I think some of you may remember how Bill the Roo was picking on Ginger the little red hen. No particular reason that I could ascertain...just that Bill was being a BULLY. After I had pulled Ginger from the main coop & run and sequestered her in another pen, Bill started in on a white hen.....being a BULLY like he was with Ginger,. So I pulled the white hen and put her in with Ginger. Seems, I did this "bass-ackwards"..... I had done a lot of reading and most sites said to isolate the INSTIGATOR instead of the victims of the bullying...so last night I caught Bill, let the girls out of the isolation house and proceeded to put Bill in " Chicken Jail". He's not very happy but hey....it's HIS problem. He has plenty of feed and water and wood shavings...and some room to roam. He will be sentenced to at least 2-3 weeks in "Chicken Jail" and we will see if this does an attitude adjustment on him. Ginger and the white hen are very happy to be back in with the main flock...so I believe I made (finally) the right decision. I'd hate to get rid of Bill; he is a most handsome Cinnamon Queen roo...but if he can't get along with the hens and pullets then he will either have to go...or be sacrificed to the oven roaster.
Good choice. Many of my young roosters end up in jail. Some for a few months. You didn't say how old Bill was, if he's under a year he may improve.
It sounds like you have young pullets and a young cockerel. This type of behavior is often seen in young chickens because they are insecure and are trying to the best of their ability to hack out their own place in the flock, so in the case of a young rooster he starts at the bottom (or youngest) and tries to work his way up to the top of the flock.. It's not bullying, its just what chickens do. A more mature rooster will simply be on a hen like the proverbial duck-on-a-June-bug if she bows up at him or tries to take his place on the pecking order. That rooster is not necessarily a gentleman but rather the hens know their limitations as well as their places in the pecking order so peace is the norm. A little time out may or it may not allow maturity to assert itself but it can't hurt.
Not sure how old Bill is; we got him several weeks ago as a mature Roo. the hens he was picking on are two of the older ones which were given to us last year. The younger adults and the 2016 pullets he gets along with fine.
Could be Bill was rehomed because he was a 'bad' boy. He's probably trying to dominate and mate the older hens and they are not submitting. Have you seen him mounting any of the sexually mature aged pullets/hens?
Yes I have but it was more of a domination than a mating ritual. Basically jumps on top of hen and picks at the feathers on the back of her head. We were going to let one of the older hens set on some eggs but after a week, we candled them and none were fertile.
