Thank you everyone for your advice. The rooster goes first thing tomorrow. As I told my hubby, I like the rooster but love my son.

Hopefully our Easter Egg Rooster who is the same age as the New Hampshire Red rooster will turn out to be nicer. So far we haven't had any problems with him but if we do he'll get eaten as well. He's not very tame and avoids us like the plague but so long as he leaves the kids alone that's okay. I have Easter Egg hens so I'll still be able to breed some chickens. Plus I have Blue Silkies, hens and roosters to breed.

Thanks so much everyone.

-- Anita in NC (anitaholton@mindspring.com), February 22, 2002

Answers

I'm laughing! the first time I read the title of this post I thought you were referring to the "child that was attacking the rooster" was the one that was going to be killed off tomorrow! Haha, glad that's not the case. For a moment there, I thought the animal rights activists had gotten into this again. And let me just say, for the record, that I'd much rather see a rooster put into the soup pot than to see children taught to kick or hit animals. Good Luck, hope our situation turns out good this spring with our son and our rooster.

-- rose marie wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.

This is good. A mean rooster has no place around children, they're just too dangerous. Nicest rooster we ever had was a Light Brahma. That guy would actually chase the mean rooster away from my children:) Needless to say, he stayed, and the other rooster didn't. I hope your Easter Egger stays nice for you.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), February 22, 2002.

Anita. In a way, demise of Big Red seems to have been all too final in the way he had to leave this world for doing his duty as boss of the barnyard. Just natural for him to challenge anyone and everyone and maintaining that position. Just like a little Bantam cock that will take on Foghorn Leghorn. As long as one will not fight back, the underdog will win always. 55 years ago, and a lad of 9, nearest neighbor was half mile away but I was there as much as at home. But they had geese. One gander hated me with a passion. When I least expected it, he'd grab my behind and pinch harder than a pliers. That was especially annoying as a trout stream ran through that farm and I was often found laying on my belly while feeling along the bank for a big brook trout. When that gander saw my rear, it was a signal to attack. But he met his match one day when I happened to see his reflection in the water and there was a stick laying there. He grabbed my rear and I rolled over and caught him beside the head with the stick. Oh my God! Velma Parson is going to kill me for killing her gander! After a few minutes, he got to his feet and staggered off. From that day on, he would honk and hiss and make a big fuss but always at least 50 feet away from me. He'd had his attitude adjustment. That's probably what your Big Red needed. Your child indeed should have been instructed to carry a stick around that bird as an equalizer. It's natural for a cock to try to be boss of everything in the barnyard and as long as he meets little or no resistance, he just keeps on looking for more fights. Teddy Roosevelt said it. Speak softly but carry a big stick!

-- Martin Longseth (paquebot@merr.com), February 23, 2002.

Maybe. We once had a rooster that never learned for more than a week. Like I said, we ONCE had a rooster who......

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), February 23, 2002.

If a rooster chases my kid, which has happened...he gets the ultimate sentence. When he is stupid enough to jump on my 6'3" husband, he is on his own! lol

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), February 23, 2002.

Of course i realize the decision to be made was truely yours and that's all that counts in this situation with your small child, however, i'm in total agreement with Martin.

That was very well said, Martin.

-- Buk (noaddy@tiredofspam.com), February 23, 2002.

We let 6 yr. old daughter chase the mean rooster around the yard for a half hour with a stick. She never quite got close enough to smack him, but he got the picture and left her alone after that. The daughter gained a lot of confidence and knew what to do if he ever changed his mind about attacking again. I'm glad that she could learn to take care of herself when needed.

-- Joyce (rejoyceom@yahoo.com), February 23, 2002.

I kicked one of our meanies so hard a time or two, I was kinda surprised I didn't seriously injure him. He always got back up and ran at me again. I don't agree that a two year old should be able to teach a rooster to leave him alone! Our children should always be our top priority on the homestead, and not whether some creature is doing what comes naturally.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), February 23, 2002.

It's a chicken....(rooster). I hope he was good tasting.

-- KT Morris (chiricanameto@hotmail.com), April 04, 2002.

One Sunday afternoon years ago when our first-born son was just past 2 years old, my parents' rooster attacked him and knocked him down. My brother (hoot) who was still living at home (teenage) said "I'm gonna kill that old mean rooster". Pappy said "Not today, don't want your mom to have to clean him." Hoot pulled up a handy jimpson weed, wound up and threw it at the rooster, hit him in the head and killed him deader than a hammer. Hoot got to clean the rooster! As a result of that encounter with the rooster, our son named my mom "Rooster Grammaw"--and Rooster Grammaw she is to this day to our 3 kids, even though she is 89 and they are long since grown.

-- GibsonGirl in s.e.Illinois (bobtravous@email.com), April 05, 2002.

WHEN MY 11YRS. SON WAS THREE. WE HAD A NEW HAMPSHIRE RED ROOSTER AND BOUT 6 HENS. HE WOULD PECK ME WHEN I TRIED TO FEED THEM. HE PUSHED HIS DOOR OPEN 2X WHEN MY SON WOULD GO OUT SIDE TO PLAY. MY SON CAME RUNNING IN CRYING AND SAID THE ROOSTER PUSHED THE LATCH OPEN AND TRIED TO GET ME AGAIN. THE NEXT DAY WE WATCHED TO SEE IF HE WOULD TRY IT AGAIN AND HE DID AND I GRABBED HIM BY THE NECK AND TIED HIM UP AND PLUCKED AND BUTCHERED AND BBQ HIM FOR MY DOGS. A MEAN ROOSTER IS A DEAD ROOSTER!

-- WENDY ENGLE (THEBIRDLADEE@AOL.COM), May 04, 2002.