I'd say it depends on how squeamish you are and if you intend to put him in the stew pot. I don't want to offend anyone so I apoligize in advance if I do. I have had several mean roosters in my time. If he has spurs on his legs (they get bigger with age) make sure you wear gloves. I catch them after they have gone to roost in the chicken coop at night. If you just creep in with no light or just enough to see by, you can catch them by grabbing both of his legs in one hand. If he is big, hang on! Hold him upside down by his legs. He won't like it but most chickens stop struggling after a minute or so. Taking him out to a tree stump or something similar like that works best. You lay them out with their neck on the stump. If you had a pistol and knew how to use it, you can shoot them in the head - but don't try this if you are unfamilar with guns - we don't want an accident. The next easiest thing for me - and this is where you have to be hardhearted and non-squeamish - is to take an axe (hatchet) and chop his head off. Now, you have to be brave and really wack it good and if you don't get it done the first time you may have to take a few more swings. This is why I say you can't be squeamish, because after the first blow there will be blood and it can be yukky! I know you can kill him by wringing his neck but I don't have any personal experience with this so maybe someone else can help you out with that. I have only had the guts to chop of a chickens head once and that was a mean rooster that never gave me a moments peace. It may be bad at the time but it is MUCH better then having him harrassing your grandkids and if the rooster is big enough and they are small he can even hurt them. Don't know if this helped or made you go yuk about the process! LOL! Good luck! Remember once they are mean there is not really any way to rehabilitate them and make them nicer. I stewed mine!
Karen

First, dear husband needs a swift kick for not being supportive.

I've had a couple of gentlemen roosters who had to be "put down" because of age and infirmaties. I put them to sleep. Get a large paper feed bag. Thoroughly wet a paper towel with alcohol and put it in the bag. Get the rooster by the legs and put him headfirst into the bag. Close and secure the top. Use your favored method of disposal.

If you have a problem getting this rooster's legs, go ahead and net him. Use a couple paper towels with alcohol and set an empty trash can over him. Seal the side where the net handle comes out.

Bob

Thank you both so much. I don't plan to stew him, so the net and alcohol method sounds easiest.

Roberta, I think your best solution is to merely ask someone to help you kill the rooster. Tell them if they are the "trigger man" you'll give them the rooster to take home and dress. You would be suprised what some people will do to help you because you ask, and the exchange of a fresh killed rooster for the simple act of doing him in is a deal sealer.

My husband has agreed to do the dirty deed to a bird he really has an attachment to and I have to say I feel very guilty that I am so squeemish. A little background on 'Foreman, the bad roo'.

We have 70 chickens of which 6 are roosters. Foreman was the top guy until a couple of weeks ago when 'George' decided he needed to move on up. They fought for a whole day and Foreman looked like he was going to die. He could hardly walk. We started feeding him by himself because the others wouldn't allow him to eat. In fact, he had to sneak into the coop at twilight to roost after they got tired of chasing him out. We felt so sorry for him -------- until he started attacking me AS I WAS FEEDING HIM!!!!! We should have just let nature take its course and let him starve.

He has always come at me though, even when he was on top of the pecking order. He has never threatened my husband and I realize I am doing something wrong because another rooster is attacking me also. (We found a home for him --- he will be picked up this weekend.)

The bottom line is that I refuse to be afraid in my own yard! I love to garden and don't care to constantly watch my back as I am weeding.

Two of the roosters are lots younger and very sweet right now. Are they going to go the evil route also?

Those who are vilifying the husband without knowing his reasons are really jumping to a lot of unfair conclusions. As long as we're making guesses about the reasons for his behavior, here are a few:

Maybe he thinks that it's a foolish waste of time. That he doesn't get attacked may show that he inderstands the bird's behavior, and knows how to act around it, better than anyone.

Maybe he realizes that it's really a lot of wasted time worrying about the issue, when simply penning the bird would solve the problem.

Maybe he refuses to kill something when there are many other options.

