Do roosters have a "favorite" hen?

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Mama_Matildas13

Mama_Matildas13

Hatching
8 Years
Aug 19, 2011
6
0
7
So, I'm new to the chicken raising thing. I don't know all of the "proper" terms & I'm not 100% sure of the type of chickens I have. We were told that 12 of our 25 chickens were Auracana (sp) hens. WELL...1 of them is a rooster. He's not so bad though. What's weird is that one of the other Auracana's is always with him. She's not started laying egg yet. He doesn't really like it if my daughter or I pick this hen up. He doesn't come at us, but he gets really vocal & walks all around crowing & cackling? You can tell he's aggrevaited. We have 13 ISA Browns & 10 other Auracana's & this one hen is the only one he seems to get upset if we pick her up.

Is this a normal sort of thing? Oh, we got all of the chickens in March, like the 2nd week. So, they're all about 5-6 months old.
 
Hi from Ga.

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WELCOME ABOARD. Roosters can get very protective of their Hens. That is his job to protect them. I sure they develop their favorites. Usually all of them.
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To answer your question, my personal experience is YES, they do sometimes have a favorite hen. I had a breeding trio of Wheaten Marans, and the rooster had his favorite, who he always mated with. Poor gal was bald on her back, and the sides of her neck too, because the rooster pulled out her feathers, but she really liked him, because they were always together. The other hen ran from him.
I put a hen saddle on her with pretty sunflowers on it, to help protect her back so her feathers could grow back.

Now, I have a lavender Orpington rooster, and he is ALWAYS with his little hatchmate hen, who is a black Orpington. They haven't started mating yet, because they're young, but they were the only two that hatched out of a dozen eggs I purchased, and they are as thick as thieves.....Always together. I think they're a couple.
 
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Mine aren't mating, but she is always close to him. There are 3-4 others that hang around him sometimes, but she's always by him. I know they're still quite young, so I'm anxious to see how there relationship develops.
 
I believe so. And in my experience shes normally the top of the pecking order too. I have two Roosters and Snacks favorite hen is the only one he has left (others got ran over, opposum, etc) but even when I had the others she was always stuck to his side like glue... and shes a RIR meanie! As for Coffee, his main hen is a silver leghorn - while two of his girls seem to be contemplating joining the ranks of Snacks flock - she stands faithful to his side. And both males get irritated if you try to stand in between them and that one hen. So I say yes. Perfectly normal
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(Oh Coffee and Bacon -his favorite - are too immature to mate so that doesnt have anything to do with it it would seem)
 
Quote:
Mine aren't mating, but she is always close to him. There are 3-4 others that hang around him sometimes, but she's always by him. I know they're still quite young, so I'm anxious to see how there relationship develops.

That sounds exactly like my orpington pair......So far it's like brother and sister always together, but I'm thinking they will be mates soon....
 
I have a Silver Spangled Hamburg rooster and he appears to deeply love his little Hamburg hen. We bought them together as chicks. ( we usually get two or three peeps every spring and integrate them with the rest of the flock in the fall) I don't know if it was bonding at a young age or what but they are like Ken and Barbie. They are practically inseperable and seperating them seems to stress them out. They will call for each other and roost tucked tightly as a pair. As long as they are together they are calm as can be, no matter where you are dragging them to. He is our only rooster so naturally he "tends" to the other hens with due diligence. But he still always keeps an eye out for his little hen. In fact the only behavioral issue he had was when he would attack and pull feathers from a leghorn hen twice his size. In addition to not being properly submissive we noticed that she would often bully his favorite. Oddly enough I have never seen him tread his favorite. I don't know if he just got used to the big fluffy "perch" on the larger hens or what. Even so, they remain inseperable. We enjoy watching the little love story in the yard every day.
 
I dont have the feather pulling problem... Maybe its because my Roos are banty and my hens are not. LOL Though my Roo, Snack, used to have a thing for my female pekin duck (RIP - Howard) and she did quite often have neck feathers ruffled/missing
 

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