rooster mean and aggressive to one hen

[lauraj2]

I have 11 hens and 1 rooster. Recently the rooster has been really mean to one of the older hens. She's three and he's two years old. He has never been mean or aggressive to me or any person. He chases this poor red hen, runs at her and jumps on her then "kicks" her repeatedly until I break it up. She just sqwats down and flattens herself out and takes it , doesn't try to fight or anything. She is so scared and unhappy, and she used to be one of the older dominant girls. I feel so sorry for her, her life has changed from being happy and healthy to being scared all the time. I can't bear it cuz I just love all my girls. Yesterday he must have got her cornered again, her comb was all bloody and her feathers were all ruffled. I think he hurt her, she walks different, her tail points down not up like the other hens. I separated rooster last nite and put him in solitary (he's in the greenhouse)... not in a cage or anything. I just dont know what to do, cuz other than being mean to that one hen, he is a wonderful beautiful guy! Help!

 

[shellz131]

you may not like but If it was me he would be roast chicken right now..my hens mean too much to me to have one terrorized .There are plenty of roos out there who would know how to treat hens right

 

[lauraj2]

that's kinda what I was thinking, I just can't bear to see my Red Bird so unhappy. Im keeping him separate right now and I will try to find him a home I guess, but no one would want him if he can't be nice to the girls. One day I just put her and three of the other older girls outside in the yard, left him and the rest in the chicken pen, and he started acting like that to one of his litter mate hens, so I thing it's HIM i should "re home", not the hen!

 

[justusnak]

Sounds to me like he knows "something" is wrong with this one hen. Maybe she is getting to the end of her life cycle? Is she eating and drinking well? How are the other hens treating her? Maybe by taking him out for a few days will change his attitude a little. Good luck!

 

[lauraj2]

That's interesting, because I noticed when she lays, her eggs are very soft shelled, so fragile you can almost break them just by touching them. In fact I broke one just by holding it too tight coming through the gate! I was joking to my hubby that maybe Rooster was culling her because she lays defective eggs! Maybe he knows something we don't? And when I interfere and stop him from picking on her it seems like he got even worse about it. I'll try keeping him alone for a few days. The other hens treat her the same, except one day I did notice her sister pecked at her when he had her down. She was one of my very first hens, in fact she was the one that laid my first egg! She is eating and drinking well, except when Rooster runs her off from the food.

 

[lauraj2]

Rooster is still in the greenhouse in Solitary. He crows once in a while, he seems okay, kind of looks at me with a question like "whats going on?" when I go in to check his food and water. The hens meanwhile seem happy as can be, they don't seem to miss Rooster, I got 7 eggs out of the 11 hens so far today. Three of my older ones haven't been laying since December. I'm going to leave things like this for awhile and see what happens! Any comments or help appreciated.

 

[lauraj2]

Rooster is still in Solitary in the greenhouse. Still crowing, acts fine, I think he can hear the hens so he crows to let them know he's there. The hens are doing fine. In fact they seem so happy, calm and stress free. I think they like not having the rooster in there with them. My question now is how long to leave Roo in solitary? A couple more days?

 

[sourland]

The stress of being attacked may have messed up the hen's metabolism to the point that she is laying soft shelled eggs. Has her health and behavior improved since the rooter has been separated? I would leave him in "solitary" for another 3 or 4 days. Monitor him when you reintroduce him, and if his aggressive behavior returns, I would cull him.

 

[lauraj2]

Thank you so much for answering! Yes, her behavior has definitley improved... she acts more like her old self. Her tail is pointed up instead of down and she is not all scared and cowering any more. In fact all the hens seem so much more relaxed and calm. They sure don't seem to miss Rooster at all. He's still in the greenhouse, crowing and questioning me, cocking his head at me like "what's going on?" I am going to leave him in solitary for a couple more days, when I feel sorry for him I just remember Red's bloody comb and am determined to leave him in there! The hen's seem so happy I just might not ever put him back and try to re home him.

 

[Judy]

The only time I've had hens act like that around a roo was when he was way too rough on them. With other roos they were their normal selves and didn't object to being mated. I wouldn't put that one back -- or if I tried it, he'd have to act completely different, and since we are talking about hormones, not so sure he will be any different. I'd keep him by himself for at least a week before I tried it, =if I were going to try.

Good luck.