It couldn't be that the husband has a more logical take on the situation than the wife, and is simply approaching it from a nonemotional standpoint. That's never happened in the history of the world.

One person's lack of support is another's refusal to become an enabler.

Patrick, I should have read your post before I wrote the last one. My husband is a good person and feels exactly as you do. He takes care of the predators around here in a minute. He feels that I should learn to shoot and take care of some things myself because at some point in time he may not be here and it will be necessary. I agree with that and I have to grow an extra skin to cover up my silly weaknesses.

I got a bye this time. I need to learn from it and figure out what I do about things like this in the future!

At least you recognise the need to dispatch the rooster. They can be very dangerous to small children. I had one years ago that was mean, I thought it was funny until one day he raked a spur across my 3 year old sons face, very narrowly missing his eye. It wasn't funny any more and that rooster made a quick trip to the chopping block.

A friend who had this issue put up an ad on Craigslist saying "Free Rooster. No questions asked."

He got a taker.

Hi Roberta,

I can sure relate. We've been learning to work about our full fledged gander this spring who likes to charge at us. I'm a total coward and just give him a wide berth. If he comes on too fast, I raise my hands high and yell at him "think now, who's bigger?". Truth is, I'm mostly reminding myself. In contrast, RJ, at a mere 105lbs just moves the whole gaggle with ease. grrrr. TO be fair, I don't think our gander really wants to go full bore. So far he's never nipped or made contact of any kind...but it's a powerful bluff!

As far as catching the bird - and I'm purely relaying something I read - one can fashion a hook out of a long sturdy wire or possibly coat hanger. It is bent at one end like the numeral seven or better yet, a four. The plan I believe is to hook him around the ankle. Have no idea if this actually works.

Good luck, and please let us know how it all went down. I'll be there myself one day I'm sure.

LF

Roberta,
I'm glad your getting some help w/your rooster problem, it's quite a learning experience raising poultry. I am in a similar situation having kids around and not having to worry about a roo attacking. I can also sympathize w/your dh, if I had to dispatch a roo or any bird on my own I would probably research the starter fluid method.

Zootis-I gave a couple roo's away on craigslist but you just have to state clearly they are NOT for fighting. I asked the "taker" several questions about their coop etc. I didn't mind if he ended up eating them I just didn't want them to be used for fighting.

-Sheila

My Grandmother's method: Get 8-10 inch block of wood. Put in two nails about an inch an a half apart. Catch chicken with a coat hanger. Catch his neck between the two nails to hold his head still and chop with hatchet.

We usually killed all the fryers at once and she'd have maybe 40 chickens flopping around the yard at once. It was the kids job to keep up with them and collect them after they'd quit flopping.

Janet

I've been enjoying this post because it is always a sore spot in our family. My mother is terrifed of roosters, while I rather like them, even the mean ones, although you do have to watch out for them. I grew up with spur holes in the ankles of all my rubber barn boots, but it never bothered me at all.

Whenever one turns mean, she drives out to Amish country and sells it for $2. She says if it is too mean, they can stew him.

The last one ("John Paul") did scare a little Amish girl, and the report is that the little Amish girl went after "John Paul" with a length of black plastic water pipe, and now the pecking order is established. Next time my Mom ends up with a rooster, I'm getting her some black plastic water pipe!

I wish there was somewhere you could take him instad of killing him. I understand he is very aggravating, but I do wish there was some way you could stop what he's doing instead of killing him!! Is he still alive, or have you already____ I had no idea that roosters chased people so much, but from what a lot of yuo say it happens a LOT!!! Could you just keep him in a pen all the time???? Maybe not let him out around you or your grandkids??

Genny

I can't imagine alcohol working and suggest NOT doing that. No point in making it a slow death. You'll feel worse waiting than if you just 'do it' and get it over with, with a hatchet. Then it's done.

Starter fluid is ok (JUST ok) for chicks and tiny animals, but it is SLOW as anything, and would be difficult to get enough vapours to kill a full grown rooster- don't do it.

