Mean rooster and chickens or not...

[newchickgurl]

I am new here and to the chicken world. So I do have alot of questions but these are the most important questions I have...
My rooster seems to chase 2 of my chickens and they seem really afraid of him. Yes they are submitting to him but he still seems aggressive towards them. And yesterday as he was trying to mount one girl, 2 other chickens came over and started pecking her with our rooster on top of her. The 2 chickens that he chases seem to stay away from the flock most of the time and they always seem to be scared. Is this normal or not. And the 2nd thing is now my egg count has gone from 5-6 a day to 1-2 a day. Any reason this could happen. They all seem happy and healthy except the 2 girls being scared. Not sure what to do. Any help or advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to BYC. Never a good reason to keep a bad rooster. Too many worthwhile roosters looking for homes. It is a buyers market. If you don't sell or need fertile eggs, you don't need to have a rooster. The hens will continue to lay, even the scared ones once Meanie is gone. You'll have harmony on the home front.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! I too agree with drumstick diva that if you don't need fertile eggs you don't need to keep him. Your two he is bullying could quite easily have stopped laying because of the stress he is giving them this can cause egg laying to cease. Roos can also get there favourite girls who he likes more than the others therefore the others get pushed out of the flock.

Wishing you the very best of luck with your flock.
Enjoy BYC

 

[newchickgurl]

Thank you both. I do have to say that 90% of the time our rooster, George, is pretty laid back. And this is his first mating season, he is younger then the hens. And with the egg count, even his favorites have stopped laying. Could this mean that they are going to go brooding? We really love having a rooster for the fertilized eggs and for the protection he gives the hens, because they are free-range. In fact last week we had a hawk incident and he did protect all the flock that were around him. We wouldn't have a problem getting rid of him if he truly was the problem just wanting to make sure its him and not my lack of understanding roosters.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[mymilliefleur]

I agree with @drumstick diva, the mean rooster needs to go. Enjoy your flock!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[Blackberry18]

To answer your questions, cocks tend to favor certain hens and are sexually aggressive towards them.

Glad you could join the flock!

 

[PapaChaz]

how long has this been happening? seems you have more of a problem with the other hens being jealous, them girls tryin to steal their baby daddy!!!!

If it's only been going on a short time, let them settle in to their routine.

any other new stress that could tie into the rest of them not laying as well? if he's just becoming 'of age' it could very well be affecting them all somewhat

 

[PapaChaz]

wanted to come back and ask, after reading a few other threads, how many hens do you have? if you have less than oh, 7 or 8, he may be stressing them trying to overbreed. Instead of getting rid of him completely, fix him a bachelor pad and separate him for periods during the day so he's not so rough on the girls