Rooster "taking advantage" of hens.....normal?

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FloridaChik

FloridaChik

Hatching
9 Years
Nov 5, 2010
2
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7
I just separated my hens from the rooster because he is "raping" them to the point where they can't bend over to eat or scratch around or anything without him there to rip feathers out and claw at them while he does his business. They never get a break from his relentless "love". They are losing feathers and are tormented. I have trimmed his spurs but he is a mating machine nevertheless. I actually didn't remove him from the pen, but put him inside a smaller pen within the bigger pen. So they can all see each other but he can't bother them. Is this normal? Should I return him to his flock? I'm not interested in raising chicks right now, but eventually. I just felt sorry for those poor girls.........

Btw, there are 9 hens. Just about all of them are laying eggs now and I have another rooster that free ranges out in the yard but is never allowed inside the pen. One's enough I figured.......

Thanks for any insight.
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It's normal, especially if the rooster's name is Impy.
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Seriously, seperate the roo and keep him seperate.
 
Wow! I would say that this is not normal. Im no expert, I've seen Roos force themselves on a hen occasionally, but not to the extent your describing. I only have 5 hens and one Roo and I have never seen mine do it that many times. A good Roo will do his little dance and wait for the hen to submit, the hens and Roos should get a little better with age with this process so it runs a little smoother. It sounds to me like you have one amazing "love machine" there!
 
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I don't know, I think it depends on the roo. We had two roos originally and they were very competitive and tag teamed. It was not good. Our original roo was very nice to the ladies but chased our kids. We had to give him away. Our second in command then became #1 roo and he is still a little more aggressive than the other one was. Especially if the hen runs from him he gives a couple extra pulls on her head. I think your roo sounds a little violent though. He really should be more of a protector than an aggressor. I would guess that he would calm down a bit as he ages. If the hens seem tormented I would separate them too.
 
I am pretty new to the whole rooster thing, but ours is definitely more of a benevolent dictator than an oppressor. He spends 90% of his time finding bugs for the hens, pointing them out and stepping back to let the hens eat first, standing in the crowd keeping an eye out for predators and patiently waiting by the nest box while hens lay eggs. The other 10% is mating. It's not what I would call romantic, but it looks like the hens don't mind too much.
 
We've had that problem at various times and I currently have a yr. old B. Orp roo pulling
the same tricks. Young roosters are worse about it, and some are downright mean to the hens.
If it doesn't stop soon enough he will be going bye bye.
The other option is to put him with the hens for a couple of days
then separate if you want fertile eggs. They will remain fertile for two
weeks, and have a little peace :)
 

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