Is my rooster aggressive?

[Mrs. K]

With a 3 year old daughter who has already taken an attack in the face, I would cancel the straight run order. If you need more hens, order sex linked pullets. Raise them up a year, and then look for a rooster. Roosters are easy to come by.

If your child and the chickens share the yard, I would even wait till the child was closer to 6 years of age.

Roosters have ruined the whole chicken experience for a lot of people, and those people don’t find it funny. Most are still mad decades later.

 

[McChooky]

Having small children around a young cockerel is clearly dangerous. Its not worth getting your kids faced scarred up or an eye put out to have a rooster

 

[redinator]

I would take @Folly's place advice and wait until your daughter is older. Adding a rooster to an existing flock of hens is much easier as the hens will do most of the work. You could opt for sexed chicks (autosexing at hatch) to get more pullets or buy a few point of lay hens.

I'm new to chickens myself and I have 3 cockerels, but I don't have young children to consider . . . if I get injured it's my own doing.

The two older cockerels (5 months now) went through about a week of testing me when they were roughly 12-13 weeks old. After separating them repeatedly from the flock (for short periods) and thumping or shoving them with my foot when they invaded my space (the pullets are allowed close, the cockerels aren't) they learned what was acceptable behavior and I haven't had trouble from either of them since. I have another 13 week old cockerel (yes, I know I'm asking for trouble) that's just starting to cut up a bit, but my older pullets (5 months old) sent him packing. They seem to enjoy the task a bit too much, lol.

 

[redinator]

This is all aggressive behavior, yes. Treating you like a rival or a female chicken is aggressive and both are signs he thinks you are a chicken.

Anytime my cockerels attempt to dance for me they get a shove from my foot, if they continue they get put in the run alone to sulk for an hour or so. It doesn't happen often but occasionally. They're 5 months and I've seen the two cockerels dance for each other . . . they're so confused and hormonal they'd probably dance for a chair, lol.

 

[McChooky]

I have a 2 yr old rooster I raised when I decided to add a rooster.He doesn't flog me and eats of of my hands when I offer him treats but if he was afraid of me and saw me as a threat he'd attack.Thats why roosters shouldn't be trusted around kids.Children will make sudden movements and loud noises which startles them and chase the hens which triggers them

 

[SRBoe]

I’m not sure there are signs before hormones kick in but there are two schools of thought on raising “good roosters”: some people swear that handling them often makes them nicer. You have seen first hand that is no guarantee. There is another school of thought that handling young cockerels often and “cuddling” them gives them the idea that you are part of their flock and then when hormones hit they do exactly as you have seen. I don’t keep my cockerels long enough to have a lot of personal experience but I do know how several of my cockerels have turned out because they belong to my mom. The only nasty one is the one I didn’t realize was a cockerel until close to 12 weeks. He was raised with other pullets his own age, handled frequently, and never interacted with grown hens. The boys I raised with hens and did not handle often are perfect gentlemen. So take that advice as you see fit. I’m sure other people have opinions as well.

This is interesting because my best rooster was raised by several hens with his female siblings. He has never threatened me or anyone else and he’s taken good care of his girls, always calling them over when he’s found something good to eat. He follows me around, asking for some sunflower seeds which he and the girls love, and he will stand by while they eat first. He has eaten from my hand, as have his girls. Sadly, we’ve lost one of his hens to old age, and another one to a hawk. Now he has only one hen to look after.

I have two younger chickens I obtained as chicks and two turkey chicks this spring and unfortunately, one of the chickens is a cockerel. The two turkeys and chickens are quite companionable and they don’t interact with my older cockeral and his hen, but I have noticed them sharing space without conflict. That could change as the young cockerel ages. I’m in a wait-and-see situation right now. It may be that I’ll have to rehome one of them if they start fighting.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

He'll test you every 2 or 3 aweeks

That sounds exhausting. More exhausting than a trip to the chopping block and getting another rooster.

 

[McChooky]

If he wasn't raised in an established flock he has to learn everything the hard way so chances are he'll mess up. Older chickens in an established flock teach the young chicks to respect their caretakers and the hierarchy of the flock. A cockerel who keeps his distance won't sneak attack you like a friendly one

 

[zippychippie]

I recently bought a chicken coop from a local Amish man.

He told me that his two year old granddaughter literally lost an eye from being attacked by a grown rooster in her mother's chicken pen.

What a horrible story! But it bears witness to the need to need to react promptly to bad behavior, especially if you have young kids.

 

[McChooky]

I recently bought a chicken coop from a local Amish man.

He told me that his two year old granddaughter literally lost an eye from being attacked by a grown rooster in her mother's chicken pen.

What a horrible story! But it bears witness to the need to need to react promptly to bad behavior, especially if you have young kids.

A cockerels spurs or beak can leave some ugly scars emotionally and physically