Punishing a mean Easter Egger Rooster

[19Chicks]

We have a mean rooster! Well he is not mean to humans at all! In fact, he can be quite friendly to us! Which is the only good side of him. He is constantly jumping and biting my hens necks! OUCH! We have two roosters, easter egger and brahma. The easter egger refuses to mess with the brahma! He is in charge and treats the ladies nicely! If only the easter egger could learn from him... Ive tried holding him upside down and locking him in the coup alone. He is in there right now, as I type this. He bit one of my black sex-link hens! He has no friends really and all the hens are afraid of him. What can I do?! I need him to act nice to my hens or he is gone, which I don't want to happen!

He is about 8 weeks old.

 

[speckledhen]

Ah, he's only 8 weeks old? He's just a baby! I thought you were talking about a grown rooster. You need to let them work out their pecking order. You can't punish him for that-he won't understand it.

 

[Uniontown Poultry]

His aggression may be due to 1) him being a "teenager" just feeling his oats; 2) his competition with another, larger rooster who is the 'top dog' has given him an attitude 3) him just being an overly-enthusiastic hen-treading machine; 4) a high rooster-to-hen ratio, 5) All of the above. If it's a teenager-issue, you'll know in a few months if he settles down. Rooster competition can often be reduced by adding more hens, as the secondary rooster often will stick to 'his' females (usually lower on the pecking order hens) and get his needs met without the need for speed and rough handling of a limited number of girls. Often, the top rooster is a tough guy who comes charging up to knock any interloping lower rooster off the hens as soon as he sees what's going on. Since your top roo is a gentle old Brahma, it may be that no one's putting your EE cockerel in his place, so he's just running wild on the girls. You can test this if you have the space to split your coop for a few days. If he's the ruler of his own little roost, he may calm down & be nicer to his ladies. If he doesn't, and it's just the way he is, then there may not be anything you can do. Saddles or aprons will protect your hens backs and sides but not their necks, but hens can and do get the skin on their neck tore open by overly-randy roosters occasionally. It happened to one of my JG hens, and while it was not fatal (she didn't even seem to notice) is was gross and took awhile to heal and she had to be separated for a few weeks - not an option if you have several hens with this issue! So I'd say take a look at your set up, and if necessary separate your randy roo with a few ladies of his own (like 3), and see how he behaves. If he's a bad boy no matter what, he made need to be rehomed or made into soup.

 

[speckledhen]

Uniontown, he's not even a teenager, yet. He's only 8 weeks old. There's no "treading" going on yet. He doesn't even qualify as a rooster, just a chick.

 

[oldrooster]

sounds like if he doesn't calm down in a couple of months he's going to the crockpot!

 

[19Chicks]

He has drew blood on my black sex-link! Its getting out of hand.

 

[Indigosands]

can I ask why you want to keep him? You sound like you've already written him off. I'd rehome him. You will be happier and so will he.

 

[19Chicks]

I understand he is young, however, he manged to make a decent size bite mark and drew some blood on my black sex-link chicken. I really understand that its normal to arrange the pecking order and be slightly mean, however, he has harmed a chick. What do I do? Is it normal for one to hurt a chick that bad? I run the chickens... parents make the calls

... I also have 2 younger sisters and they will not let us eat it, I don't blame them, but the only other option is to get rid of it. Should I give him time? I don't want him to harm my hens more.

 

[hokankai]

Separate him for 3 days and see if he gets the attitude adjustment he needs. Put him somewhere he can't hear the others.

 

[1chicken fan]

It sounds like he is causing you stress and maybe that alone is worth rehoming him. Just a thought