does getting a roo affect the hen's behavior toward each other?

[haTHOR]

specifically, will they CHILL THE **** OUT and stop picking on the lowest pecking order hens? i really want to hear that the answer is yes, just to let you know.

 

[teach1rusl]

lol...mine were pretty harmonious before. I got a rooster a few weeks ago and now they pick at each other horribly, and my lower hen gets picked on even worse

I'm hoping it's just that he's disrupted everything and they will settle back down soon...else he's on his way out. So if a rooster is supposed to make things BETTER...I've got the wrong roo.

 

[gritsar]

My roo tolerates no fighting between the hens. I've watched him break up more than one cat fight (I mean hen fight) and he's a sight to see.

 

[haTHOR]

ok, so one yes and one no--anybody else want to weigh in to break the tie?

 

[gryeyes]

Well, my BSL Greta was the bottom of the pecking order until I added two laying hens to the flock. She let THEM know she had more status than either of them. Carl, the rooster, decided he really liked the REAL WOMEN (laying pullets) more than the flock he grew up with that weren't ready to lay yet, and *ahem* serviced the new gals a lot. Everybody else sorta ran away screaming, probably because they were not ready for the experience(s).

Greta, I think, got even more jealous of the new girls. Just guessing. However, Carl will go after her if he sees her peck at Millicent or Minerva. She only gets away with it if he's tied up in other activities.

The new girls have integrated into the flock very well and know to stay away from Greta. They're fast - they can usually dash in to get treats under her radar. They've got their best buddies in the flock now, which tend to put up buffer zones between 'em and Greta.

But if Greta gets uppity in front of Carl, he turns on her to let her know that behavior is not tolerated.

 

[NellaBean]

It's hard to say.........my roos have always helped break up fights between the hens. EXCEPT when I added a single hen when they were kept in a 'small' run. Then he helped pick on her...he may have been too young for breeding them, can't really remember. But my rooster now keeps his ladies in line. There is minimal fighting and if it gets loud and ugly he comes running and screaming. Sometimes the low hens will buddy up with the roo (which is what you might want) and then he will keep the other girls in her good graces. Not sure the best way to "make" them buddy up. Maybe lock the roo with the bottom hens a couple days? Who knows. I keep mine in a half acre so they just stay out of each other's way.