Agressive Cockerel Only To Wife

[TyRi]

We had an incident this morning while I was getting ready for work and my wife went out to check eggs.. she noticed the water was empty so when in the change it and our 5 1/2 month old cockerel decided he was going to attack her. Jumped up and scratched her legs and pecking. She immediately came and got me and said he always tries pecking at her feet but never this. He always stays his distance of me never having even close to a single problem or lets me pick him up and pet him if he is near me. Do they act different to men and women? Is it because she is generally a little more scared of all the chickens and they can tell she is a lot less confident/dominant? Will Clark have to be soup?

 

[Debbie292d]

We have a rooster a little over a year old. He started out by trying to attack our border collie who just outran him.

We put him in a breeding pen for about 6 months. Over time, he got really aggressive to both hubby and myself. Hubby didn't care and laughed at him as if making fun of a rooster is going to help. I carried a tin pitcher I held out in front of me when I had to go in there. Fast forward a few more months, and now he's out of the pen. He doesn't chase the border collie or me, but he does go after my hubby.

Today, we both walked by him to see what he'd do. He did nothing. I wondered if since he saw hubby and me side-by-side, that made him know he wasn't a threat any more than I was? For whatever reason, it worked I guess. We'll keep testing that to see if it continues, but you might try it too. Who knows, we might have something here!

 

[aart]

Do they act different to men and women?

Gender of human doesn't matter.....

Is it because she is generally a little more scared of all the chickens and they can tell she is a lot less confident/dominant?

..yes, demeanor of human can definitely matter.

 

[SueT]

Not a keeper. He's coming into his hormones and will get worse.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Animals can sense a human’s fear and observe us through our body language. They will tend to attack someone first if they see them as weaker or sense their fear. Many roosters are jerks because they had no one teach them manners. By that I mean older hens teaching manners not someone beating their rooster for clarification. Kind of like with people you have good ones and then you have terrible ones that no one was there to keep them in check growing up. The only rooster I had that was human aggressive was when I did not have any adult hens to boss him around. After that I let the older hens teach the cockerels respect/manners and ever since I have not had any human aggressive ones.

 

[FrostRanger]

I'd soup him. He'll probably only get worse

 

[Folly's place]

Often cockerels will start with smaller/ shorter people, and over time will go after more individuals. Acting nervous around him doesn't help either, BUT regardless, he's behaving badly and needs to be dinner.
Mary

 

[aart]

..yes, demeanor of human can definitely matter.

IME if I'm nervous or upset, it makes the birds nervous, and with a male it can make them more likely to be aggressive.

 

[TyRi]

Update… Clark was doing well but this morning I was filling food and water and he decided it was time to try me. I had jeans on so no problem for me, but not good for him. He finally hit his last straw so when I make time.. he will be headed to the freezer I believe.

 

[LaFleche]

he will be headed to the freezer I believe

Good decision.

There is no reason to keep a human aggressive bird, they are a liability and can cause severe injuries.