Difficult flock integration with rooster and 4 hens. Help please

[neatskii]

Hi guys, I've got a difficult situation with my 4 hens and 1 rooster and would love any advice you guys have. There's a fairly long back story so sorry in advance for the long post, but I'll try and be to the point.

I started with 3 hens and over time 2 passed away so there was only 1 left who became broody. She's an Australorp cross Brown ISA cross Leghorn. I purchased 4 day old chicks for her - an Australorp, Sussex Light, Gold Laced Wynadotte and a Barred Plymouth Rock (who turned out to be a rooster). When I tried to introduce the day old chicks to her after she'd been broody for almost 3 weeks, she rejected them and continually pecked them. So I raised them inside myself. It took quite a while before I realised my BPR was a rooster and I have been handling and cuddling him and the other chickens their whole life. I now realise that I shouldn't have been cuddling him as his aggressive behaviour has come out and he often gets aggressive towards me. I have been trying different techniques I've read through here to change his behaviour and it seems to slowly be working.

However my main concern is his aggression towards my original chicken (Sunny). Sunny is approx 3 years old and the others are 8 months old. Up until they were 5 months old Sunny was the dominant chicken and would continually single out and attack/chase the roo. Him and the other 3 hens generally stayed away from her and they had their own separate coop which was positioned next to Sunny's. Over time I placed some of the two more dominant hens in with Sunny at night so they would integrate. Sunny continually pecked them and didn't seem like things were changing anytime soon, so I stopped doing that.

Once the roo was about 5 months old, I went away for a week and my husband looked after the chickens. During that time the roo started fighting Sunny and became the dominant one. She submitted to him, squatted down low to show her submission and does so each time he gets close to her. I thought this would be positive as he would mate with her and accept her into his flock (he is very protective of his 3 hens). However instead of mating with her he just continually pecks her until she runs away eventually.

I joined the two coops together to try and help integerate them, but shut the door to Sunny's section when they go to bed. One night my husband forgot and the roo pecked out quite a lot of her feathers and she was petrified all day.

A few weeks ago I saw him viciously pecking her neck until I intervened because I was worried he was doing this overly aggressively and could kill her. He also pulls out her feathers if she tries to run away. 2 of the other hens now assert their dominance over Sunny as well so she's now at the bottom of the pecking order. However if I separate out the rooster then Sunny is dominant over 2 out of the 3 hens, but runs from my Sussex who is the top of the pecking order (she rarely allows the roo to mate with her either). I have a large backyard and Sunny spends most of her time hiding in bushes so the rooster can't hurt her or she runs around scared, clucking and running towards me so I'll protect her.

I realise now after reading through other threads that I should've done a lot of things differently earlier, however now I'm really stuck on what I should be doing. I work from home so am usually around to monitor them and intervene if necessary. However I do sometimes travel for work and I went away for a couple of days last week and noticed he's now left a huge bloody scab on her the back of her neck (see pic below). I'm worried that he may end up killing her - especially if I'm not around.

Any advice you guys can give would be greatly appreciated as I love all 5 of my chickens and don't want to give up any of them if I don't have to. It would be a last resort.

 

[Pork Pie]

In your shoes, the cockerel would be history. However, if that is not an option for you, I would at least consider keeping him separate from the rest of the flock for a few months, and see if that helps.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Agree with Pork Pie Ken, rehome the Roo & get another or trade for another. But since you sound like you want to keep him, separate him away from the hens & assert your dominance over him during this time. Use a squirt bottle, long stick or whatever it takes but he needs to learn YOU are boss. Good luck

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don’t apologize for the long post, life doesn’t operate on 5 second sound bites. In these things you never know what background information may be important. I don’t see where you did much wrong either. It sounds like you successfully integrated them at a fairly young age and for quite a while it worked.

It sounds like this has been going on three months, ever since he won the dominant position. This kind of violence is fairly normal in that transition from a dominant hen to a cockerel taking over, but you are right, it should have stopped when she submitted. I’ve never seen this phase last longer than two days.

That bit of background where the Sussex doesn’t allow him to mate tells me something. Each chicken has its own personality. Some hens and pullets will squat for about anything in spurs while some require the male to earn her respect, to prove he has the qualities that would make him an acceptable father for her chicks. That’s more than dancing before mating, finding them food, keeping peace in his flock, and providing protection. He has to have the self-confidence and self-assurance to be a leader. He has to be able to WOW! them with his magnificence and glory. It sounds like your boy is lacking in the self-confidence area and needs to rely on brutality to maintain his position. Sounds like your Sussex doesn’t much respect him either.

