Rooster Aggressive Towards One Hen

[JasonVideo]

I think we'll try those blinders that you clip onto the beak as a last chance, but I don't have a lot of hope. We need a chicken psychologist!

Jason (and Halo)

 

[aart]

Sometimes the cock or all the birds will target one bird.
There may be something wrong with the targeted bird,
weak and/or sick birds can draw predators
so the flock removes or drives off that bird to lessen the threat to the flock.

Or maybe target bird is not submitting to cock....or there could be no reason.

I have had that happen in my flock, cock took a disliking to one bird in particular and would chase her down and sometimes pin her for a good pecking. Not sure why.
I have enough room and places of refuge that it wasn't real problem, target bird could get away,
hung out and roosted with the pullets. Eventually it stopped.

 

[JasonVideo]

Just curious how long "eventually" was. Thanks for posting!

Jason

 

[aart]

Just curious how long "eventually" was. Thanks for posting!

Jason

I don't really remember, several weeks or more.

 

[JasonVideo]

The saga continues. The rooster still has a "thing" for the hen. She stays away from him as best she can, but he goes after her when he can too. I have started a behavioral modification program. I have a 5x7 chain link kennel. I sit in there with the two of them. When he starts to go after her I put a treat in front of him and he stops for the treat (bananas are his fave). So they both get a treat. The hope is that this will cause a "happy" feeling when they're near each other and the fighting will stop. She finished molting and grew all of her feathers back in and looks great. Just nervous as hell. Poor baby.

Other than that, is there such thing as a proximity device for animals? Say one animal gets a certain distance from the second animal and an alarm sounds or a vibration or mild shock? Wouldn't that be a cool gadget to have?

Thanks,

Jason

 

[Acadian Birder]

...following this with LOADS of interest

I have 40 birds with 4 roosters: one 2 years old and the 3 others under 10 months . 2 were introduced when a change of coop occured in November and the old guy was VERY good to them...the youngest is a bird that was raised by a broody hen amoingst the flock last fall.

All is ...I guess I can say good. But I am seeing signs I might run into troubles.

** Did anyone ever noticed Ameraucana roosters to be a little more ''edgy'' than other breeds ? I kept the last one but had to get rid of the 3 first as they were going BONKERS when they would reach 6-7 months, My main boy is a pure Wellsummer; super friendly and gentle with hens ....feeds chicks....etc The 2 that were introduced in November are Barnevelders, so they are similar to Wellsummer. So far so good but I find the Ameraucana seems to ''charge-mount'' the hens continuously...no courtship Its hard to ''stay calm'' when you see him walk around like a predator just looking for an opportunity to sneak behind a good hen and start ''raping'' her. ** Is it bad to get them off a hen when they do that? The 3 other Ameraucanas were the same...no courtship, no gentleness....just acting like ___holes as soon as they reached 6 months.


Hopefully the young Ameraucana turns allright and calms down.

 

[JasonVideo]

Our Dominique is the best rooster otherwise. Asks to be picked up, likes to be held. Lets me Dr. his bumblefoot, just lays there for me. Just an ___hole with that ONE hen. Just about wrung his neck the other day!

We have 3 Ameraucana babies right now. 6 weeks old. Hoping they're girls, but we have our doubts. I sure hope if one IS a boy we can keep him to breed with the Marans and maybe get some Olive Eggers. I haven't looked into their temperament. We did have one a year ago and he turned out to be pretty skittish. We gave him away to a breeder but he died due to an eye problem of some sort.

Guess I'll go do some banana training!

Jason

Here's a photo of Halo "guarding" the new Ameraucana babies. He's such a good boy 99% of the time!

 

[East Coast Yeti]

I realize this thread is old but had to post b/c Acadian Birder your post sounds like I wrote it. We have 10 hens one Americauna rooster. We added chicks to our flock of 4 last year and 3 were roosters. We rehomed the silverlaced and the speckled sussex and kept the Americauna, he seemed the calmest of the 3. Larry is mostly good except when it comes to one of our older girls who is also an Americauna. He is very aggressive with her and seems to beat her up to mate with her. Today he pulled the "charge mount". I've never seen a chicken run like that and he made a bee line for her and chased her around the yard. At one point he just had her pinned down and was pecking aggressively at her head. It looked like he was really trying to hurt her and maybe trying to beat her into submission, who knows. He was standing on top of her attacking her so I went over and pushed him off. Then she took off for the woods. What an a__hole! He's not aggressive with people and is mostly fine with the other hens but I feel bad for my Americauna. Sometimes she stays roosted and doesn't want to come out b/c and I'm pretty sure it's b/c she doesn't want to deal with him. I think it may be time for him to move out.

 

[JasonVideo]

I realize this thread is old but had to post b/c Acadian Birder your post sounds like I wrote it. We have 10 hens one Americauna rooster. We added chicks to our flock of 4 last year and 3 were roosters. We rehomed the silverlaced and the speckled sussex and kept the Americauna, he seemed the calmest of the 3. Larry is mostly good except when it comes to one of our older girls who is also an Americauna. He is very aggressive with her and seems to beat her up to mate with her. Today he pulled the "charge mount". I've never seen a chicken run like that and he made a bee line for her and chased her around the yard. At one point he just had her pinned down and was pecking aggressively at her head. It looked like he was really trying to hurt her and maybe trying to beat her into submission, who knows. He was standing on top of her attacking her so I went over and pushed him off. Then she took off for the woods. What an a__hole! He's not aggressive with people and is mostly fine with the other hens but I feel bad for my Americauna. Sometimes she stays roosted and doesn't want to come out b/c and I'm pretty sure it's b/c she doesn't want to deal with him. I think it may be time for him to move out.

I'm sorry to hear that you're going through that too. Our rooster is the sweetest boy ever. Our issue resolved itself, unfortunately, when two stray dogs came through and kill 10 of our hens. 3 were found, 7 were not. Carolyn, the one Halo was attacking, was never found. It was heartbreaking, but that's how it resolved. We were thinking of trying the "peepers" blinders on the rooster. Some folks have said that helped with their similar issue. I had to put blinders on the flock protector, but from what I've seen, if a hawk wants a meal a hawk gets a meal. There was no protecting against dogs either. Chicken psychology is a mystery to me. Has not been mean since we lost Carolyn. I've read that chickens can tell when other chickens are sick even know there are no signs of illness. Maybe that was it? We will never know. Sorry I'm not more help.

Jason