[wiggy]

Hi any advice on what to do with a cockerel that has suddenly started to attack the wife and kids when they go into the garden. They aren't doing anything to provoke it but it just comes at them, although when i go out there he runs off! Thanks

[viper]

STAND YOUR GROUND WITH HIM IF GOES TO ATTACK HAVE A HOSE PIPE READY HE WILL LEARN ALLSO GET OTHER PEOPLE TO FEEDING THEM

[joyfull]

Sadly some don't learn and the only way is to cull the bird.

[Helenaj]

I've read somewhere (on this site I think), that when he goes for you grab him and hold him down on the ground for a while as he would with a hen that he mounts - it then shows you are dominant over him. Your wife would need to do this a couple of times until he realises he's beaten. However, how your children would do this is another matter as he would be difficult to handle. As Joyfull says, some will not learn and with children in the house it is risky with a cockerel who does not make the distinction between humans and a rival cockerel. Do you really need a cockerel? If so, go for the quieter breeds like a Brahma who are gentle giants and consign the one you've got to the pot!

[Casey76]

No need for nasty cockerals... have coq au vin on Sunday, and get a nice, well behaved cockerel

[viper]

if you want a friendly little boy i have one looking for a new home

[hillfooter]

Sadly some don't learn and the only way is to cull the bird.

errr ..........that's the cock not the wife of course!

If you can cure him you'll be lucky I've never suceeded once they get into this habit and I've tried everything from not squaring up to them, to dunking them, squirting them, holding them down and plenty of other recommended methods nothing is sure to work.  The only thing that did work to some extent with one cockerel was to catch him in a net as soon as I entered the run.  There after if I aways carried the net he kept out of my way but he would still try it on if I didn't have the net and I turned my back.  The worse thing I've found to do is to try and show them whose the boss by beating them. I had a cockerel who was fine with me but always attacked my SIL when he went in the run and I found that this was because he provoked him by kicking him away. 

Your cockerel is defending his hareem and he sees your wife and children as rivals probably because they hand feed your hens which he won't like as this is his job.  If anyone who is reading this has a young cockerel with their hens  and who wants to hand feed the hens make sure you give him the feed first so he can feed them himself.   It's probably too late in this case as once the habit starts it's hard to break.

As you have children this is not something you can be casual about they can cause serious injury to faces and eyes and they often go for the face.  It's not worth the risk to let your children near him the pot is the sensible solution.

HF

[Sassy]

Agree with Hillfooter and from personal experience. If they are that way inclined they are always worse at this time of the year.

[joyfull]

it is also not a good idea to breed from an agressive bird - these traits have been known to pass down to their young 

[ManicMum]

The people who gave us our girls also had a very beautiful boy called Harold but they said they would not let us have him as he'd been fine with Mrs until she went into hospital before Christmas - when she came out he was always aggressive to her.

They rehomed him to a farm with the proviso that if changing home did not mend his ways, the farm would have to deal with him as appropriate.

[orchardlady]

Years ago when my son was about 7 he came to me and said that the cockerel kept attacking him. I poo pooed my boy as the cockerel in question was such a softy. The next day I took my son down to the hens and that cockerel went round me to get at my son. That cockerel did not last long. However on quizzing my son he confessed that he had been poking the hens and the cockerel with a stick when I wasn't around. THe hens are kept in a field that I cannot see entirely from the house. It might be worth checking with your family on how they have been behaving with the birds when you are not around. Don't make it a blame game but use it for future experience. I'm afraid everyone is right about your cockerel, it has to go, once started violence is hard or impossible to stop apart from a swift dispatch.


OL