RobertaÂ
IÂm in a similar situation. Our rooster, Roosterboy, has charged me from time to time. ItÂs totally unpredictable so that makes me nervous. I go in the pen with a fly-swatter so at least I could fend him off. 99% of the time he is fine. He has only charged me once when they were out of the pen. He seems most likely to when I let them out of the house and into the pen in the morning. ThatÂs when heÂs after the ladies (6 of them). AS result, I spend less time in the pen hanging around the hens.
We have a new bunch of 24 chickensÂthese are regular breeds, not hybridÂamong them a couple of very sweet natured Buff Orphingtons and Speckled Sussex. I pick them a lot, something I didnÂt do with Roosterboy since we got him full grown. I am hoping that one or two of these socialized males will grow into better behaved roosters. And Roosterboy will have to go. ItÂs tough thoughÂheÂs a fine protector of the ladies and thatÂs probably what the (misplaced) aggression is about in the first place.

These are all free range and this guy comes running clear across the property to confront me! This afternoon, I stood my ground with a spray bottle of water. At first, he just kept coming at me, but then stood down. He then ran about 50 feet and just started crowing non-stop!

I absolutely live outdoors in the summer because I love gardening so this has to be dealt with or the guy is soup. I will go back out this evening and watch for him.

I cant tell you much but i have two roosters that do that and now they are going bye bye. i would hit them with the feed bucket but they still think they are the boss.

Roberta,

DW used to get attacked by roosters. I have a couple of times but I kicked them very solidly and they never tried it again.

I spent a lot of years working in the criminal justice system and a considerable part of that was in jails. We had a saying that "If you're sweating and the prisoners aren't, you're doing something wrong." You can apply that to a lot of situations including roosters. That aggressive rooster should be trying to get away from you rather than attacking.

Bob

Hi Roberta,
I agree with Bob. Don't let the rooster know you are afraid of him. I have a barred rock rooster that I've raised from day-old and a few months ago he charged me in the chicken house one night. Really caught me off guard and I almost got rid of him. Since then I've figured out ways that I may be intimidating him and try to avoid them. I talk to him and just basically don't pay him much mind. He still tries to pretend he's boss, but that's only in the "chicken world" and he and I both know it. I will resort to "the boot" if necessary, though. Not hard, but enought that he knows I'm not kidding.

Had a rooster like that one time. I thought it was funny, I could deal with it. Then, one day, he spurred my 3 yr old son on the face, missing his eye by 1/4 inch. Soon as the son was doctored the rooster met the ax. Could have been a real tragedy, but we were lucky.

You could run up to them real fast and flap your arms at them and act like a rooster yourself, haha. I actuall did this to ours and it worked. Or Take a broom and whack him. He will need occasional reminders though. We have 3 very mean rhode island reds, and my younger siblings play "rooster hockey" with a broom....they are the puck, lol.

Roberta, you do need to nip this roo's problem behavior in the bud! A squirt bottle ...how's that working?

Out of my 22 chicken, I think about half are roos, and I'm really ticked about it! They are all still pretty young (March-April), but they know I'm the Head Rooster, and the Giver of Good Things To Eat. I am also the Carrier of the Water Hose, and the Squeezer of the Pressure Nozzle.

It makes me furious when one roo starts chasing a hen, three more will join in. I just grab the water hose and start squeezing. Aim for his back or head. Believe me, it doesn't hurt them, but will make them run the other way.

Your roo could have attacked you simply because of a bucket or shoes that he'd not noticed before. Don't EVER hesitate to kick out at them. They are really pretty hard to hurt! I thought my husband killed ours few years back...he just laid dead on the ground for a few seconds, then jumped up and literally "shook it off" and went chasing hens again.

I certainly don't advocate cruelty, but you gotta do what you gotta do to establish your ranking!

The squirt bottle seemed to work and he hasn't attacked me since the one time. I am on guard though. When the attack occurred, I was carrying two brightly colored bucket lids and that probably didn't look right to him.

What I am concerned about though is when the grand kids come to visit. There is no way I can just close them up since they are all free-range.

My DH sold our flock of Rhode Island Reds a couple of weeks ago. They were pretty much free range during the day. We had the most gorgeous rooster - I called him Roo-Fasa. But he has attacked every child who has set foot on the place, and 4 adults.

We have made it clear to all visitors they should NOT DISRESPECT the rooster in any fashion or chase the hens. It didn't matter, if they so much as LOOKED at him funny he was at them. He had 2 inch spurs, you would think that a sane adult would not mess with him. And he NEVER forgot a insulting remark, or if someone got in his space. Every person that he has attacked had been warned.

I had to give him "the boot" several times, and once I took the lunge whip after him and smacked the h*ll out of him for chasing my guests. She had a good sized hole torn in her jeans, but she disrespected him, I saw it.

He's been taken to a chicken farm where his protective instincts are appreciated. His new flock of 21 hens keeps him happy.

So with our next up and coming batch of chicks, all of whom show spur-knobs, we will have them confined in a pen of some kind, all day. I don't know if hens sill have the little spots for spurs or not. The most agressive will be culled, and I will breed the next generation for a better temprement.

You may want to build a pen for days when the kids are over. It doesn't hurt to be careful! Or just send the roo to market. I don't see any reason to keep a mean roo!

Great article on taming and keeping your roosters (and yourself) sane:

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

It works, I've tried it many times. I make a real point of regularly scooping up my roos and carrying them around for pets and cuddles, and I've never had one attack me. They are as sweet as pie and completely tame, I can walk right up to them. When my Americaunas roo, Phoenix (Head Roo), chases the beta roo, Scott (banty roo), I chase Phoenix to let him know I don't tolerate that in my presence, I AM THE HEAD ROO as far ans my flock is concerned.

Even with the boys being so tame, they are fierce defenders of the girls and God help any animal that comes into the yard looking for a chicken dinner! :)

Velvet ~:>

There are too many good natured roosters to put yourself and anyone else in danger. Roosters can cause a lot of pain and leave scars. One good clunk of the head and it's over.

Ok so one day out of the blue this leghorn roo shows up at the house. We didnt feed him for a while thinking he would continue to move on, well that never happened and so we went out to get feed and have been feeding him ever since. One day i noticed him pecking the ground in a weird way and he looked anxious, not thinking I turned away from him to do something and out of the corner of my eye noticed him rushing me. I whipped around and he jumped at me he then met my foot. he fell back and ran off. for days he would run just from the sight of me from across the yard. Talking to my neighbor I found out that they were feeding him crackers and the roo was fine then just snapped and started to attack everybody (a group of 3 adults and 2 kids). they ran inside and the roo started to attack the screen door and actually broke in. my partner on the otherhand can walk right up to this roo flap his arms whatever and the bird does nothing. In the days to follow i was thinking maybe it was our body language so i tried to relax around the bird and that seem to help but there are many times that it rushes me and when i turn he just stops and sits there. I was talking to someone and they suggested that it was a fighting roo and i thought that may have been a possibility due to his chaotic behavior. I have had many many chickens in the past and one of which was aggressive but this new roo is very very odd and I dont know what to do with him I would like some hens for him. I mean whats the point of just having a roo without a few hens. My partner is getting attached and I need a solution fast! The soup pot isnt really an option. any help will be appreciated- Thanks