Is my rooster depressed?

[Billylorichicken]

hello,
We are new to chickens and need help. I have two roosters (we think) and 3 hens. Four of them go off on their own every morning when we let them out. The fifth one is a much bigger bird and a rooster. He can't keep up with the others and is now spending his whole day alone. We are worried about him. He seems sad.
Any advice?

 

[Ebony Rose]

He is respecting the dominance of your other rooster. You may have good luck by getting a few unstarted pullets (guaranteed young females that haven't started laying yet) and housing your solo rooster near them in a look-don't-touch environment for the quarantine period; Ideally, the dominant rooster won't have access to (can't see) your pullet flock during this period but your solo rooster will. The idea here is to bond the new girls to your solo rooster so that each will have his own hens.

 

[Shezadandy]

hello,
We are new to chickens and need help. I have two roosters (we think) and 3 hens. Four of them go off on their own every morning when we let them out. The fifth one is a much bigger bird and a rooster. He can't keep up with the others and is now spending his whole day alone. We are worried about him. He seems sad.
Any advice?

When you say he can't keep up - is that a physical thing? i.e. he gets tired or is there lameness-- or is it (as suggested above) that the other rooster has handily pushed him out of the flock and now he keeps his distance? How old are they?

 

[Billylorichicken]

he walks a lot slower. He's enormous. I don't think he is injured. Can he die of depression?

 

[Billylorichicken]

He is respecting the dominance of your other rooster. You may have good luck by getting a few unstarted pullets (guaranteed young females that haven't started laying yet) and housing your solo rooster near them in a look-don't-touch environment for the quarantine period; Ideally, the dominant rooster won't have access to (can't see) your pullet flock during this period but your solo rooster will. The idea here is to bond the new girls to your solo rooster so that each will have his own hens.

What about splitting the current hens up?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

What breed is this big rooster, and how old is he? Could he be a meat variety and is just really getting to an age where he's too big for his legs to carry him?

 

[Helloworld]

To me, you are seeing first signs of “sad” looking bird going down. Have you noticed any of the other birds keeping him from food? The chickens are sneaky and you have to be watching them all if the time to really figure this out. If they are keeping him in solitary without food and water I would remove him. I have 9 hens and 1 roo. Had two roos but they did the same thing to my other rooster unbeknownst to me. So we only house 1 roo now. It looks mysterious. Like, one day you will go out there and it will be laying on it’s side and won’t get up and suddenly geta up. I think lazy chicken. While everyone else is behind me and nothing looks wrong except laziness. Then, eventually it won’t be able to walk. One eye may be closed.
This type of abuse is a strong mental game between them that completely wears out the looser but natural instinct. Hens will do this too, especially if too many and sometimes no reason. Sometimes those that have continually been chased since birth may be sick so I have to wonder if they either know something is wrong with target chick long before we do or we had one too many. Could be. Chickens emotionally drain you lol

 

[Billylorichicken]

What breed is this big rooster, and how old is he? Could he be a meat variety and is just really getting to an age where he's too big for his legs to carry him?

He's 5 months old only

 

[Billylorichicken]

To me, you are seeing first signs of “sad” looking bird going down. Have you noticed any of the other birds keeping him from food? The chickens are sneaky and you have to be watching them all if the time to really figure this out. If they are keeping him in solitary without food and water I would remove him. I have 9 hens and 1 roo. Had two roos but they did the same thing to my other rooster unbeknownst to me. So we only house 1 roo now. It looks mysterious. Like, one day you will go out there and it won’t be able to walk. It is a strong mental game between them that completely wears out the looser. Hens will do this too, especially if too many and sometimes no reason. I have to wonder if they either know something is wrong with target chick long before we do or we had one too many. Could be. Chickens emotionally drain you lol

 

[Billylorichicken]

He gets plenty food. The others are off eating bugs. He just sit there. Can you tell what breed he. Is?