Bullied hen.

[BackyardinWales]

One of my two older girls is being targeted by my young cockerel. She has gone from being confident girl who lays, to one who would rather be on me or in my arms (which is NOT like her at all). For the last two days she has spent her time hiding in the nesting box, and barely wants to come near me now.

He's only young, but I'm not sure if this stared because the babies are reaching maturity and my neighbour has been encroaching on our back yard.

I've tried staying away a little more the last two days in case I'm the problem, but she's looking very rough.

Since I'm not happy to cull, I'm working on separating the girls from the boys, since I don't need to breed them. Is this a good idea? Thanks.

 

[FrostRanger]

Separate him for sure, Hopefully he'll shape up once his hormones have calmed down, but his current behavior would put him on the potential soup list for me. Also, 2 hens is not enough for a rooster so I'd get some more pullets while you're waiting on his hormones to calm down. Even if he doesn't shape up, I'm sure the older girls would still appreciate a few more flockmates. If you can't/don't want to, cull or rehome him

 

[nuthatched]

Rehome or cull, you're not the one that had to live under constant harassment, your hens are.

 

[BackyardinWales]

All the boys are now sequestered in their own area!

Having checked on my hen she has an open wound on her head, and I have been advised to use an antibacterial spray (which won't be here till tomorrow) on the wound. Will see how she goes over the next while.

 

[WoDia]

@BackyardinWales I hope your hen makes a full recovery soon. Good choice to separate all of your boys. Your girls will be able to get back to being their happy chicken selves again, without any fear of a hormone-driven cockerel. If your intent is to breed eventually, you’ll be able to hopefully place a much calmer, mature rooster back in there with them.

 

[BackyardinWales]

How he's acting at the minute I wonder if he'll ever be calmer. The younger boys aren't happy 'cause he's picking on one of them now. Will give him a day or so to calm down, but if he doesn't settle I'll have to terminate, which I'm not happy to do. I think he reacts when he hears the hen he's been torturing. The irony, the hen he doesn't mind so much is the one who had it in for him when he was younger. The other one ignored him.

Gonna put them to bed and hope he wakes with a better attitude in the morning.

 

[BackyardinWales]

All my cockerels were culled yesterday. Gutted. Still reeling, but I was advised if my neighbours complained to the landlord I could lose my tenancy. Like I said gutted, but I never want to get used to the idea of it's okay to cull your flock. ALL life is precious.