4 yr old Head rooster sudden behavior change

[Nksg75]

Yes, there has been heavy hawk activity lately, and they are all on edge.
What has me wondering about this sudden change is his hens.
I have noticed lately that he is being more aggressive towards some of the hens.
We I say aggressive I mean he makes them squat after mating. If they get up to shake he gets after them and does the whole thing again.
I witnessed this happen only 2 times so far. So this could be just a rare occurrence.
I walked through him several times today, and no problems.
One thing I noticed that he came running towards me when my sunglasses fell from the top of my head to the middle of my face.
I will try to see if there is a reaction to having the sunglasses on in the coop.
Not really sure I can tell or not.
I am going to check him out tonight after dark.
I had my daughters birthday yesterday and was preoccupied and didn’t get out there to check him.

 

[Nksg75]

Oh I forgot to mention no ball cap today.

 

[aart]

You say "Head Rooster"...are there other males in your flock?

 

[Nksg75]

You say "Head Rooster"...are there other males in your flock?

Yes, i have a total of 4 roosters in the flock.
The other 3 roosters are all about 8 months old.

 

[Nksg75]

So I checked Willie out and he had a full crop at bedtime and no sign of mites or anything else.
His weight seemed normal, so he appears to be in decent health.

 

[Nksg75]

I might just have to wait and see what happens in time.

 

[aart]

Yes, i have a total of 4 roosters in the flock.
The other 3 roosters are all about 8 months old.

Could be one, or more, the younger cockerels are starting to try and take over....
.... which could make the old boy nervous.

 

[Morrigan]

Sometimes personalities change as a rooster ages and situations change. I had a rooster who, at 6 1/2 years old, suddenly became aggressive with a broody hen and her chicks. Previously, he was really good with the broodies and their chicks. Then one year, as soon as the hen took her chicks off the nest, he attacked her and her hatch. This same hen had been broody the prior year, with chicks, and the rooster was totally fine.

I was trying to think about what had changed. One thing that had changed was that I was raising a back-up cockerel who was starting to get more frisky with the hens, and my rooster was working harder to maintain his status. He also was getting a little stiff and slower as he aged, and i think the combination made him insecure and he began to mistake a puffed up broody as a threat to be dealt with..

Thinking about your situation, it may be that the eye injury and, as @aart noted, the presence of the cockerels, is causing a level of insecurity that is manifesting itself as aggression with the hens and possibly with you. Is it possible to separate out the cockerel for a while and see if your rooster's behavior improves?

In my situation, I chose to dispatch the rooster.

 

[Nksg75]

Sometimes personalities change as a rooster ages and situations change. I had a rooster who, at 6 1/2 years old, suddenly became aggressive with a broody hen and her chicks. Previously, he was really good with the broodies and their chicks. Then one year, as soon as the hen took her chicks off the nest, he attacked her and her hatch. This same hen had been broody the prior year, with chicks, and the rooster was totally fine.

I was trying to think about what had changed. One thing that had changed was that I was raising a back-up cockerel who was starting to get more frisky with the hens, and my rooster was working harder to maintain his status. He also was getting a little stiff and slower as he aged, and i think the combination made him insecure and he began to mistake a puffed up broody as a threat to be dealt with..

Thinking about your situation, it may be that the eye injury and, as @aart noted, the presence of the cockerels, is causing a level of insecurity that is manifesting itself as aggression with the hens and possibly with you. Is it possible to separate out the cockerel for a while and see if your rooster's behavior improves?

In my situation, I chose to dispatch the rooster.

Yes it is possible. I have separate rooster flock that has their own coop and run.
I am one of those bleeding hearts that seems to just keep those broody hatched roosters!
I can place 2 of the boys in there, however I kind of like to have another full set of eyes on the sky these days with hawks and all.
I think just keeping Willie with another rooster would be ok?

 

[Nksg75]

Yes it is possible. I have separate rooster flock that has their own coop and run.
I am one of those bleeding hearts that seems to just keep those broody hatched roosters!
I can place 2 of the boys in there, however I kind of like to have another full set of eyes on the sky these days with hawks and all.
I think just keeping Willie with another rooster would be ok?

I will do this tonight after they go to roost!
I am not as good as my kids at catching them!