Hen terrorized of rooster

[bougraisse]

Hi! So I’m having a bit of a problem here, thought it would settle with time but it doesn’t... I have 10 hens and 3 roosters. Yes, I know, it’s too many roosters, but they are sweethearts, and they are awesome with my girls. But the bottom roo on the pecking order, Popcorn, is always trying to mate. He is pretty big (Frizzle EE) for my hens, but they stand up for themselves and refuse to be mounted. Except Carla. She is really small, and is TERRORIZED by Popcorn. Whenever she sees him, she freaks out, screams, flies and runs away. But obviously, Popcorn hears that and goes after her and mates her. He mates her multiple times before letting her go. She has some broken feathers on her back, but not so bad. I don’t really want to give him away (I will not cull him), but if I have to...
Do you think they’ll get used to each other? Popcorn is not really doing anything wrong...

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

It sounds like it'll be for the better to either get rid of Carla or Popcorn, in my opinion I'd get rid of the rooster. He is technically doing something wrong, he's not being a sweetheart to her, the damage on the back could get much worse too.

 

[bougraisse]

But he really doesn’t seem to hurt her at all, so I don’t know why she is so scared of him. She is a bit scared of the other two also, but not as much.

 

[theoldchick]

Carla needs to find a new home. The fact that she has broken feathers on her back is evidence he is hurting her. Or you can build another coop and allow Popcorn to have a flock of his own. Or allow Carla to live with a flock of all hens. The rooster doing all the mating is the dominant rooster and they will find a favorite and mate that one hen repeatedly. I had this problem so I built a bachelor pen which houses the roosters and now my hens are perfectly happy flirting with the roosters in the next coop.

 

[Isadora]

Even if Popcorn isn't hurting her, is it fair to have her undergo the stress that just being around him causes her? I agree that it would be best if one of them finds a new home.

 

[bobbi-j]

Popcorn would be in the grow out pen with my current rooster Stewart. He will be living up to his name sooner rather than later. His first offense was trying to kill one of my hens. She was in a crate until she healed, then in a separate coop with a friend because when I let her out of her crate, he went after her - feet first, pinned her to the ground and viciously attacked her head again. (That was his second strike.) Strike 3 was when I saw him run down one of my smaller hens, pulling feathers out of her neck and head, then pin her down on the ground and aggressively climb on her to mate her. She got away, and he did it two more times before I got ahold of my handy dandy chicken catcher, snagged him and tossed him into an empty coop. As soon as I find the time, he will be rehomed to my freezer.

 

[aart]

is it fair to have her undergo the stress that just being around him causes her?

No, not in my opinion.

How old are these birds, in months?
How big is your coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help here.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, how old are your chickens? Not just these two, but all of them. How much room do they have? How big in feet or meters is your coop, how big in feet or meters is your run. Do they free range? Do you have other coops or runs? Where does this behavior take place? It's easier to figure out what might be going on and, more importantly, what to do about it if we know what you have to work with. As Aart said, a few photos can be valuable.

Age can be pretty important information, immature pullets and cockerels often behave quite a bit differently than mature hens and roosters. Tight space can make behaviors much worse.

With nothing really to go by my first reaction is to separate them now. As long as the three boys are getting along I'd separate her for a while. If you separate the boys now you may never be able to put them back together.

I don't know what my long term suggests might be, I don't know what you have to work with or how old they are. But I suggest solving for the peace of the flock, not in favor of one specific chicken.

 

[bougraisse]

Yes, how old are your chickens? Not just these two, but all of them. How much room do they have? How big in feet or meters is your coop, how big in feet or meters is your run. Do they free range? Do you have other coops or runs? Where does this behavior take place? It's easier to figure out what might be going on and, more importantly, what to do about it if we know what you have to work with. As Aart said, a few photos can be valuable.

Age can be pretty important information, immature pullets and cockerels often behave quite a bit differently than mature hens and roosters. Tight space can make behaviors much worse.

With nothing really to go by my first reaction is to separate them now. As long as the three boys are getting along I'd separate her for a while. If you separate the boys now you may never be able to put them back together.

I don't know what my long term suggests might be, I don't know what you have to work with or how old they are. But I suggest solving for the peace of the flock, not in favor of one specific chicken.

My chickens are approximately one year old, they were born different times so I’m not sure. Carla is older, I got her as an adult, she should be almost 2 years old now. Popcorn will be 1 year old somewhere in July.
The coop is 8x10 feet, but they free range all day, so they spend almost no time in it. I have another coop he could go in, there is no one in it right now because it’s not suited for winter here. Popcorn and Carla don’t sleep together (I put him in a enclosed place at night) so I don’t know how she would react if she was closed in the coop with him. So the issue is outside.

Fyi the previous owner of Carla said (when she gave her to me) that she was stressed a lot and screams often. She is always the one setting the alarm of “there’s a predator nearby” randomly.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It's happening outside and they are that old. That blows most of my theories out of the water. Good, at least they are out of the way.

He is about 9 months old and at the bottom of the male hierarchy. Most of my cockerels are acting like mature roosters by that age but not all. Maturity could easily be part of the problem but I think he is a weak specimen. To me the size of the chicken doesn't matter, It's the spirit of the chicken. It's not unusual for a bantam to dominate a full sized chicken. I don't know how old he is comparted to the other two boys or how big he is, but many mature hens want a rooster act like he would be q good father to her potential children. Immature cockerels can't pull that off. Some rooster don't have the self-confidence to manage that. So that hen and maybe none of the others will give in to him so he resorts to force. He may be afraid of the other hens or maybe the older boys protect the others from him. If it is a maturity issue he could grow out of it. But I don't think that's the only problem.

I think she is fairly weak too. Very nervous. The only reason he picks on her is because she is the only one he can pick on. I don't know how she gets along with the others when he is not around. I'm not convinced he is the only problem.

The multiple matings bother me. Once and its over would not bother me. Multiple matings just doesn't feel right.

I'm rambling a bit, trying to collect my thoughts. So what can you do. You have ruled out eating any of them and really don't want to get rid if any of them. They all free range but the boy sleeps separately.

You can keep doing what you are doing as long as there is no blood or injury. I don't have a good feeling about that but you can certainly try.

You can do something to permanently keep them apart. That would mean no more free ranging for one of them and maybe others if you want them to be in a flock.

You can keep them separated for a while and see if he does mature out of it. Maybe keep her isolated (across wire from the flock and with some flock mates) for a couple of months and then let them go. See what happens. Or isolate him for a while and take the risk that the boys fight when they get back together.

I'm not sure there is a happy solution to this. When one chicken takes a bullying attitude toward one specific other chicken it often does not end well. But I have had some successes (and failures) with isolation.