Hen biting young rooster?

[Nano9910]

I've got a young roo (15 weeks old). He cockadoodled so I'm sure its a rooster. The odd thing (or it seems odd to me) is the my year old hens peck at him. Is that normal? Or do hens not normally peck at roosters, even young ones?

 

[KFox]

My pullets did this to my rooster too. They had him pretty scared to move/eat/drink for about a week. Now he is very sweet to them. He is still young and I'm new so this could all change. I just wanted to share my experience so far.

 

[Dutchgirl]

It's not necessarily b/c he's a roo. They will peck on any new chicken to the flock. They are establishing a pecking order. Make sure that the roo is able to get away if needed.

 

[nes]

My gals are picking on the new roo too!

They left Jenny (the new hen) pretty well alone, I think because she's older and fought back a bit, but they go right after the poor roo who is still quite young.
(then again, we're not 100% sure he's a roo).

We only had one corner in the coop they would really be able to corner him in so we put a board across it so he can get over it to get away

.

 

[ILuvMyPetChickens]

My Silkie Rooster and Cochin are pecking on eachother all the time. I break it up.

 

[2overeasy000]

It is pretty common for a young roo to get picked on by the hens. I think they are trying to get their punches in early, knowing that they are gonna "get theirs" soon enough.

 

[ChicksterJo]

I have a 17 week old Red Star who's (right now) the head of the little flock (under me, of course

). She will always run after my 6 week old Ameraucana roo even though he's not crowing yet. I think she knows...

 

[Happy Chooks]

Oh heck yeah! They are putting him in his place. My rooster was horribly beaten up when he was young by my hens. (a BYC member told me they were teaching him humility

) One day, he matured and he climbed that pecking order one hen at a time - starting with the lowest ranking girl. He's been top boy ever since and a fantastic protector of my hens.