Hen being attacked by rooster

[JanH]

One of my 9 hens is being attacked by my young rooster. Her head is all bloody and I am afraid he is going to kill her. This is not a mating dance. He was hatched in January of this year and we got rid of our other rooster because he was so aggressive to humans. Now I wish I had him back instead of this one. Should I dispatch this rooster or what is happening. I am new to raising chickens.

 

[Judy]

They do typically grab the hen''s head when mating, and this is one of the things an overly aggressive cockerel can do.

 

[JanH]

Thank you. I have separated this hen and am going to let her heal. Her head is all bloody. This young rooster is just overly aggressive. He may have to go. He has not gone after any of my other hens. If he starts after them, that's all she wrote. I had figured that he was trying to mate but this is really bad. Her comb is half gone.

 

[vonchick]

Our rooster appears to hate one of our hens. If he can get to her he will chase her down and attack her, and it's clear he's not trying to mate. It looks like he's trying to kill her. And she just lays there and takes it. We've kept her in a separate pen with the little birds for 3 years now. The rooster is very good with his other hens, and he's gentle as a lamb with us. For some reason that one hen just sets him off.

 

[JanH]

Thank you for the info. We separated out the hen that he was attacking and he started on another hen this morning. He is now separated. I will decide what to do with him in the next couple of days. I have some young chicks that I believe may be rooster. If that the case, he must go. I will not have an attacking rooster. He has not attacked me or my husband but has started flapping his wings when we come into the yard. I feel bad but I will not have a rooster that is hurting my hens. Courting is one thing, pecking them until they are a bloody mess is another. Now I'm worried about infection setting in on my one hen.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Just rinse that comb well with warm water or saline and then coat it up with regular Neosporin (not the kind with pain reliever). They usually heal up pretty quickly.

I would just keep the rooster separate, the hens will probably be very relived! It's common for them to be rough when they are young and inexperienced but I only accept that to a certain point and I don't tolerate my hens being bullied and bloodied.

 

[dawg53]

Our rooster appears to hate one of our hens. If he can get to her he will chase her down and attack her, and it's clear he's not trying to mate. It looks like he's trying to kill her. And she just lays there and takes it. We've kept her in a separate pen with the little birds for 3 years now. The rooster is very good with his other hens, and he's gentle as a lamb with us. For some reason that one hen just sets him off.

Sometimes a rooster will try to eliminate an older "non productive" hen.

 

[vonchick]

Sometimes a rooster will try to eliminate an older "non productive" hen. 

That's fascinating! I had no idea. Makes me wonder why he sees the one hen like that - he's had the same attitude towards her since she was a year old, and she's always been one of my best layers.

 

[dawg53]

Quote: Yeah, I had it happen to an older hen. The rooster wouldnt go after the other hens that were the same age for some reason, he just picked that one particular hen and tried to kill her. Big mistake on the roosters part, she was one of my favorites and he went bye bye. Previous roosters and future roosters wernt a problem, they never bothered her.
Here's a pic of her a few days after I had doctored her wattle that the rooster nearly had ripped off.

 

[JanH]

This hen is only about 1 year old. This morning he went after another hen. Same age. The rooster is only 4 months old. I have now separated him out.