He is gone. KABOOM. Just one shot and it was instant. Yes, I am so glad he is gone and, no --- I don't feel bad at all. We shouldn't have kept feeding him after his big fight and he probably would have died a very natural (very slow) death.

And Genny, we did try to find a home for him but people don't want a mean rooster. Putting him in a cage would be worse than killing him. He was used to free-ranging and jail would not be a good life for him.

We keep chickens because they please us. We feed them, care for them and they just plain wouldn't be alive if not for us. Right now there is another rooster who is just as bad, but he is spoken for. If they don't get him this weekend. KABOOM.

finally!

Too many nice roos around to keep a mean one.

Question?

I get the gest of hatchet to neck. What I don't get is how do you safely hold a flopping chicken to chop at its neck securely to prevent the chop hurting yourself or causing the chicken stress which could effect the tenderness/taste of the chicken? I comprehend the cone method better allowing the bleeding out, but still you deal with a grown chicken's flopping.

I have never seen anyone or been around chickens until a friend had some and I then got a few hens for eggs.

The problem with advertisting to give away a rooster on Craigslist is that many people who participate in illegal cockfighting find "trainer" roos there.
As nasty as any rooster may be, I don't want to see what is a pretty tame roo get used as a punching bag (or slicing bag).

Annette

We advertised on our local 'Freecycle" and had two takers who didn't bother to show up. I wouldn't think twice about giving a rooster to someone who wanted to make soup, but giving one to a cockfighter would be out of the question. Because we have freezers full of chickens, we weren't going to pay to have ours processed when a rooster isn't great eating anyway.

The shotgun was swift and there was no suffering. So now we are down to four roosters and 60+ hens. Already today, the yard seems so peaceful. The crowing was constant before. I really think this can be manageable ----- I hope so.

It will be nice to go out and garden without having to constantly watch my back! Now --- if the frigid weather would just go away.

I had a mean rooster (not to me, but other roos) and I didn't want to kill him or eat him myself, so what worked for me was to give him to the neighbor to kill/eat. no more worries for me & so easy ;)

I agree with Bob and Karen. I would have the guts to chop off a chickens head. Wringing it's neck works too.

I unfortunately live in a county that does not allow firearm discharge. so, what I did was get good with my crossman BB rifle. it has a scope, and I just sat still and waited for the bird to do the same thing. look through the scope, sight in on the side of the head, and pop. bird goes down. it flopped for a few minutes, I walked up to him, and picked him up, chopped off his head, and plucked him buchered him and ate him... mmmm Muscovy bird.
John

How 'bout ebay?

Roberta, sad that your roo was a challenge.

What worked for me was a giant type squirt gun with some ACV in the water. A few face shots stifled the behavior in a few days. In fact, the big guy stayed in the background when treats were delivered. In my flock of 15-50 hens, I never had more than two roos at a time. One was the kingpin and the other was an adolescent..so seldom saw the intolerable behavior.

After 2-3 years, I always sent the 'used' roo to stew heaven...Chinese cooking style...delicious!

Somewhere I read that one can 'unscrew' the spurs from a rooster with a pair of pliers-but have never tried that. Another hint is to screw on the soft model electrical connector caps so a further attack would not be a slasher type.

A mean rooster can be trained. I've done it with three different meanies over the years. I had one that was set on attacking my 6yo, so I caught him and had my son carry that bird around upside down for awhile, then let him go. It's how I trained them all. You just have to establish pecking order, it's all they understand. For some reason, they find the being carried upside down thing very humbling.

.22 caliber pellet rifle and excellent marksmanship works everytime with a shot the cranium. Quick, painless, and not a bit messy....then quickly off the stew pot.;)

I have more roosters than I need...the lower ones in the pecking order can be nasty. I have a nice circular scar on my wrist from my turken rooster from last year too. The bad roosters we had, I would take their spurs and dull them by scraping them on the flat side of a cinder block. We had a real mean rooster once that almost got my husband in the eye (I'm surprised that he didn't just wring his neck right then, I wouldn't have blamed him...I asked him if he wanted me to give him the death sentence..he said no). A few times where I have dispatched chickens, I just find a good piece of flat wood or 2 x 4 and chop their heads off with a sharp machete.

