Bantam hen crowing like rooster and has behavior of rooster AND.....

[newyawkaah]

I recently lost my last bantam rooster in March. Just a couple of days afterward my started crowing. I actually thought the rooster was there somewhere and not gone after all but it was the hen. She has been crowing since then and also exhibits the other behaviors of a rooster like the wing flapping, the calls, She is currently in with 4 other large breed hens.

So this week I just picked up a great little bantam rooster to go along with her so she has company again. The rooster is very friendly to all the hens and simply just wants to walk among them but the bantam hen is fighting him and she is relentless. So what I have done is to put a pen within their pen so he is not attacked constantly. The larger ones pecked at him also and I am just wondering if anyone can tell me from experience the best way to integrate him. Thanks!

 

[Chickenmanjim7]

the pen within the pen works well. No matter how long you have him in there, there is going to be some pecking. He is going to have to work his way through the ranks of the pecking order before they accept him as the rooster of the group.

 

[Goosegrrl]

When you have a hen being particularly aggressive sometimes it works better to remove the troublemaker and let the rooster establish himself with the rest of the flock, then reintroduce the aggressive hen so that her place in the flock has been put off balance. I'd take her out for a week, let him make himself at home, then reintroduce her. It may work wonders in cooling her jets.