Hen Terrified of Rooster; Behavior Advice or Good Chicken Recipe Sought...

[MrsAuberry00]

Does he roost at night in the coop?
That's the time(well after dark with a did head or flash light) to get a hold of him.

Yes, he does. Our coop is waist high with no access for humans to walk in so unless he roosts towards the back, I can't reach him. (Picture for illustration.) I reached out to my hairdresser who knows people with chickens to see if I can re-home him. I watched this morning and he is an excellent rooster to the other hens...he calls them after finding food for them, does his little woo dance and watches over them. I don't know what the problem is between these two, but I don't want to give him a death sentence for it if I can find him a new home soon.

 

[Chickassan]

Goodness you've got a crazy cockrel if she's submitting and he's still taking things that far. He's doing that to a mature hen that dosent bode well for him even when he matures. The most I personally would tolerate would be a posturing flog or two and of course the enevitable chasing that's just going to happen. Probably going to get scolded for this but I'd put him out on a tie line ,basically a leash for chickens it goes around the leg and stakes to the ground. That way the hens that like him can have him, he can still alert, and your terrorized girl can have peace.

 

[MrsAuberry00]

UPDATE: Alfred will be re-homed this Saturday afternoon. I found a man starting his own flock who was looking for a mature rooster, or at least a rooster who is performing all rooster duties. Alfred fit the bill for him and I was completely up front and honest about why we are re-homing him. I feel much better about the whole situation...I couldn't in good conscious give him a death sentence because he hates one hen when he's the perfect rooster to all the others and isn't aggressive towards us. (I couldn't figure out how to edit the thread title to reflect an update, but here it is anyway.)

 

[Lisa Wood]

I don't have anywhere to separate him. I have a dog kennel I use as a sick bay/broody breaker, but that's not an acceptable separation area for a long period of time. I should have known the handsome guy would also be a huge pain in the ***.

We had this problem but with all hens. They mostly liked him, but he would sneak up while their backs were turned, and as far as I was concerned, raped them. They were just jumped and bred, they were young, and screamed bloody murder. PLEASE no one admonishing me for using the "rape" word concerning my chickens. I've already been informed that word does not apply to chickens. But we still at this moment have freedom of speech. Thank you.
So, while the pullets got more used to being raped, because he hit the less dominant ones over and over, they became totally denuded on the back, reminding us of a Perdue chicken in the store.
After he started protecting the girls from me, even when I was feeding, watering, cleaning, and ignoring the flock, my husband was forced to build a mini chicken coop and another smaller run. He has access socially, thru the fence they all visit and talk to him, and he can see entire chicken yard so he does watch everything. He will not sleep in his coop, but on top of it.
Without a husband, I'm pretty confident I could built a water proof shelter, ladder, and chicken run. It would not be pretty, but it would be done.
After he moved, my second lead hen started the same thing. Surprise and forced over breeding to the point the feathers stayed damaged. She is female, but there it is. She moved in with the Rooster, and is bred maybe once a day instead of every fifteen minutes, which is his preference. There is an argument before each breeding. But it doesn't progress to serious or injuries. I would think with your lead hen and Cockerel, the argument maybe got nasty and she lost, had a little injury, and he traumatized her. I would treat her like she has PTSD, which of course that level of stress and anxiety can cause a whole snowball of problems in the flock.
Maybe she's your be first house chicken? Just joking, but however you figure it out, they need to be separated for now. I'm sure when she "gets" that you stopped his access, she will feel much better?

 

[MrsAuberry00]

We had this problem but with all hens. They mostly liked him, but he would sneak up while their backs were turned, and as far as I was concerned, raped them. They were just jumped and bred, they were young, and screamed bloody murder. PLEASE no one admonishing me for using the "rape" word concerning my chickens. I've already been informed that word does not apply to chickens. But we still at this moment have freedom of speech. Thank you.
So, while the pullets got more used to being raped, because he hit the less dominant ones over and over, they became totally denuded on the back, reminding us of a Perdue chicken in the store.
After he started protecting the girls from me, even when I was feeding, watering, cleaning, and ignoring the flock, my husband was forced to build a mini chicken coop and another smaller run. He has access socially, thru the fence they all visit and talk to him, and he can see entire chicken yard so he does watch everything. He will not sleep in his coop, but on top of it.
Without a husband, I'm pretty confident I could built a water proof shelter, ladder, and chicken run. It would not be pretty, but it would be done.
After he moved, my second lead hen started the same thing. Surprise and forced over breeding to the point the feathers stayed damaged. She is female, but there it is. She moved in with the Rooster, and is bred maybe once a day instead of every fifteen minutes, which is his preference. There is an argument before each breeding. But it doesn't progress to serious or injuries. I would think with your lead hen and Cockerel, the argument maybe got nasty and she lost, had a little injury, and he traumatized her. I would treat her like she has PTSD, which of course that level of stress and anxiety can cause a whole snowball of problems in the flock.
Maybe she's your be first house chicken? Just joking, but however you figure it out, they need to be separated for now. I'm sure when she "gets" that you stopped his access, she will feel much better?

He'll be going to his new home tomorrow afternoon with a whole new group of girls to get acquainted with. I'm sad he's leaving...I'd gotten attached and fought hard to keep him...but in the long run, I know this will lead to a happier flock and definitely a happier traumatized hen. No more roosters for us, but after the girls have gotten used to their new, rooster-free dynamic, we will add another laying hen or two in the spring.