won't want anyone else to either. I agree that it is not fair to rehome him, at least not without letting the new owners know he is mean. You could put an ad in the paper for a free mean rooster and give him to the first person who calls and don't ask questions. I know, I know, but it is part of owning chickens and you will get used to it.

 

[donrae]

I've had this bird from a chick he's around 9 months old he has plenty of roaming space In the garden and plenty of hens (5) to keep him company . I'm not very tall (5'2)but I was carrying the eggs from the shed in to the house and he jumped up and started peck me on the feet at first it was cute then he became vicious and started ripping out parts of my hair and pecking my shoulder and fluffing up his feathers . I don't know what suddenly came over him because he was never like this before but is he just becoming "mature" and breeding or what ?

He's telling you he's the boss of you. This didn't "suddenly" come over him, he gave you plenty of warning when he started pecking you and you thought it was cute. It wasn't cute, it was him saying he was dominant to you. By not doing anything, you told him you are submissive to him. He's not sure in his heart he's the boss of you and really, nothing's going to change that. He's pretty in a generic rooster way, but honestly he's nothing spectacular, and even if he were there's never, ever any reason to keep an animal that attacks you. If you're letting him around your hair/shoulder, it's your eyes that are in jeopardy, not just a child's. Do you want a nice jagged facial scar for the rest of your life? Is he worth never, ever being able to relax around your birds? Would you ever want to breed him and pass that temperament on? Answer to all the above should be no.

Accept there's no green pasture of forever homes and list him with full disclosure. Don't ask if they plan to eat him. Remember there are worse things than a quick, humane death. Then get on with enjoying your hens (who will also probably be much happier without him) and don't get any more roosters.

 

[FarmGirlForLife]

This is a strange case. I have between 15 and 20 roosters at the moment and none have ever displayed that kind of behavior towards me or my mother (I'm not much taller than you and my mother is about your height) Personally, I would get rid of him. One rooster isn't worth the risk because once he gets spurs he could be very dangerous to small children. There are actual cases of roosters blinding children. Furthermore, I believe that if you want to raise chickens, than you must accept every part of raising them including the culling. They are your responsibility, you shouldn't pass it on to someone else. What were you going to do if you wound up having chicks that turned out to be cockerels? If you are just wanting eggs you don't even need a rooster.

 

[pound4pound]

get him used on 3 ft tie cord if you dont want to get rid of him. so that when grows up he behaves. make sure he's around hens to calm him down.

 

[niamhblond]

get him used on 3 ft tie cord if you dont want to get rid of him. so that when grows up he behaves. make sure he's around hens to calm him down.

This is a really good Idea but we've been having problems with buzzards taking chickens lately so he would be an easy meal for them or he would try to run and brake his neck .