You still have a cockerel, not a mature rooster yet. It’s possible he will yet mature into a more responsible flock leader. I don’t think it’s that likely but it’s possible. Your hen and pullets seem to get along when he is not involved. You can try keeping him penned by himself for a while, I’d go at least a month, and try again. Maybe he will mature enough by then, plus your females will be more of a flock so he may not have one specific target. If it doesn’t work you can separate him again and wait even longer before you try again. You may wind up with him in a pen by himself forever.

You mention that he is aggressive toward you. That’s not in his favor. It’s quite possible you can teach him to not be aggressive toward you but often they will still be aggressive toward other people. Especially if you have children you might want to think about that.

Some people will suggest that a magic number of ten hens per rooster will solve all problems and make things magically good. Life doesn’t run on magic. Plenty of people have flocks with your numbers and they get along great. People have flocks with one rooster and over 20 hens and still have serious problems like you are seeing.

You don’t mention how much room you have. Behavior problems are often magnified if they are crowded. It’s not a magical square feet per chicken, it’s whether they can get away from each other and avoid each other. Plenty of room is one of my big things, but in your situation I don’t think it would help that much unless they are now in a pretty small area. He’s actively seeking her out and trying to hurt her. Even with a lot of room that behavior will probably continue.

I don’t know what your goals are. Originally you thought you had all females but goals can change over time. The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is personal preference. I always suggest you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters, just that problems are more likely. In your case I‘d suggest the best number for you is zero.

 

[neatskii]

Thanks for all the tips.
@Ridgerunner my chickens free range in my back yard which is a double block so they would have about 400 square metres.
When they're in the coop overnight the 3 pullets and cockerel have a nesting area and run that's about 4.5 metres by 3m. See photos attached.
Sunny gets locked in this smaller section

As far as my boys aggression towards humans, he never used to be aggressive to me but was to my husband. However my husband started stomping his feet around and I believe he is now scared of my husband so my roo then turned his aggression towards me. At this stage i would never trust him with small children. We don't yet have kids but have our young nephews around fairly often and if I leave him out he will do the sideways walk up to them looking aggressive so I take him away from the immediately.

My goal was never to have a rooster, however I don't want him to get a death sentence just because he can be difficult. Having said that, I don't want him to be the cause of my hen dying.

I will try separating him to a side area of the backyard that's easily fenced off. Usually when I separate him for even a few minutes though my gold laced Wyandotte goes crazy as she's very attached to him and if he's not in her sight she will squawk like crazy until he is again (and vice a versa). Has anyone done this before when a hen and roo/pulley and cockerel were very close then had to be separated? These two have been inseparable since day 1 so I am a bit worried how she will cope if he will he separated all the time or if he had to rehomed.

Also as for mating behaviour, my pullets never squat down for him, he always sneaks up behind them and pecks/grabs onto their neck feathers and just jumps on. My wynadotte usually allows it, my Australorp sometimes allows it but sometimes tries to shrug him off and like I said my Sussex never allows him to. Is this because they're young and aren't aware what they should be doing? Or is it because they don't respect him so don't want to mate with him?

 

[aart]

I don’t know what your goals are. Originally you thought you had all females but goals can change over time. The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is personal preference. I always suggest you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters, just that problems are more likely. In your case I‘d suggest the best number for you is zero.

Agrees.

My goal was never to have a rooster, however I don't want him to get a death sentence just because he can be difficult. Having said that, I don't want him to be the cause of my hen dying.

Hard as it may be, I'd get rid of him immediately.
Keeping chickens can be a joyful and satisfying experience,
but there are dark sides that are no fun at all to deal with and this is one of them.
It's what I call a 'Romance meets Reality' moment.

Every human and chicken involved will be happier once he is gone.
It may take a awhile for the pecking order to be reset,
the GLW will adjust and hopefully accept her 'low bird' status,
but should be a much more harmonious flock with the cockerel gone.

How to 'get rid' of him can be difficult too, I eat my extra cockerels, not fun but useful and delicious. They had great lives and one bad moment. You can advertise on craigslist, local facebook poultry groups, farm stores, etc. Don't ask for any money or any questions about his future.

 

[neatskii]

Thanks for the advice @aart
I'm not quite ready to send him to his death bed but I have locked him in a large separate area to see how the hen and pullets integrate together with him not being in the picture. If things don't improve after a month I'll rehome him. I have a friend who's friend works in a sanctuary who takes unwanted roosters. I know a lot of chicken owners do kill and eat their cockerels but I'm vegetarian so this isn't something I would do personally. Makes sense for meat eaters though.

 

[micstrachan]

I thibk you made the right choice to separate him and see how it goes. I agree he could quite possibly kill your Sunny, though I have no roostr experience myself. I hope this method works for your flock. Keep us posted.

 

[aart]

I have locked him in a large separate area to see how the hen and pullets integrate together with him not being in the picture. If things don't improve after a month I'll rehome him.

Isolation would work best if he was out of sight. Best of cLuck!