- Oct 7, 2014
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We have 2 Wyandotte hens and a cochin rooster in one coop. The hens are about 30 weeks old, the rooster ia about 12 months.
The hens have not started laying eggs and the behavior in the coop is a bit strange.
Both hens crow, the rooster also crows but not as much as the hens. The rooster is the only one with an interest for the nesting boxes. Looks like the rooster is not in control of his two hens...
They all look healthy, live indoors with lights and heating (around 15°C). They have about 9 hours full light and the rest of the time there is a small nightlight. There is no fighting or picking of feathers. There are plenty of room since each coop is a stable box for one horse.
Why do our hens crow like crazy when there is a rooster with them?
Next to them we have another coop with sussex chickens at 19 weeks, 3 roosters and one hen. These roosters don't crow yet and so far they get along good, no fighting or picking in their coop either. We had another cochin rooster in this coop up until yesterday when we gave him away.
Could the sussex roosters and the cochin that left yesterday next to the wyandotte/cochin coop be a reason for the strange behavior? The cochin that left yesterday had a more normal rooster behavior.
We are new to keeping chickens, got all of them in august. We have a summer coop in the garden where the wyandottes/cochins stayed until the temperatures dropped and we moved them into the stable where the sussex has been since we got them at 3 weeks of age.
We put one of the roosters in with the chickens at this time because the two cochin roosters started fighting.
The norwegian winters gives a temperature around minus 20-30°C so its better for us to move them then trying to keep the gardencoop warm.
Somehow we have managed to get the strangest behavior, no eggs, a rooster that acts more like a hen and two hens that are crowing...
What should we do? Is it possible that the Wyandottes will start laying eventually or should we put them into our dinnerplans?
Also we are thinking about moving the sussex hen in with the wyandottes but will this result in fights when the wyandottes behave like they do now?
Thankful for any advice on what we could do to change this strange behavior....:yiipchick
The hens have not started laying eggs and the behavior in the coop is a bit strange.
Both hens crow, the rooster also crows but not as much as the hens. The rooster is the only one with an interest for the nesting boxes. Looks like the rooster is not in control of his two hens...
They all look healthy, live indoors with lights and heating (around 15°C). They have about 9 hours full light and the rest of the time there is a small nightlight. There is no fighting or picking of feathers. There are plenty of room since each coop is a stable box for one horse.
Why do our hens crow like crazy when there is a rooster with them?
Next to them we have another coop with sussex chickens at 19 weeks, 3 roosters and one hen. These roosters don't crow yet and so far they get along good, no fighting or picking in their coop either. We had another cochin rooster in this coop up until yesterday when we gave him away.
Could the sussex roosters and the cochin that left yesterday next to the wyandotte/cochin coop be a reason for the strange behavior? The cochin that left yesterday had a more normal rooster behavior.
We are new to keeping chickens, got all of them in august. We have a summer coop in the garden where the wyandottes/cochins stayed until the temperatures dropped and we moved them into the stable where the sussex has been since we got them at 3 weeks of age.
We put one of the roosters in with the chickens at this time because the two cochin roosters started fighting.
The norwegian winters gives a temperature around minus 20-30°C so its better for us to move them then trying to keep the gardencoop warm.
Somehow we have managed to get the strangest behavior, no eggs, a rooster that acts more like a hen and two hens that are crowing...
What should we do? Is it possible that the Wyandottes will start laying eventually or should we put them into our dinnerplans?
Also we are thinking about moving the sussex hen in with the wyandottes but will this result in fights when the wyandottes behave like they do now?
Thankful for any advice on what we could do to change this strange behavior....:yiipchick