I'm starting to get very concerned...

[chicmom]

You can tell if the roo is too rough just by watching....do the girls run from him in terror, or do they just squat and let him mate? A good roo is a gentleman. If he's really rough, the hens will run away from him or try to run away. If the roosters are really rough with the ladies, I would get rid of them.

Your hens will be just fine without a rooster. There will be a pecking order, but from what I've experienced, things went fine without a rooster. I've had one rooster that treated the hens fine, but he attacked me, so I sold him.

I do like having one rooster for my small flock because I like to let them free range and the roosters really watch over their hens. Plus roosters are beautiful.

Good luck to you!

Sharon

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

No, I think the girls would do just fine without a roo. I had a tiny little bantam cochin roo with my large fowl girls for over a year and they paid no attention to him at all. I do have a light brahma cockerel with them now and most of them don't really pay any attention to him either. He's a big un' too. I like him too...so I know how you feel. I would probably just limit the time he's with them some.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

I have heard that the roosters mate more with the hens that are lower in the pecking order.
The reason being is that they are already more submissive than higher-up hens.

So thats really 2 factors here causing trouble, rough/excessive/regular mating, and low rank hens getting picked on from all ends, over and over again all day long.

I dont think removing the hens would solve anything, as theres always the next one in the pecking order.
Removing the rooster would definately solve the problem, hands down.
Or, start a new flock with all your lowest ranking hens, and have no rooster with them.

Every coop I ever seen that had many hens and a rooster had some birds that had terrible-looking bald, red, painful-looking patches on their backs.