Our young 1 yr + cockerel has suddenly become frightened

[Kirklasu]

We have two cockerels, father and son (Bill). Father was hatched by us and brought up by us and whilst he loves my husband he has turned on me since the April after his birth. But that is not my problem. The young cockerel Bill is delightful and was brought up by his mum along with his sister. When mum went back to live with the rest of the chickens the two young stayed in the wooden hutch and slept there ever since.
Suddenly Bill won’t come out of the wooden hutch and seems afraid. What can this be?

 

[SueT]

Are all the chickens sharing the same run? If so, is anyone bullying Bill?
(Yes it is a problem that the father attacks you. I would not keep a human-aggressive rooster. )
If it were the mean rooster attacking Bill, I’d keep Bill and cull/rehome the aggressive one. Hen raised boys make the best roosters.

 

[Kirklasu]

Are all the chickens sharing the same run? If so, is anyone bullying Bill?
(Yes it is a problem that the father attacks you. I would not keep a human-aggressive rooster. )
If it were the mean rooster attacking Bill, I’d keep Bill and cull/rehome the aggressive one. Hen raised boys make the best roosters.

Yes, I now realise hen raised is best.
We would like them all to share but with two roosters we thought we better hadn’t thought they all share the whole garden which is large. We have two cockerels and only 4 females
as we have unfortunately lost two in the last 12 months.
We now have three hutches for sleeping in. The wooden one is where Bill and his sister have slept since hatching but it’s just like a rabbit hutch. The other two have runs connected to them and having just installed the bigger hutch and run we hoped to move Bill and his sister into the original smaller hutch snd run… and get rid of the wooden rabbit type hutch. It was when we tried this that it all went wrong. Having closed the rabbit hutch Bill and his sister went into the smaller enclosure and slept ok for a couple of nights but suddenly Bill wouldn’t go in it and if we don’t open the rabbit hutch he roosts in a tree, so we end up opening the hutch and he comes down and goes in. The female is ok about moving to the new enclosure and night before last they both slept separately BUT the next day ( yesterday) Bill would not come out of the wooden hutch. He wouldn’t even move from the sleeping half to the eating and drinking half of the rabbit hutch.
So last night we let his sister in with him hoping they would come out together this morning as they have been doing for nearly a year! But Bill only came out when we opened both sides and he seemed frightened of us. We kept the other older cockerel in the new big run today to allow Bill the whole garden without being chased. He has always been able to escape bring very agile.
It is a guess but it’s possible that the older cockerel cornered Bill in the new run and he might have got hurt. It’s the only thing I can think of.
The older cockerel is a particular favourite of my husband and he can literally do anything with him… turn him upside down on his head like a hat or anything. He won’t kill him.
I was wondering how we can get Bill’s confidence back if what I suspect has happened. OR if anyone has any idea what else could have happened.

 

[sourland]

Dominance by another rooster (you have one rooster and one cockerel) actually suppresses testosterone levels in the subordinate. The only way the cockerel will regain his mojo is if the rooster is removed from the flock. I agree with @SueT

 

[Kirklasu]

Dominance by another rooster (you have one rooster and one cockerel) actually suppresses testosterone levels in the subordinate. The only way the cockerel will regain his mojo is if the rooster is removed from the flock. I agree with @SueT

Wow I had no idea that happened. Thank you.

 

[Kirklasu]

Wow I had no idea that happened. Thank you.

Dominance by another rooster (you have one rooster and one cockerel) actually suppresses testosterone levels in the subordinate. The only way the cockerel will regain his mojo is if the rooster is removed from the flock. I agree with @SueT

Can Bill live like this ok? I mean, will he die if he has lost his Mojo? After a couple of days of him being less afraid of us … more ‘normal’ with us ( we have kept the Rooster in the run and let the chickens out and of course Bill and his sister who sleep separate from the others are out) but today (Sunday) Bill is very quiet, he stands with his tail on the ground and from time to time closes his eyes and his head even droops. I have seen him move as if he is doing a cock-a- doodle- do crow but no sound comes out. I might be wrong. He has eaten a tiny morsel or two. I have a short video of him hanging his head. Even the other chicken looks concerned. I was trying to video him trying to crow but failed to get that.
I will try to attach video but I might fail to do it.
No I think only photos are permitted.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think you are asking if there is something you can do to make this flock work. To be honest, I am surprised it is not a lot worse than it apparently is. 4 hen and 2 males are not a great combination for a happy flock.

The only real solution is to separate the birds. Completely keep them apart.

Mrs K

 

[Kirklasu]

T

I think you are asking if there is something you can do to make this flock work. To be honest, I am surprised it is not a lot worse than it apparently is. 4 hen and 2 males are not a great combination for a happy flock.

The only real solution is to separate the birds. Completely keep them apart.

Mrs K

Thank you
Yes, 4 females is not good. We would have had 6 but each suddenly died with one day of symptoms for one and no symptoms for the other.