Banty Cochin Rooster Mean Bully to Hen

[rlhagan56]

The little banty cochin rooster I rescued awhile back was so sweet and good natured. He was a mature little rooster, good to the hens in every respect. At first the flock of 5 laying hens I had pecked at him here and there, but he learned to get up high, and how to find his place in the flock. Everything was just fine until about 5 days ago we found blood smeared all over the water fountain. We looked and inspected every hen and everywhere and didn't find the cause. Well today there blood everywhere and that little tyrant was trying to kill my best Buff Orpington laying hen! I tried several different methods to resolve things, but he was hell bent on following her everywhere even in her nest, when she would submit he would grab her comb and flog her face or head. I knew he would blind or kill her. And I kept an eye on things because I couldn't believe he suddenly decided to just plain kill her! Like I said they were a happy little flock and he had figured out how to "stretch and reach", no one was a bully and all got along fine. A little Cochin! So now that little tyrant is visiting the rooster farm in the sky and just wanted to let people know that even Cochin's can be mean.

 

[DTchickens]

Yep, any breed has it's good and bad individuals. But, there may have been a way around it. If the bird is young, they can sometimes be rough on the hens and need to wait a while to be mature enough to handle them. I.e. a young cockerel at 5-8 months of age that is abusive, or over breeding hens, can be a different rooster at a year- year and a half. Some cock birds will be a little rough to hens during the molt because of fighting for feed and they're sore during this time; likewise they can be rough when the hens aren't laying and won't allow breeding opportunities.

But in general, there are roosters that have A+ personalities at just about all times, so unless you have to, why keep the others?

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[luvmyEs]

Had this same problem with a silkie/EE rooster attacking my BO as well. We sent him to meet his maker too. Now I'm anti-rooster because we have had back luck with 2 roosters and our BO hen. It might be her, but the boys don't give me eggs!