How and When to Separate Rooster

[Rosanna]

I have 4 hens and 1 rooster and they're all 4 months old. The rooster is starting to try to mate with two of them and those two hens are scared of him and they curl up in the corner and hide their heads. They scream when he chases them and he bites them and the one hen's head was bloody yesterday. Is this normal? The only reason I want to keep my rooster around is because he is pretty, I like his crowing, and he protects the girls when they roam the yard occasionally. Other than that, we don't need him for breeding purposes and it's not worth it if he is stressing the girls out during these hot days. I'm thinking of separating him, but I don't have another coop or way to do that. How do you separate a rooster and is it worth it?

 

[Teppler]

I ended up with 7 roosters out of a batch of 8 chicks I bought locally after feeding them all till I found out all but one was roosters all the fighting and attempting breeding finally convinced me to get rid of the roos. Posted on Craigs list for free and they were gone in several days, Now my flock is adjusted and happy..Roosters are beautiful but to me not worth the problems.

 

[Rosanna]

I ended up with 7 roosters out of a batch of 8 chicks I bought locally after feeding them all till I found out all but one was roosters all the fighting and attempting breeding finally convinced me to get rid of the roos. Posted on Craigs list for free and they were gone in several days, Now my flock is adjusted and happy..Roosters are beautiful but to me not worth the problems.

Wow yeah that's a lot of roosters! I would have done the same thing. I had bought 6 hens and one turned out to be the roo. Glad your flock is happy! I'll have to figure out if I'm going to keep him around or not.

 

[happyhens1972]

Yup, you need to either re-home your roo or get him some more girls.....the more he has, the less attention each individual will get. One roo can comfortable keep 8+ girls going.

It would be terribly unfair on him if you just seperated him and made him live on his own. They are social animals and need a flock.

 

[subhanalah]

Your boy is just maturing before the girls are even ready.
Separate them until the girls are laying, then you shouldn't have the same problem anymore.

 

[Rosanna]

Your boy is just maturing before the girls are even ready.
Separate them until the girls are laying, then you shouldn't have the same problem anymore.

Thank you, this is very helpful. Hopefully the girls start laying soon so they can reach the same maturity level.

 

[Turtles Mommy]

Interesting reading I have one baby rooster (about 2 months old now) and my hens are all just starting to lay (got my 2nd egg yesterday). I have him separated as they girls pick on him now. I purposely waited to get a rooster so he would be younger than them and not try any funny business before they were ready. I also saw that the they have wing aprons you can get for the hens (the person I bought the rooster from, his wife made them for their hens) and it protects the back and wings of the hen when he mates them as he can mess up their feathers and skin on top. That may be an option too when or if you put him back with the girls.

 

[commanderforts]

Are family gets chickens and we raise the roosters for thanksgiving! who needs turkey anyway?

 

[Rosanna]

Interesting reading I have one baby rooster (about 2 months old now) and my hens are all just starting to lay (got my 2nd egg yesterday). I have him separated as they girls pick on him now. I purposely waited to get a rooster so he would be younger than them and not try any funny business before they were ready. I also saw that the they have wing aprons you can get for the hens (the person I bought the rooster from, his wife made them for their hens) and it protects the back and wings of the hen when he mates them as he can mess up their feathers and skin on top. That may be an option too when or if you put him back with the girls.

I haven't heard of the aprons, I'll have to check into them, thanks! It may be too hot for me to put them on the hens now but maybe when it gets cooler. I'm sure they would appreciate the protection. I like your idea of getting a younger rooster so that they mature at the same time. I didn't plan to get a rooster, I bought 6 pullets and the one turned out to be a roo so I'm trying to figure out if I should keep him or give him away. Thanks!

 

[Turtles Mommy]

You are welcome.