Help on gender and why a rooster from same batch is trying to kill it.

[NatJ]

I am trying to figure out why a leghorn roo(he is huge) born at the same time (all 5 are 4 months old) is now trying to kill this bird.

Is he trying to kill it? Or is he trying to mate with it?

If that bird is a pullet, and is getting ready to start laying eggs, the cockerel may be trying to mate with this pullet. Chickens mating can be rough, especially if the female does not want to, and the male is persistent.

If the cockerel keeps trying to mate with a particular female, she will often try to hide away from him.

All our other hens are not nice to him either. He sits on the back deck and is afraid of everything. Tried to put him in one of our other coops last eve and those 8 kept pecking him too. What the heck.

Once a chicken starts acting like a victim for any reason, other chickens are more likely to bully that chicken as well. So a pullet trying to get away from a cockerel can end up picked on by everyone else, just because of how she is acting.

(This is one possible explanation for the behaviors you have seen. I am not sure whether it is the correct explanation, or whether the correct explanation is really something else.)

 

[house1917]

For reference, here is a pullet of mine about 4 to 4 1/2 months old, she has a similar sized comb. I'm no expert, but I would guess yours in a pullet. I'm not sure why they would all be picking on her though

Once again the evolution of EEs is ahead of me.

Even with 100% pullet pattern the dang comb really threw me.

Glad to be wrong and will rely pretty much exclusively on feathers now!

 

[Theorrin]

Once again the evolution of EEs is ahead of me.

Even with 100% pullet pattern the dang comb really threw me.

Glad to be wrong and will rely pretty much exclusively on feathers now!

this is the only reason why i dont like EEs and will never have them

 

[Ritanigma]

Doesn't look like a rooster. Is he trying to get her to mate with him? Maybe she is ill so they are rejecting her?

Gosh, I'm not sure what I would do in that scenario. I would probably keep her on the other side of a divider where they can see her but not touch her, then try to reintroduce after a week or so.

She doesn't show any signs of illness, however Maybe I don't know what I am looking for and I wonder why she would be sick, but the rest not, unless it's something different?? Thoughts? I've always thought she was a hen, but second guessed myself yesterday. I just don't understand why he has tried to actually kill her 3 times now. I know I shouldn't be showing her special attention because that makes things worse, correct? We have about 32 hens and 2 roosters and a handful of newly born to moms so I'm losing my mind just a bit. 2 of the moms abandoned their chicks, so I have 5 orphans and 2 more broody. I may have to quit my job to be a FT mother of chicks and a pullet that is rejected. Lol. I just wish I knew why.

 

[2ndTink]

Once again the evolution of EEs is ahead of me.

Even with 100% pullet pattern the dang comb really threw me.

Glad to be wrong and will rely pretty much exclusively on feathers now!

I also have 2 other EEs I purchased at the same time who have never developed any comb, one is a slight bump and the other just flat skin, it looks a little goofy.

 

[Ritanigma]

Once again the evolution of EEs is ahead of me.

Even with 100% pullet pattern the dang comb really threw me.

Glad to be wrong and will rely pretty much exclusively on feathers now!

Twins. Awesome.

This bird is a pullet. And relatively close to laying as well. She is most likely being excluded because she has not yet mated with your male

Thank you

 

[Ritanigma]

Is he trying to kill it? Or is he trying to mate with it?

If that bird is a pullet, and is getting ready to start laying eggs, the cockerel may be trying to mate with this pullet. Chickens mating can be rough, especially if the female does not want to, and the male is persistent.

If the cockerel keeps trying to mate with a particular female, she will often try to hide away from him.



Once a chicken starts acting like a victim for any reason, other chickens are more likely to bully that chicken as well. So a pullet trying to get away from a cockerel can end up picked on by everyone else, just because of how she is acting.

(This is one possible explanation for the behaviors you have seen. I am not sure whether it is the correct explanation, or whether the correct explanation is really something else.)

 

[Ritanigma]

I've seen a lot of rough mating, but he pins this one brutally pecking and pulling. Never had a leghorn rooster though.

 

[NatJ]

I've seen a lot of rough mating, but he pins this one brutally pecking and pulling. Never had a leghorn rooster though.

Yes, that does sound different.

I do not think a Leghorn rooster should be much different than any other rooster-- actually injuring the hen is always bad!

 

[Saveria]

My two roosters fight over hens to the point that if one hen chooses the other rooster (rooster #2) rooster #1 will attack that hen. She could even be trying to mate with him (#1), but he won't do it and just attacks her, like he is mad that she ever rejected him and mated with rooster #2.

She seems young for romance dramas, but do you think this could be part of what is going on?