Help! Rooster Obsessed with One Hen

[WonderWoman0625]

Hi all.....first post for me. I have learned alot just from reading the boards here. Now I have a problem I do not have a clue how to solve. I have a rooster that I raised from a batch of mail order chicks. He is absolutely obsessed with my one hen, Fuzz. He does his duty with the other girls but he mounts Fuzz over and over and over. I got all the girls hen saddles so Fuzz is wearing hers. But now she is having her neck feathers pulled out. The rooster ("Roo") will NOT leave her alone. She is terrified of him. She is stressed and hides under bushes and brush piles.

I hate to give up my Roo, especially since I raised him from a chick. (I can pick him up and flip him on his back and rub his belly and he just melts! How sweet is that?) But I can't let him kill my girl! And we have tried hot water, cold water, pushing him off, gentle "kicks", not-so-gentle kicks, herding him with sticks, and nothing is working. He walks around the yard looking for her. He has just learned to grab her when we are not looking. We have put him in "time out" but he always escapes. The only thing that has worked is putting Fuzz in time out. And then her sisters started pecking at her.

Does ANYONE out there know what to do that does not involve me giving Roo away? And putting him in a pot is NOT an option because I tend to name and fall in love with my critters. I could never kill one. But if I don't do something, he will end up loving Fuzz to death.

HELP!!

thanks!

 

[seminolewind]

Lay a piece of duct tape around the top and sides of her neck. Hopefully the roo will calm down. My roo did it and had favorites that would hide from him. But his favorites changed from time to time.

 

[PorkChop]

Quote:
We have a similiar problem which I posted yesterday. However we thought our Rooster was actually trying to kill the poor girl. His mating her seemed more aggresive than the others and she is so stressed out from all his chasing. Maybe she is just his favorite? Her neck and back of head is missing most of her feathers. I think I'll try the duct tape, or I mean chicken tape.

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:

 

[clayhill]

I had a roo like that also. I hatched a few and wound up with 2 new roos. The older roo and 1 of the younger ones acted like roos should, but one of the younger 2 "terrorized" only 1 hen. I think this roo and the one hen were both on the "low end" of the pecking order. Anyway he nearly killed the hen and I had to seperate her and nurse her back to health. After a month of nursing she was as good as new so I re-introduced her to the flock. Soon the roo was after her again, worse than ever! One morning I went into the coop where they both were and she flew into my arms frantically and look at me, and I swear it was like I could read her mind, "DO SOMETHING WITH HIM!". So I finally gave in and sent him to freezer camp. To me it was not worth having a hen abused to the point of death by a roo.

Hope you have better luck.

 

[mrbstephens]

Quote:
Oh YEah? Never heard this one and I've posted here about the same problem I'm having too. I actually found a new home for the rooster because he also chases my son. Luckily I found someone who wants to use him in his breeding program and even offered to give him back to me if I ever decide I want him again!

 

[WonderWoman0625]

It's so great to know that I am not alone! Thanks to all for your comments and advice. I have seperated my two roosters and rotate them in and out of the "time out" coop. Things have calmed down a bit. Poor Fuzz, she also comes running and jumps into my arms to get away from the randy Roo but only if both boys are out. Crazy birds! I posted an add on our message board at work and found a very nice lady with 8 girls and no boys. She might take him if her husband can be talked into it. If not, another fella at work wants him. Both of these folks are looking for roosters and not chicken soup so that makes me happy. Either way I seem to have made a new friend in her and we chat back and forth about our flocks.

So I will continue to rotate the boys in and out of time out and try the chicken tape solution until my Roo has a new home. I really appreciate all the knowledge I have gained from cruising this message board. I reccomended it to my new friend and she knew exactly what I was talking about. She cruises your board too.
So thanks to all who post problems and solutions and funny stories about your feathered friends here. You can't know what a tremendous help it has been to us newbie chicken lovers!

Power to the Peeps!
WonderWoman0625 (aka Lori)