Hens attacking rooster

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ccbutler6

ccbutler6

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We have 5 Rhode Island Reds hens and just recently introduced a White Crested Black Polish Bantam rooster. We kept him fenced off in the chicken run the first couple of days so they could get familiar with each other without harming one another. We just let him out today and they were ok for a little, but then the hens started pecking at his head. They pulled about half of his feathers out of his head before we could get him secluded again. What should we do? Thank you so much for your help!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Unfortunately it is not unusual for crested birds to be picked on / have their crests plucked by other birds. You might try keeping him fenced off longer before combining them, but if they are picking out his head feathers just because they are there rather than out of aggression, you may never be able to run them together. There are a number of threads on it if you do a search with various thing people have tried to stop the plucking ie... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/241848/question-about-polish-chickens/10
 
Thank you so much for this! We will fence him off for a while longer and then try it again. I hope it all works out because we absolutely adore him
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Welcome to BYC!

Yes, not only do crested birds tend to be picked on more, but when you introduce new birds, you need to keep the new ones separated in a cage or fenced off area but within the flock at all times. You have to leave them this way for several weeks. Everybody sees, nobody touches. After about 3 weeks, you can try mixing them in.

Good luck with your new bird and welcome to our flock!
 
Oh ya very common RIR hens are aggressive to a point and my Molted Houdan Rooster is in a separate cage for this very reason and yes a lot of hens will pluck off the head feathers ....




Some of the new Molted Houdans ....







Feeding time at the zoo ....









gander007
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Since he is a bantam, why not make him a house pet. There is a growing thread called "People with House chickens," lots of folks do it. My friend has 4 banties that watch tv with her.
 

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