Hmmmmm... from reading this post I guess we have been pretty fortunate with our roosters. Not a mean one yet. Had a couple try but after they've been chased, netted and carried around (with a few shakes for being fussy) that was the end of that. Can't have a flogging rooster when a toddler helps gather eggs. :0)

Interesting topic. I found you because I'm dealing with a mean rooster I'm considering outing. Hitch was about 22-23 weeks old when he started coming up behind me, kicking and pecking my legs and behind. - I looked up what to do. All of the suggestions worked for a day, or less, and he started back up again. Hubby thought it was HILARIOUS until Hitch started coming after him as well. - I really love spending time with my birds. They're very sweet and my four kids just LOVE them. However, they no longer collect eggs or spend time with the girls because Hitch comes after all of them. My rooster is a beautiful Black Austrolorp and I love him...I guess as much as anyone can love a mean rooster. But he didn't start off that way and I realize I'm doing something wrong. - Regardless, I think I'll give Craigslist a try. I care too much for him to personally do the chopping block. I have no interest in eating something I consider a pet. But he has to go. The alcohol method seems risky as it might not work. Besides, I'd have to catch him! - Oh, the process I have to go through just to collect eggs and feed and water every day! That said, anyone in South Central PA wanting a nasty 10 month old Black Austrolorp please let me know. : ))

In my experience the roosters that were hatched in an incubator and not raised by a hen are the ones that get confused and treat humans as part of the pecking order. I'd often keep mail order chicks around long enough to let the roosters breed and then kill them and let the hens hatch out a clutch and keep the roosters out of that hatch - let the mother raise them and never ever play with them or hand feed them. In fact I was usually kinda mean to them just to keep them away from me while I was working in the yard. Sometimes even that didn't work and sometimes I'd have a mean hen that got bossy with me or other people.

I don't like guns so instead of shooting them I would just gather up all the bad boys at one time and shove them down into a gunny sack (or any cloth sack) and then after they calmed down I'd slip that into a double layer of plastic garbage bags which I would tie up tight. I know it sounds horrible but the lack of oxygen knocks them out pretty quickly. You can chop their heads off while they are unconscious or leave them in the plastic bag for an hour.

LOL I love this post. Anybody who has raised chickens has had a nasty rooster or two. Back when I was 7 or 8 we had a rooster named Rooten...He was a nasty bugger. He would chase us kids and Mom and Dad and we would just chase him back or give him a good swift kick.............Well Ole Rooten made the fatal mistake of chasing a paying customer (we sold eggs and fresh chickens back then) down the driveway and into his car. Ma was so mad she had my brother catch that rooster and tie him up and she grabbed her old single shot twenty two and blew his head off...........My brother had to bury him as Ma said he was too tough to eat......LOL

Last year I had a rooster named Checkers (a dominicker). He started out ok and then got mean. He attacked everybody and anybody. Many a time I would catch him and beat the living daylights out of him. He would settle down for awhile and then start all over again. Finally penned him up (after several complaints from hubby). One of my customers happened by and I asked him if he would like a rooster for his stewing pot. He gladly took him and a couple of weeks later he stopped by and said he had taken the rooster to be butchered by a friend of his and the friend said he couldn't kill such a beautiful rooster. So this goofy rooster is living the life of easy on somebody's farm............wonder if he is up to his old tricks???? Our new rooster we raised from a chick also is a well behaved fellow, he is a Brown Danish Legghorn and is he ever pretty. The *girls* all seem to like him.

