I had heard and read that roosters can be mean. Aggressive. But, that with handling and the right amount of human interaction, they could be decent pets.
We didn't have a rooster in our first flock. It's a guessing game - we got 6 chicks and we had to wait for them to grow before knowing if they were females/males.
Steve said it'd be a good idea to have one rooster in our flock. They protect the hens. Steve also likes the idea of waking up to a rooster cock-a-doodle-doing.
Our friend ended up with two roosters, so offered one to us to adopt. He wasn't very old at the time (6-8 months?) but we knew his father Cogburn was an asshole.
A big asshole.
Abu, as Mila affectionately called him (we have a Disney Movie theme going on...) was pretty good in the beginning.
Then he matured.
It was over the summer and I was wearing shorts and my muck boots (they up almost up to my knees). I headed out to the coop to water/feed, etc.
Before I knew it, Abu was attacking me from behind. Rooster Spurs are a real thing. I didn't know it at the time, but I learned quickly.
Roosters attack with their feet. They fly up and literally come at you with their crazy sharp claws/spurs.
I was hit.
Badly.
I was bleeding in 3 areas and he was not backing down.
I was screaming.
It is NO JOKE being attacked by a rooster.
So, I learned to take something with me to keep him at bay. I have a large stick that I've had for years (fire poker stick) that I now use to keep Abu away from me.
I always have to keep one eye on him. Which isn't always easy when I have two buckets full of food/grains, a stick, trying to FILL the food, removing the waterer and filling the waterer. It can be a handful sometimes.
He's attacked me several times, each time drawing blood.
He's even attacked me so badly that he went through my PANTS (when I smartened up) and drew blood.
He's even gone after the girls (let me be clear: I do NOT let the girls go where roosters are free-ranging - the incident where he PECKED HER FACE happened when Steve was on the mower and not paying attention as he should have been!!! We talked about it!)
So now I arm myself with a stick, a pitchfork, a large bucket, anything - just to keep distance between me and him. If Steve is out, he is less likely to attack me.
Steve has heard me screaming and has "come to the rescue" only to laugh at me while I'm running and flailing and yelling expletives, while a ferocious rooster is at my heels.
Thankfully I have two other roosters who don't seem to have the same mean streak.
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