Help! Rooster is being a jerk!

[Uzuri]

I'm not 100% sure, but the evidence seems to point to Rooster having drawn blood today.

I was treated to the scene of an axe murder when I went to the coop this evening. Drops of blood spattered everywhere. At first I was sure something had gotten to them, but all six hens were in the run, and I could hear Rooster honking in the coop, so I knew they were all alive. Thought maybe something had attacked and Rooster fought it, but when I looked in on him he was clean and uninjured.

I think that I finally tracked it down to pinch wounds on the back of one hen's head -- though I don't know how that could have caused so much blood! I mean I'm talking blood spattered 3 feet high. Looked like a bad experiment in voodoo. I think he tried to mate her and she wouldn't stand still so he tore her skin. But all the feathers are still in tact, so I have no good way of telling for sure.

No one seems to be treating her badly, so I'm not worried for her healing just yet... but does this sound like the likely scenario? And if it is, what do I do with this rooster? Will he grow out of it? Will the hens maturing enough to squat for him make it so it's not likely to happen again? Or is it a toss-up?

 

[cobrien]

bump

 

[Tala]

Sounds like a toss up. If they're new at this they need practice, and the hens need to learn to stand still. It could get better! Or it might not...

If the hen has bloody skin showing you should probably use Blue Kote so the others won't see the blood and peck at it.

 

[Camelot Farms]

How old is your roo? Is he the same breed as your hens?

I have an older roo who never hurts the hens. They are all his size or just slightly smaller.

I have an 8 month old roo who is not allowed near the hens. He claws them, grabs feathers and pulls them around...its not pretty.

I plan to allow him to age a bit and then get him hens that are size compatible and see what happens.

 

[Uppity Peon]

A wound to the head, and especially the comb can bleed a LOT. I might put him in jail for a bit.

 

[Uzuri]

All of them are 19 weeks and some days; he and the hen went after are not the same breed, though they are all about the same size.

It sounds rather like I'm going to have to wait and see if it was a fluke, doesn't it?

I know people use the little chicken blinders for anxious pecking... would they work on a rooster for something like this? Throw his aim off enough that he can't hit anyone in the back of the head?

 

[Over Easy in Adna]

I have had 2 of my girls 'scalped' by the rooster. I seperated the girls to allow them to heal and then put them back in with the group. Once they got a little older they took to the mating much easier and without trying to run / twist away. Have not had a problem now that they have learned to submit.


(Does that sound as bad to the rest of you as it does to me?)

 

[Ridgerunner]

If chickens were humans, it would sound bad. Since they are chickens and not human, it sounds perfectly natural and very accurate.

 

[g_a_brand]

Im wondering about the same thing,

one of my hens has been loved toooo much by one of our roo's , 3 days ago I walked into the coop in the morning and it looked like someone was murdered in one of the nesting box's. this happened 2 days in a row ( this morning she was fine ) granted we have way too many roos right now, and they are set for freezer camp as soon as my brother in law can do them.

Granted she is really likeing the baths in the house, or is it being dried on my lap, with a towel while being treated to toast, hummm
I was also wondering if this means that we may have eggs soon

My older girls were born around the 1st of may and are white rocks, our younger ones were born around july 4th , we only just joined the 2 flocks a week ago , granted they have been in the same coop since the end of aug, with a gate between them that they could see each other, could that be the reason one of my roos ( an older dark cornish ) has been loveing my girl so much ?

 

[mygirls55]

I have a mean Roo I took out of the coop Wednesday, and he is set for the freezer this Sat. I am sad about that, as I really like him, but he is soooooo mean to the hens. He runs them away from the food....he hides inside the door of the coop and when a hen tries to go inside, he grabs them by the head feathers and pulls on them and pulls the feathers out. He isnt trying to mate....it just seems that he doesnt want them in the coop and is being very abusive.
In the past I took him out of the coop/yard...and isolated him for about a week? Thinking that when I put him back in with the hens, his attitude towards them would have changed. He did better for a few days, then he started being really mean to the hens again????
All I know to do....is plan a chicken dinner?
I have another larger coop and yard, and a Roo for my hens there, and he is very good to his harem. I dont understand why this one roo is sooooooooo mean, and I dont like him abusing my girls.
I had a red roo that bred with a plain white pullet...and my cochin hatched out this mean roo. He is in with 7 white pullets....?
I need some suggestions? I'm sad to put him in a pot....but at the same time, I just hate his behavior, and it just makes me so upset when he abuses the hens.