non-dominate roo - trying to attack mother hen

[PlentifulPrairie]

hi --

i have a hen that just hatched out a little flock of 4 (yayyyy!). Anyways I have my chickens around a premier1 fence and i have let my hen and her chicks live in my garage and they free range during the day. (i don't want the chicks to get attacked by my roo/shocked by the fence) Anways i have two rooster and obviously one is the non-dominate one, he is also low on the pecking line. He sometimes gets beat up by my dominant roo so i let him out and free range. However now that i have the mother hen and her babies out.. i'm having an issue where when he sees her he run and attacks her.. he isn't trying to mate her... and if so.. ah it's very odd. he pulls on her feathers and tries to attack her in the face.

i considered building another coop and having mother hen and her chicks and my non-dominate roo have their own little corner... however since he's a psycho i don't think this is going to be a thing?

what do you guys think? can i make him not attack her? what do you think he is doing? why do you think he is doing this? thoughts?

thanks
heidi

 

[fluffycrow]

It sounds to me like your non-dominant male is trying to mate with your broody, but is doing a very sloppy job at it. Since she's not with the flock, he might see her as his chance to make a flock of his own. In order to claim her as his, he needs to mount her. As a broody, and a fresh one at that, your hen isn't in the mood for mating yet and refuses his advances, which leads to this violent act. If that is what is happening, you'd notice the male going for mostly the back of her head and trying to hold on to those feathers. It could be though that he's just being aggressive. Either way, it's not safe for the chicks, so I'd still suggest separating him, or putting him full time with the other flock

 

[David61]

carrots, onoins and celery.

 

[LaFleche]

Broody behaviour states very clearly " stay away and leave me alone!"

An already hormonal cockerel should be able to read and understand broody behaviour and act/behave accordingly around broodies, rather protecting them from other hens attacking her instead of driving them off the nest and flogging the broody.

If he was displaying this antisocial behaviour here in my flock I would butcher him the same evening.

I do not tolerate antisocial behaviour in my flocks:

Two years ago I butchered an otherwise gorgeous French BCM rooster from my breeding stock that suddenly decided to attack my two broodies and drive them away from the feed and water.

 

[Ridgerunner]

i don't want the chicks to get attacked by my roo

I've never had a dominant rooster attach a young chick or threaten one. Some people say they have. I have had a dominant rooster help a broody hen take care of her chicks.

There was a thread a week or so ago where someone had chicks housed in a separate run. One chick escaped and the rooster started chasing it. But a few days later all the young chicks were integrated with the flock and there were no issues. I don't know if this is accurate or not but someone guessed that the rooster saw that the chick was not where it was supposed to be and was trying to get it back there.

If you let the broody hen raise them with the flock she will handle integration for you. If you don't you will have to handle integration yourself.

shocked by the fence

Occasionally my adult chickens will be shocked by my electric netting when they peck at grass or weeds in the netting. They squawk, jump up and back a few feet and then go back to eating. It doesn't hurt them. I've never noticed a chick being shocked but it could happen. What usually happens with chicks is that they jump up on a horizontal strand hot wire or step on one as they are going through the fence. Since they are not touching the soil at the same time (are not grounded) they do not get shocked. About the time they are 7 to 8 weeks old they get too big to get through my electric netting. Until then they can walk through without a problem.

Anways i have two rooster and obviously one is the non-dominate one, he is also low on the pecking line. He sometimes gets beat up by my dominant roo so i let him out and free range.

How old is he? It sounds like he may be an immature cockerel and not a mature rooster. I have had immature cockerels try to bother the chicks but my broody hens generally teach them to leave her babies alone. Sounds like this is not working for yours.

The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. All other reasons are personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preferences, I have a few of my own. But those are a choice, not a need. I generally suggest you keep as few boys as you need to meet your goals. If that is an immature cockerel he may eventually grow out of it, but if it is a mature rooster I'd think your optimum number of roosters may be one.

 

[PlentifulPrairie]

I've never had a dominant rooster attach a young chick or threaten one. Some people say they have. I have had a dominant rooster help a broody hen take care of her chicks.

There was a thread a week or so ago where someone had chicks housed in a separate run. One chick escaped and the rooster started chasing it. But a few days later all the young chicks were integrated with the flock and there were no issues. I don't know if this is accurate or not but someone guessed that the rooster saw that the chick was not where it was supposed to be and was trying to get it back there.

If you let the broody hen raise them with the flock she will handle integration for you. If you don't you will have to handle integration yourself.


Occasionally my adult chickens will be shocked by my electric netting when they peck at grass or weeds in the netting. They squawk, jump up and back a few feet and then go back to eating. It doesn't hurt them. I've never noticed a chick being shocked but it could happen. What usually happens with chicks is that they jump up on a horizontal strand hot wire or step on one as they are going through the fence. Since they are not touching the soil at the same time (are not grounded) they do not get shocked. About the time they are 7 to 8 weeks old they get too big to get through my electric netting. Until then they can walk through without a problem.


How old is he? It sounds like he may be an immature cockerel and not a mature rooster. I have had immature cockerels try to bother the chicks but my broody hens generally teach them to leave her babies alone. Sounds like this is not working for yours.

The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. All other reasons are personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preferences, I have a few of my own. But those are a choice, not a need. I generally suggest you keep as few boys as you need to meet your goals. If that is an immature cockerel he may eventually grow out of it, but if it is a mature rooster I'd think your optimum number of roosters may be one.

he just turned one in may, and i have him because he kinda got a ruff start in life and found a soft spot for him and he's very friendly to people and most of the hens usually.
I enjoy the roosters for the fact they protect the flock (my dominant rooster - fought a hawk off one of my hens -- that to me has his place paid in gold) and if things got ruff I can raise more chickens for meat.

 

[LaFleche]

A rooster attacking a broody or a mother hen with chicks is not worth keeping as he should protect them and not attack.

He would be soup the same evening ...

 

[bobbi-j]

A rooster attacking a broody or a mother hen with chicks is not worth keeping as he should protect them and not attack.

He would be soup the same evening ...

I wouldn’t keep him either.

 

[CoopBoots]

@Shadrach, I hope I'm not bothering you by tagging you on a behavior question. Cockerels being aggressive to broodies... Is this something you've seen in the wild, or is this a complication of not enough space in a backyard setting, perhaps? Perhaps nesting spaces should be more private than what I've provided, thus preventing such an encounter in the first place.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach, I hope I'm not bothering you by tagging you on a behavior question. Cockerels being aggressive to broodies... Is this something you've seen in the wild, or is this a complication of not enough space in a backyard setting, perhaps? Perhaps nesting spaces should be more private than what I've provided, thus preventing such an encounter in the first place.

Hello CoopBoots.
It isn't something I've seen once the chicks have hatched.
Rooster, cockerels and some hens will drive a sitting broody hen away from the food and tribe; this is common behaviour.
Hpwever, once the chicks have hatched and the rooster has imprinted the chicks, most of that stops apart from with some middle ranking hens.

As you suggest, space may be an issue. Free range junior broodies tend to nest away from the tribe and only introduce the chicks to the tribe and return with them to the tribe coop when they are about to stop mothering them and start laying eggs again.