I've had a cockerel 5 months old be able to dominate a flock of mature hens. Five month is really young but he did. I had one that could not dominate all of the hens until he was 11 months old. Most of them would submit but not the dominant hen. Most of the time they work it out by seven months but not always. I firmly believe the personality of the hens has a lot to do with that. If he is only starting to crow at 7 months he could easily be a slow starter.
Usually when mine fight or try to beat each other up they go for the head or back of the neck. They don't peck further down on the back. If they are attacked my chickens run away. That's how they protect themselves until they have the spirit to fight back. If they can't run away, the run or coop is too too small or they get trapped against a fence or in a corner, they lay down and try to hide their head. Does this sound familiar? What you are describing doesn't sound quite right.
If you know which one is beating him up, isolate her for a few days and see how he does with the rest. If he gets along with the rest that tells you which chicken is the problem. Sometimes if a chicken is causing a behavioral issue locking them away out of contact with the flock for several days or even a week can alter their behavior. They've lost their pecking order status and sometimes that's enough to change their behavior for good.
It sounds like that coop/run is fairly small. I've had a lot of good luck in integration by letting them range together in a large area. They have room to get away and stay away but will merge at their pace.
This kind of problem isn't that unusual when you try to integrate an immature cockerel with a flock of mature hens. When he grows up things will change but you may be writing about your cockerel beating up your dominant hen then. Usually the transition of him replacing her as flock master is pretty smooth but every now and then it becomes serious. Some of that depends on the spirit and personality of the cockerel but some depends on the hen.
Usually when mine fight or try to beat each other up they go for the head or back of the neck. They don't peck further down on the back. If they are attacked my chickens run away. That's how they protect themselves until they have the spirit to fight back. If they can't run away, the run or coop is too too small or they get trapped against a fence or in a corner, they lay down and try to hide their head. Does this sound familiar? What you are describing doesn't sound quite right.
If you know which one is beating him up, isolate her for a few days and see how he does with the rest. If he gets along with the rest that tells you which chicken is the problem. Sometimes if a chicken is causing a behavioral issue locking them away out of contact with the flock for several days or even a week can alter their behavior. They've lost their pecking order status and sometimes that's enough to change their behavior for good.
It sounds like that coop/run is fairly small. I've had a lot of good luck in integration by letting them range together in a large area. They have room to get away and stay away but will merge at their pace.
This kind of problem isn't that unusual when you try to integrate an immature cockerel with a flock of mature hens. When he grows up things will change but you may be writing about your cockerel beating up your dominant hen then. Usually the transition of him replacing her as flock master is pretty smooth but every now and then it becomes serious. Some of that depends on the spirit and personality of the cockerel but some depends on the hen.
