Hen keeps trying to protect me from mean rooster

[FlyWheel]

Yes the male stops after the female pecks him (but then he forgets and tries it again the next day). He is a bantam and she is a saipan.<Snip!>
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You need to try and breed that characteristic into hens! You'ld be rich, who wouldn't want a "Rooster guard".


Chickens with good manners, now there's a concept...

 

[SarahGfa]

You need to try and breed that characteristic into hens! You'ld be rich, who wouldn't want a "Rooster guard".

I wish I could! I don't really have space for a breeding program, but I wonder how much of this hen's behavior is biological and how much is due to the flock's social structure.

 

[Trux]

This is really interesting. I have a speckled sussex hen that attacked my gander who was trying to attack me last spring. I was in the process of pinning him down to the ground and she comes running over and barrels into him and starts wailing on him. She's at the bottom of the pecking order, so it was very strange to me, but sweet in a way. I gently nudged her away and she stood by until I let the gander back up after he stopped resisting. She's since then become one of my favorites. Nice to read about another hen doing something similar!

This works on roosters as well

 

[SarahGfa]

What is happening, I think is your rooster is trying to mate with your foot/ankel/anything he can reach.........he can't help it, and your hen, wants the rooster to either mate with her/ and/or not with you.
It is quite common to see other hens peck at both rooster and hens during mating. Your hen obviously doesn't think you are a suitable mate. I think she's right.

I think you were exactly right! Yesterday a different hen was limping so I grabbed her to see what's wrong... she was unhappy about being picked up, and the rooster came flying, flapping and kicking -- TOTALLY different from the earlier behavior, where he would jump at my ankle and bite my pant leg. He still does that sometimes, so I guess he thinks my foot is a hen. Dumb rooster!

 

[Shadrach]

I think you were exactly right! Yesterday a different hen was limping so I grabbed her to see what's wrong... she was unhappy about being picked up, and the rooster came flying, flapping and kicking -- TOTALLY different from the earlier behavior, where he would jump at my ankle and bite my pant leg. He still does that sometimes, so I guess he thinks my foot is a hen. Dumb rooster!

This post may be of interest to you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/weird-rooster-behaviour.1295345/page-4#post-21075714