Like everyone before me has said you either shoot them, chop their heads off, sell or give them away. I generally will only keep a couple rooster at a time. Not worth spending the money to feed them.

ha, this is a pretty good one, i came across it looking for feed sack potato ideas. We had a mean rooster that attacked my young nephew years ago. he started attacking people who were getting the eggs and feeding, but when he got my nephew and bruised his side pretty bad (he was about 6, 17 now) My step mother grabbed a square tip shovel and knocked his lights out.

Ok here is my story. So we had this rooster, this morning, who has been increasingly evil with everyone who goes near the 'ladies'. At first it was just me, but recently even my husband with the biggest scariest boots he owns has been a target.Spurs flying, mean scary attack rooster, as mean and evil as you have ever seen, even when you try to feed him. What's his name? Someone asked me the other day "Dinner" I said without hesitation. Anyway, this morning a friend who is a chicken farmer, visited. I was lamenting the inability to go in to the pen and clean them out and collect eggs with the children as I always enjoyed it. So this friend said, "let me go in there and see how mean he really is" After a few turns around the chicken yard, with me watching safely from the house, he had the rooster on the defensive, and clearly convinced. So he cornered him and caught him. "He's all feathers, not anough meat on him to say so...Shall I 'take care' of him for you?" He asked. I knew this was not an offer to adopt him and take him home, so I hesitated for about 2 seconds before saying, "OK". Images sprang to mind of peaceful mornings spent with the chickens again, remembering all the reasons why we started keeping them to begin with. So our friend,with'Piggy' firmly held by the feet and swinging by his side, hikes waaayyyyy up the steep mountain behind our house, and disappears about half a mile up into the woods. After about 10 minutes he came back and said, "Wow, I've never seen one fight like that. Even after I slit his throat he was still attacking me, and actually got away" Anyway, the rooster had his throat slit and disappeared into the undergrowth to die. The coyotes that we hear every night would surely dine royally tonight. Well 8 hours later upon returning from my son's soccer practice, who is strutting around the yard as though he owns the place, pacing up and down outside the chicken run eyeing his harem...Yup, it was Piggy the evil rooster. Now this apparent resurrection, or cheating death is made all the more incredible once you realize that the guy who took care of him is truly an experienced slitter of chicken throats. Anyway, my only thought, after ushering my 8 year old chicken lover into the house, was to let the dogs, 2 large labs out. I know I know, once they get a taste for it ....etc etc. But what am i to do? Here is a rooster, we know it is only a matter of time before he relieves my son of one of his eyes, with a giant hole in his neck, bristling at the sight of me from 30 yards away. No one due to be home to help with the situation for another hour. So quietly I let the dogs out, took my son into a room on the other side of the house and waited for nature to take it's course, which it did...very quickly. My biggest question is this...do I still need to feed the dogs tonight, or can I save the dog food?

Kervic, funniest comment to date. I think I would carry a tennis racket and see how well my serve is doing.
Dan

Just found this forum and had to read this thread. Did it bring back memories! We never really planned on having chickens, it just happened that our next door neighbor got tired of his not long after we moved there, and turned them loose and they started hanging around our yard, so he said we might as well keep them. 3 rooster and 6 hens. One of the roosters was a leghorn and yep, meaner than snot. We let him be until he got mad at me over something and nailed me in the thigh, and I told DH that that "thing" had to go before he did that to a kid and we got sued. So while I was at work, he dutifully dispatched it and we tried to have chicken and noodles for dinner that night. Somehow, we neither one of us could choke down that chicken. (The dog never ate so well in her life!) The rooster we have now is the son of one of the other roosters and is well on his way to being a geriatric rooster. We love our birds and have never killed another one. We do eat the eggs, however.

47lbs of tannerite detonated with a .308 just as he passes within a few feet. It’ll take a lot of skill and planning and wont be easy but trust me. shooting 47lbs of tannerite within just a few feet of him.

So hen is left no choice. Why she carries many scars that can't be hidden for it part of her daily appearance and body on outside they made sure to leave scars forever as reminder.