Hen fighting with Rooster

[76972clb]

I Shadow, 2 yr old Australorp (clearly the top of the pecking order), who challenges our Mr. Rooster, 10 month old RIR. She has started challenging Mr. Rooster.
Mr. Rooster has always taken care of his hens. Very protective and loves to mate with each one of them early in the morning. Two weeks ago one of my top chickens died as from a hawk attack. He had taken the hens over to safety while she fought off the hawk. After that he has been more aggressive. He pecks at my feet and legs and even chased my daughter away. I have picked him up, talked with him in a calm voice and then put down, trying to let him know that I'm top yet loving.
The saying "he may rule the roost but I rule the roster" is Shadows tagline. Since the hawk attack, Shadow has been more aggressive towards Mr. Rooster. This am I saw lots of feathers on the ground in the coop, clearly from Shadow due to the amount of feathers that she is missing. She also challenged him beak to beak this morning.

At first glance I thought they had a go around and she lost a lot of feathers. After watching for awhile I saw her pulling her own feathers out. We have nice weather this week, NE of Dallas, but concerned for her loosing so many feathers on her neck and back in winter. She is laying. Eggs are down from 1 a day to 1 every 2 or 3 days. Please don't say that my top laying chicken is multing now.

So is my real concern is Shadow challenging Mr. Rooster, him pecking at me and her loosing feathers.

Any advice on any of these issues?

 

[dekel18042]

Thank you very much for the great advice!
I try hard to keep a peaceful environment for all of our animals not just the chickens. I will do as you said with the kicking him back only when he attacks me then hold my foot in his face until he realizes that I'm top of the order. What I have done is face him as he circles me trying to get me to go where he wants me to go, like he does with his hens.

Nelly, the hen that died, was number 2 in the pecking order. Shadow, number 1 in pecking order, may feel the affect with the void / change in the order below her.
Shadow's feathers are loose that she is pulling out.

Thank you again for your suggestions and advice. I do appreciate it.

I notice you said your rooster is ten months old, the age when their testosterone goes into overdrive for a while. Hopefully with time he will settle down a bit when the terrible teens get over.
If they get really people aggressive, that's a different story.

 

[aart]

Did Shadow molt this year?
She may be molting...and doesn't want to be mated so is rejecting his advances.
A bird being killed both put them in panic mode and spurred a pecking order change.
They'll be jumpy for awhile but should calm down soon.

 

[PeepersMama]

Hm. That might balance it out, but I'm no expert, and don't have any experience with mixing feeds and such

From what I've read, it's best to leave the feed alone, because chicken experts have it formulated just right, so they get all they need in a day.

 

[aart]

I should look into the protein. I didn't know that 20% protein was not best for them. I'll study on that.

I mix laying pellets (20%) with scratch in the feeder. We give them kitchen scraps almost daily.

Usually not recommended to mix scratch grains with 'regular' feed ration as they will go for the grain and waste the feed.

Do you mix it half and half?
Say your grains are 8%, look at the label.
1 part 20% + 1 part 8% = 28% divided by 2 = 14% protein.
That's if they are eating an equal portion of grain to ration.

I free feed a 20% ration and give them a semi measured amount of scratch grains on the ground daily...works out to about 17-18% protein.
If they get other foods that day, I cut down the amount of grain.

Too much protein can be bad, but 20% is not excessive....it's when you get up to 25-30% protein that it can get dicey depending on the situation.

 

[PeepersMama]

I'd just let them sort it out. I've had hens take on young roos and totally kick their butt. He'll become more dominant as he gets older.

I suspect that she is molting, and fighting with Mr. rooster isn't helping anything. RIR's have a reputation for being agressive; I've had great reds, and then really mean ones, so there is a chance that he's hit puberty and is trying to "grow up." Don't hold him. Ever. Give him his space and let him figure things out. If he attacks you, kick him back, and then hold your foot in his face til he backs off. Only kick at him if he attacks you. Roosters don't get loved in a flock. Show him that you're the big boss, but don't be "rude" and fight him all the time.

Does it look like she is just pulling out loose feathers, or actually plucking herself? If she's plucking herself then she must be under alot of stress. Maybe she was close friends with the chicken who was killed by the hawk?

 

[76972clb]

Thank you very much for the great advice!
I try hard to keep a peaceful environment for all of our animals not just the chickens. I will do as you said with the kicking him back only when he attacks me then hold my foot in his face until he realizes that I'm top of the order. What I have done is face him as he circles me trying to get me to go where he wants me to go, like he does with his hens.

Nelly, the hen that died, was number 2 in the pecking order. Shadow, number 1 in pecking order, may feel the affect with the void / change in the order below her.
Shadow's feathers are loose that she is pulling out.

Thank you again for your suggestions and advice. I do appreciate it.

 

[76972clb]

Mr. Rooster hardly ever was aggressive before the attack. I wondered if it put him on a high allert status. He even pecked one of our cats & pulled while still holding on for eating an apple core we threw out. Cats & chickens have been together since day 1 here with no problem.

We got our first chickens (shadow was one of them) in July this year. She lost neck feathers earlier in fall and came with a lot of back feathers missing. She looked bad when lost neck feathers but now... well she looks horrible. I can take a pic of her.
The chicken we lost was #2 hen (Shadow #1), #3 chicken. It looks like Shadow is trying to be #1 over Mr.Rooster.

 

[76972clb]

yep, she's molting.

 

[PeepersMama]

Oh wow. She's got it rough this year!
If they fight alot, then isolate mr. rooster til she's got more feathers. Mating in the middle of a molt like that can't be any fun