HELP!!! Killing or Breeding?

[dixygirl]

I have a giant Cornish Cross hen who is an excellent layer and a tiny Ameraucana Bantam rooster. Lately I have been seeing her with blood on her. Today I witnessed the tiny rooster attacking her. She was running from him. When he caught her and she surrendered and put her head down, he began PICKING her!, pulling out her feathers and picking her on her head back and bottom drawing BLOOD!

It looked for a moment like he was trying to mount her but it seemed he couldn't so it appeared that he decided to kill her instead!!

I grabbed her and put her in a pen by herself. She has tiny peck wounds on her that seem insignificant, but if I had not intervened, I fear he may have nearly killed her.

What does this behavior seem to be? Do i have a psycho dwarf Ameraucana? Or does he have an unfulfillable crush on the big girl? I have about eight roosters that are all probably coming into puberty. Will I have to isolate them from the hens? Are they all going to go psycho like him in a few weeks?

What is going on please?

PS I have watched my Pekin ducks mating and it was nothing like this. They just mounted and got off. This fellow seemed to be like a fighting rooster trying to kill another! I will not have this on my ranch. Do i need to dispatch him and put him in a stew or just keep them separated?

 

[ibpboo]

I would separate them, I do not think mating should be that violent. I know the hens get torn up some, but shouldn't get bloody. that could lead to more pecking. Yikes for your situation.

 

[Frizzledhen]

Sounds like you have a very frustrated rooster. I would deffinately put him else where. Your hen does not deserve to be treated like that and if you do not want fertilized eggs, who needs a rooster. If you do want fertilized eggs, get a roo that can do the job and not beat the poor hen for his lack of ability.

 

[dixygirl]

Thanks so much. And I like them both so much. She is the first chicken that gave me eggs and she follows me around like a pet.

He crows so cute and sounds like Bart Simpson imitating a rooster. He also has the cutest colors. Yellow on the throat and head, orange and black on the body and a florescent green tail. So adorable, but i can't have him attacking other birds. Maybe it is him that I should isolate instead of her. The only good thing, is since he is so fearless, he will probably protect the rest from the cat when it comes around at least.

Also, since I put her in a pen she decided to go sit on the fertile duck eggs that the ducks have been neglecting!

I do want some offspring from him with my Ameraucana, Silkie and Frizzle hens. Let's hope he doesn't try to kill them or i will have to decide what to do with him.

 

[gritsar]

I agree that you should seperate them. Even when my roosters were young and clumsy, they didn't draw blood on the hens in their awkward first mating attempts.
OT - frizzled, a good rooster is great for alot of things besides fertilized eggs.

 

[palomino777902]

I'd really like to see a picture of your roo.
I hope you don't have to get rid of him. He sounds very handsome.

 

[cravenchicken]

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[dancingbear]

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Can you seperate him, but with some hens closer to his own size? See if he's ok with them. Otherwise, he may have to go. We had a roo once who absolutely terrorized the hens, we ate him. Most are not that bad. Some are downright sweet to the girls, and still very protective. I had one who let the girls come up and take treats right from his beak. He'd call them over and "beak feed" them.

As for protection from the cat, I have 10 cats, have had many other cats over the years, and in my experience, your cat's not going to bother chickens once they get about pigeon size. They will grab a baby chick if available, but once they get a little bigger, it's rare for a cat to go after them. I've only heard of 1 feral cat that was a chicken killer, and don't know if I believe the person who told about it. My cats hunt mice at the coop, and sometimes get locked in at night by accident. Then they meow piteously for me to let them out, away from the big, scary chickens.

 

[gritsar]

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My alpha roo is like that. He always feeds his girls before himself. Even if I hand him a treat, he just holds it in his beak for the girls to take. My subordinate roo doesn't feed the girls very often, but then again he rarely gets any loving since the alpha keeps him from it. I guess the sub figures why bother feeding them if there are no benefits in it for him.

Also, I have a cat that was a feral orphan I found when she was three weeks old. She's now two and she's become an indoor cat while the chickens are out. We've given her numerous chances to be around the chickens without hurting them, but she's out for blood. Frequently the dog has alerted me and I've gone out to find her hanging from the hardware cloth windows of the coop trying to get at the chickens. She's weighs around 2 lbs., my smallest chicken is about double her size.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Yeah, you'll want to separate them all--especially the eight roosters from your hens! That's enough to cover 80 hens!