Rooster attacking mother hen

[adambeal]

We have an easter egger rooster named Brownie that has been the only rooster in our flock for some time now. He is not aggressive towards us in any way and up until recently never saw him being aggressive to any of the hens (we have 9). However, one of our orpingtons got broody about 3 months ago and hatched some chicks. She did great and still is with the chicks most of the time now even though they are about 2 months old. A week ago we noticed she had blood all over her comb and her eye was pecked and shut. She was in bad shape we knew one of the other chickens had done it but weren't sure which one. We treated her wounds and isolated her for a week from the others. We put blu-kote on the cuts and stuff and it was all healing nicely. Yesterday as a test we put her back in with the others for about 5 minutes to see what would happen. Immediately Brownie the rooster mated with her then afterward he chased her under the coop held her down and proceeded to peck/beat her head like crazy. We got him off her and she was bleeding badly. We cleaned her up again and this time we put Brownie in isolation. She has been fine since then with the blu-kote the other hens aren't bothering her it was all the rooster Brownie's doing. Any ideas as to why a rooster would single out a hen to beat up like this? We figured we would keep Brownie isolated for a couple of weeks and give it one more chance and if it happens again well he might have to go to freezer camp I guess. Any thoughts or ideas appreciated.

 

[enola]

If he was at my house, he would be invited to dinner..... And HE wouldn't be needing the silver ware!

 

[BBStacker]

If he was at my house, he would be invited to dinner..... And HE wouldn't be needing the silver ware!

At least a knife to cut the meat off his bones.

I'm keeping an eye out for signs like this too. Got 2 roos and 3 hens. The alpha and I fought enough for me to decide to give him away to another flock but beta left me alone (doing wing dance around me now too). Still haven't gotten an answer to see if he's wanted but both roos (and hens) are getting along with each other handsomely for now. Please keep me updated. I'm wathig the forums for similar stories too.

 

[enola]

That wing dance is a sign of domination/aggression. It's cute, but it is also one of the first sign that he wants you to know you are not the boss.

 

[aart]

We have an easter egger rooster named Brownie that has been the only rooster in our flock for some time now. He is not aggressive towards us in any way and up until recently never saw him being aggressive to any of the hens (we have 9). However, one of our orpingtons got broody about 3 months ago and hatched some chicks. She did great and still is with the chicks most of the time now even though they are about 2 months old. A week ago we noticed she had blood all over her comb and her eye was pecked and shut. She was in bad shape we knew one of the other chickens had done it but weren't sure which one. We treated her wounds and isolated her for a week from the others. We put blu-kote on the cuts and stuff and it was all healing nicely. Yesterday as a test we put her back in with the others for about 5 minutes to see what would happen. Immediately Brownie the rooster mated with her then afterward he chased her under the coop held her down and proceeded to peck/beat her head like crazy. We got him off her and she was bleeding badly. We cleaned her up again and this time we put Brownie in isolation. She has been fine since then with the blu-kote the other hens aren't bothering her it was all the rooster Brownie's doing. Any ideas as to why a rooster would single out a hen to beat up like this? We figured we would keep Brownie isolated for a couple of weeks and give it one more chance and if it happens again well he might have to go to freezer camp I guess. Any thoughts or ideas appreciated.

Did the broody raise the chicks amongst the flock or was she separated?

It kinda sounds like he was ready for her to mate again after raising the chicks and she didn't submit to him...and he was not 'gentleman' enough to let her be.
Removing her from the flock for a week changed her into a 'stranger' and he treated her as an 'interloper' and a threat to the flock.

I had a rooster target an older hen and beat on her, not as drastically as yours tho...never did figure out why, she just hung out with the pullets and he wasn't too persistent.
She was on the cull list, so not sure what might have happened long term.

 

[adambeal]

She was seperated when her chicks were first born but only for about a week and that was a couple of months ago. I think you may be onto something though she has been mothering for much longer than we expected her chicks are pretty big now and she has been resisting the mating for a long time.