Rooster "taking advantage" of hens.....normal?

[Ronh]

I have a 11 mo Barred Rock Roo who was supposed to be a hen, but I kept him because he looks good and especially after a hawk scare in which he ran as fast as the girls did!

The thing is he seems to not like dark boots, has started to challenge my entering the run and he has damaged my 11 mo Wyandott to the point of totally damaging her rose comb, no back feathers for a while and spur damage. The feathers are starting to grow back and the comb is healing now since she knows how to maneuver around and under things to avoid him and because of that he has started the same antics with my 11 mo Black Star who he was never like this with.
These three are my original birds since a week old, but my 15 mo Black Orph came from a much larger flock with two mature Roo's in her run, so with her the results are a bit different, she will run and maneuver to get away, then stand her ground getting low start squawking and flapping her wings if he is too aggressive with her, but willingly submits if he settles down.
I'd like to see a clutch hatch (Orph is broody & sitting on eggs), but I admit that I am at the end of my rope with it. And I too think I'll separate him and see if any thing hatches from him or not, then??? May try again with a non hatchery heritage Roo or leave the idea alone all together.
Couldn't do much at first due to recovering from a broken leg and busted knee, not the case anymore. Or is it too early for him to fertilize them?

 

[stonemeadowgirl]

I posted elsewhere that I was looking to rehome our three year old roo. After years of being a gentleman, he began beating up one of the young hens. Her neck is torn open. After reading this thread I realize that I should not pass him onto to another flock. I may try to see if this is a temporary situation, but if not I will not make him someone elses problem. Thanks for the info.

 

[SigningChickens]

This thread has been a lot of help! I'm not having this issue (yet?) but today a neighbor showed up with the biggest, fattest rooster I've ever seen. In fact, it took me forever to figure out what the guy was carrying!
Anyway- He is 2 years old and has blood red eyes. (Is this normal?) He is 1/2 RIR & 1/2 silky. He has the cheek puffs and is "unique" looking. So far he has been a gentleman. He was very patient with my hen and polite to my young pullets. He even started scratching up food for everyone. I'm hoping the night goes well and I don't find there has been a mass murder or rape fest overnight!
Would age 2 be considered a "mature" rooster? He did seem to have a very nice dance to present my hen with. The man told me he has always been second to his brother and the roo seems pleased to have his own flock of ladies. He even went into the nesting box and did what looked like a comfort check.
OP- I am a noob but I believe you did the right thing. As a woman, I wish I could have penned up my hubby the first year of marriage!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

If one of my roosters was mating the hens that much, I's remove him from my flock permanently.

~ Aspen

 

[tnspursfan09]

My sweet roo, Diego, finding the best treats for his girls.


Standing watch.


Doing the fluffy hop dance...drives the hens wild.

 

[flickerloo]

I have to add a story about this little bantam silkie roo. That coop is at a place where I work as a gardener. The roo was a rescue, but unfortunately for him, all the hens were big, full-sized gals. He crowed and pecked, and tried to get them to cooperate, but he was half their size. One time, while I was working near the coop, I saw him try to court one of the largest hens. She ignored him, so he jumped on top of her. The result was one goofy little bantam roo standing on the back of a very large hen, unable to figure out how he was supposed to subdue her and get the mating thing done. I swear that hen just rolled her eyes, put her head down, and the roo tumbled off over her head. He ruffled up, stomped his feet and crowed in indignation. But despite his total inability to mate with any of the hens, he was a brave protector, jumping in front of them when I entered the outer coop to deliver a load of weeds. One time he attacked my boot. I shook my foot gently, and poor thing went sailing thru the air! He did his job though, dying at the claws of a hawk over last winter to protect his beloved hens.

 

[Dibeiser]

I know that this is an old post, but I am having the same problem with my rooster - a Silke. He is so mean to the girls that they have all stopped laying! What make still worse, is that his favorite, Rosa my Wyandotte, was particularly mean to him as a chick. In fact, I had to separate Rosa to keep her from pecking him. Now the tables are turned no one is happy.

 

[seminolewind]

If he's becoming an adult, he may be more feisty . With my last 2 roos, I put the pinless peepers on them to make it a bit harder to see the girls. What kind of hens do you have?

 

[pidgejr]

An excerpt from Temple Grandins book regarding "rapist roosters" is on this site. It's about 7 paragraphs down on that page.
They should be doing the dance for their ladies! I am trying to decide whether to cull one of my roosters now. He is a pretty aggressive Rhode Island Red. He is not aggressive to me but aggressive to the other roo, my black australorpe, who used to be the dominant roo (and sweeter one) butt had his but kicked recently by the RIR. I did see him giving treats to the ladies today so am hoping he grows out of his aggressiveness toward them, but he seems to have a lot of things mixed up about the mating ritual. I have seen him dance _after_ grabbing and hopping on a hen, and seen several hens squaking the whole time he tries to mate because he grabbed them instead of dancing first. he chases the other roo any chance he gets even though the other roo doesnt flare at him. the RIR just wants all 24 hens to himself!

 

[A6chickenhome]

An excerpt from Temple Grandins book regarding "rapist roosters" is on this site. It's about 7 paragraphs down on that page.
They should be doing the dance for their ladies! I am trying to decide whether to cull one of my roosters now. He is a pretty aggressive Rhode Island Red. He is not aggressive to me but aggressive to the other roo, my black australorpe, who used to be the dominant roo (and sweeter one) butt had his but kicked recently by the RIR. I did see him giving treats to the ladies today so am hoping he grows out of his aggressiveness toward them, but he seems to have a lot of things mixed up about the mating ritual. I have seen him dance _after_ grabbing and hopping on a hen, and seen several hens squaking the whole time he tries to mate because he grabbed them instead of dancing first. he chases the other roo any chance he gets even though the other roo doesnt flare at him. the RIR just wants all 24 hens to himself!

I just found that book today online after trying to get answers about my young roosters behavior for about a week now. I posted it on another thread about rooster behavior. My rooster is 5 months and just started crowing about 3 weeks ago, soon after I found one of my hens with a bloody comb and head. I then witnessed him attacking her. He ran from pretty far away(I free range)and just started attacking from the front(I mean attack!). I couldn't understand what he was doing because it didn't look like he was trying to mate her. She is towards the top of the hen pecking order and I suspect that he had tried to mate her prior to the attack and she wouldn't submit. I have not seen him do the dance but after being caged for a week I did start seeing him ,kind of, offer food up when I take bread out to them( I hand him bread while he's caged and the girls come over and get it through the bars). I'm giving him a little time to see if he will develop some of the other proper mating behavior but I think i'm gonna have to cull him.

Just curious, how old is the rooster you're having problems with?