Black Australorps are ordinarily a passive breed, so it's puzzling to me that Roosterboy is "attacking" you. If he's going at you sideways, does he also hang his wing down and sorta do a little hop dance around you in a circle? If so, it's my guess he's not trying to "attack" you, he's confused and he's trying to "turn you on." But this is just a guess. Still, make no mistake in thinking that this behavior is exceptable though. If Roosterboy gets ahold of you, whether fighting or love is on his mind...it hurts! Yes, nip this behavior in the bud. As mean is this sounds, it might take a swift kick once or twice to remind him that he is NOT the cock of the walk...YOU are!

One of my roos was the same way with my DH and one whack with a broomstick solved the problem...

I wouldn't recommend hitting or kicking him...long-term, it doesn't solve the problem, really. Sometimes a mean roo is a mean roo and the only solution is chicken pot pie. But since he's young, you can try to tame him. If he is doing the courtship dance at you, it STILL means that he considers you beneath him in the pecking order, and that won't do. Courtship can turn aggressive in an effort to control you. Here is a link to a great site on chickens, this page in particular is on how to tame roos, I've used this technique and it works :)

http://shilala.homestead.com/roosters.html

Basically you just pick them up and carry them around with you, petting them and making them love ya. :) You still need to reinforce that YOU are Head Roo, not Roosterboy. You need to do it hands-on--clapping, shouting and the like is challenge posturing and as you have seen, just gets him more worked up. Roos understand physical contact. :)

You can also check my page and see if there might be anything there that can give you more insight:

http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChickRoosters.htm

Good luck with him, he seems young enough to tame down into a sweetie, at 9 months it's more likely he's confused and a tad excitable. *G*

Velvet ~:>

Maybe there's another way to look at this. Say you had a bull that was gesturing at you. If you could do so safely would you zapp him with a cattle prod, throw rocks at him or shoot him with a hose? You probably wouldn't because that would be cruel treatment. The same goes for the rooster. If you have to kick and hit him that qualifies you as cruel in my book. We had a Buff Orpington rooster that was like that and we just worked around him. Our usual was to throw some feed in the chicken pen away from the eggs. That gave us time to do our work and in the long run he somewhat tolerated us. If your rooster really is agressive beyond your comfort then cull him. Anyhow, just another view on the problem. Tom

I had a red rooster who would challenge me. I would pick him up and hold him and carry him around with me and it did make him calm down. Every once in a while he'd try again, and I'd carry him with me. Sometimes I'd pick him up and put him in the quarantine pen, too. Just to show him that I was the boss.

Johanna

Yeeesh, I'd just eat him! We had a roo who was going after kids last year and that night we ate That Black Rooster for dinner. Good riddance!

I do have a female rabbit who attacks me every time I go into her cage to feed her. I've tried petting and soothing- sometimes it works for a day or two but then she goes back to her old foul-tempered ways. I have tolerated it only because she's a great rabbit mom, produces huge litters of healthy babies. But this time (she's due May 2) I'm just keeping one of her females and putting her in the crockpot once the babies can take care of themselves.

Kristen

I appreciate all the responses and yes, this is a subject worth discussing/debating. Roosterboy, the roo in question, was given to us when he was about 5 months old. I have never picked him up. He has always been kind of skittish and he runs so darned fast there is no way I'd catch him. Given that, the thought of chasing, catching and holding him kind of scares me. For the last couple of days he's been fine--just hangs around with the others, a cmplete gentleman. So maybe things will be OK. I have very young grandchildren (age 3) and when they visit, I don't want to have to worry about this. I think I'll play wait and see. I go into the pen with a broom, just in case. But if he gets agressive again . . .

On the one hand that aggresive behavior is good in that this rooster will aggressively defend your hens against predators. I had a white roo who fought to the death rather than allow a hawk to carry one of his hens out of the pen. Even though the hen was already dead, roo charged in and fought for her. I liked him for that fearlessness.

On the other hand, he also tried to defend them from me on occasion, and I had to defend myself from him. I used an old broom handle and although I never actually had to hit him with it, just swinging it around usually was enough to discourage him. It was a tradeoff for me whether to keep him or cull him. I kept him and I'm glad I did. If you have another roo who will be the next death-defying defender of helpless hens, maybe you don't need Roosterboy. If not, just be prepared to defend yourself when you enter his territory.

Cheryl

Do you think he might have been upset with me for taking the eggs? One time when I was in the chicken house getting eggs, he came in--first time that he had done that. He didn't attack me but it was right at the time he had been challenging me. NOw I get the eggs when he is otherwise occupied and maybe that explains his better behavior. I do want him to protect the hens. Do you think he in any way associates the hens he protects with the eggs they lay? Maybe he just wants to be a dad?

When I first started with chickens, I had to have roosters around. I loved the sound of them and the thought of baby chicks in the spring.

I changed my mind. I think it was the day I got a cell phone call from my 13 year old daughter. She was at the edge of the driveway where the school bus let her off. She could see our two free-range roosters halfway down the drive and could I please send the boys out with sticks or brooms so that she could come home. We had lost the freedom of quietly enjoying our property.

Now I order 25 pullets each spring. Nothing beats those free-range eggs.

Don't wait until your rooster attacks one of your grandchildren. If he comes at you, do you think he won't attack people/kids he isn't familiar with?

the chances of him going after one of your grandkids is higher than his going after you! Especially as he gets older.

Roosters are a dime a dozen. What is your grandchild worth?
M