Hen scared of rooster

[Clovers]

Hi
I have a chochin rooster with 7 ladies. I have one hen that got broody for about 2 months. After she came out of it she never went on a roost again. Hid in the nesting box at night. But recently she quite eating and drinking. I thought she was gone. I noticed the rooster was trying to mate with her and mad at her. So I immediately removed her. I nursed her back to health over several weeks. She started to do better. I put her back into the flock blocked off. I would let them out together only when I was there to watch. But noticed she was petrified of the rooster and would come running and try to fly up onto me and the rooster would go after her. After a while of her being back with them but even separated in a different pen she quit eating and got sick again. I feel that she is super scared of the rooster which is causing her to not eat and drink. How do I get her and the rooster to be okay again?

 

[NatJ]

Probably the first step would be to get the hen eating and healthy again.

Putting her near the flock, blocked off but able to see them, sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure why it didn't work. Was the rooster able to reach into her space? Was her food close to the side with the rooster, so she felt afraid to eat because of how close he was?

You could try taking her out-of-sight of the flock to eat a meal a few times each day, to see if she is happier eating when she cannot see them. She needs to get used to them and feel safe, but of course she also needs to eat enough food while that is happening.

I do not know for sure, but maybe she would do better with more space, so she could be farther from the rooster (because he's scary when he's too close, and if her pen is small he might come "too close" fairly often.)

(I'm just guessing, because what you did sounds like it SHOULD have worked, but obviously it did not work. So I'm trying to think of what could be going on in the mind of that hen.)

 

[aart]

I would try to isolate the rooster, see if she gets along with the girls without his interference.