Hens beating up Rooster

JillCayer

Hatching
5 Years
Joined
Jul 4, 2014
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
7
I have 11 hens and a month again was given a rooster. I have not had any problems (and i see them everyday) but this morning noticed blood above the roosters tail and then saw many of the hens picking at him. I'm wondering why they would now start doing this and how can i stop them?! thanks!
 
Hello and
welcome-byc.gif


Sounds like your rooster's gotten hurt, perhaps even did it himself by accident, and your hens are showing cannibalistic tendencies. Contrary to popular belief not all chooks are latent cannibals... But, for your rooster's sake, you need to probably remove him and let him heal before reintroducing him, or use Blu-Kote or whatever it is people use in your situation.

Chooks with cannibalistic traits have many triggers, but they can simply range from being hungry, needing protein, and so forth to being bored, seeing red, and so forth. I've seen just-hatched cannibalistic chicks with their 2-day-yolk supply still intact ripping into other chicks and hauling them out of the shells to mutilate them, and they certainly weren't hungry. It's just a heritable trait with some. Some breeds are noted for predisposition to cannibalism, and you can get rid of the trait by not breeding cannibalistic animals, or intensify the trait by selecting for it.

Otherwise, people manage it in a variety of ways, including Blue-Kote (not sure how you spell it offhand, never used it, as I favor culling against cannibalism so have never had an issue with it), spectacles, red lighting, debeaking, etc.

Best wishes.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom