Does it bother you???

[KarenP]

I know this is really strange, but i feel so bad for my hens when the rooster tries to mate with them!! Do they really have to be so rough??? I know i'm probably wrong and I probably look like a fool, but i can't help but to yell at him when i hear my girls scream as he grabs them by the neck!!

 

[KBUGS]

I used to think that. However, they all got a little older and the roo was sweeter to the girls and the girls, I guess, just finally became ready for it. They don't squawk a bit now. They squat right down for him. This is my first year with chickens so maybe other roos and hens are different, but I used to think it looked like rape everytime. Now they have it all figured out.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah...just once I'd like one of my big White Rocks to turn around and peck him in the eyeball. Just once. My roo is more gentle than most but it still looks like his attentions are not welcomed and the hen usually looks pretty disgusted as she gets up, shakes herself and walks away. I can almost hear her thinking, "Gee, best 1/10 of a second I've ever had..."

 

[CarolJ]

Quote:

 

[chickmashnoon]

some of them like it rough

no, really, sometimes mating in the animal kingdom can look pretty brutal.

On the other hand, inspect your girls to make sure they aren't getting ripped up. You may have a rooster that is just a brute. If he is young, he might grow out of it, if he's older, well, in the chicken world, there are always other roos . . . If they are getting brutalized (missing feathers in the back of the head, getting wounds on their backs from his claws or spurs, bald patches on their backs) you may look at trimming and fileing his nails, removing his spurs, or I even read on one thread here someone recommend to snip the very tip of the upper beak to keep them from gripping and pulling out feathers. Get more info on these options tho, it's just what I've heard.

Personally, my rooster who is a ruffian is going to be roast! But I have two and the gentleman is going to be staying

 

[DMRippy]

My EE roo had to be penned up for some time because of fighting. Now he has his own girls 11 to be exact, and none are laying but not too far from it. He is really rough. He pulls the girls that are hiding on the roosts off and will pin them in the corners. I thought once he had 11 girls he might calm down but NO. maybe when he get some mature girls that have been through the paces he will calm down. These girls are just not used to it yet....

My other pullets were the same way, squawking like crazy, now you don't hear much from them. But this EE get everybody riled up in all 4 pens

 

[readjulie]

We had two roos. One was very rough with the ladies. He made our hens very nervous to go in the coop. Some of them started staying out at night. When he started mounting our rabbit (quite the sight) it was time for him to go. The local feed store took him back for us. Within a day our hens, roo, and rabbit were happy again.

 

[gryeyes]

Unfortunately, the boys are ready for action long before the girls are ready to accept their attentions. I've always thought it looked like rape, too. And sometimes it is definitely not something the pullets want, so that makes it rape, I guess. Especially when they are chased down, cornered and mounted.

But I do what my dominant roo (who was pretty rough when he was young, too, but now is a gentleman) does with any upstart cockerel mounting one of HIS hens: I either knock 'em off or yank 'em off the girls. It won't help when Carl or I don't witness it, but it does establish that we are in charge of the flock.

And I am also amused by the shaking out the "bed feathers" when the girls get up. (Even though I know what purpose the shake performs... much less romantic than shaking out bed feathers.)

 

[KarenP]

Quote:

What I can't believe, is i think he knows he is rough because he only does it to certain girls! The two hens he has been raised with since they were a week old, he leaves them alone. Oh well, i guess it's hard to understand even the men in the chicken world!!!

 

[Mattemma]

Yea I feel bad when Jackie Chan sets his sights on one of the 7 hens and is relentless in trying to mate her.On the other hand I find it hilarious when the girls shoot out of the chicken shend,and Jack can't catch ANY of them.He tries so hard to get one,but those girls have some serious evasive(sp) manuveres(sp)!

I will feel bad again for the hens when they are cooped up in the little shed all winter with Jack.Not to many places to run in there!