Mean rooster or in love?

[sunnyvista50]

After a 2 week redo illness that almost killed our 6 month old rooster, Merle, he is fully recovered, but now in the mornings when they leave tge coop he is so mean to Pearl, his lady friend. He either corrals her to stay in the coup for a few minutes or chases her all over the coop or keeps her away from the food by chasing her. After a while he settles down and they are back to normal. After all she did to be there fir him in her own young way while he was sick I'm ready to trade him in tho I love him and am glad he's well now. Is this sine kind of king of the jungle behavior or has he just become nasty?

 

[thebanthams]

I had a rooster thats really bad. very aggresive . I was afraid he would kill her ! I had to give him away !

 

[ernndbrtt]

Some roo's are just better off on the dinner table.A friend of mine had to eat their roo for similar issues he was having with him. My wife still has issues with ours, a Buff Orp, he believes he is in charge whenever she is out in the coop or run. He charges at her, pecks her legs, and shows her his talons. He tried doing that to me and still tries occasionally but I've cured him of his behavoir by catching him and just holding him for a few minutes to let him know he is not in charge of us.

Ours has 17 hens to keep him busy but occasionally he does "put one in her place" and it only last a couple of seconds but he's never really ever been mean to them.

 

[sunnyvista50]

Do you think getting another girl might take the focus off what he's doing to Pearl? She's a sweetheart and I see a change in her behavior lately. She was always first out to eat in the morning and now she's much more subdued. It's either that or find a new home for Merle.

 

[donrae]

Do you only have the two birds? If so, yeah, you need more hens. That's the reason why a rooster needs more than one hen, to spread the love so to speak. Roosters usually want to mate in the morning and if only one hen is available he can be pretty rough on her, especially as he's young and probably not perfected his technique! I'd get more hens for him, you'll have happier birds.

 

[debid]

I know my young rooster wasn't satisfied with 6, I can't imagine how unhappy he would have made a single hen. Chickens aren't wired for monogamy.

 

[thebanthams]

Do you think getting another girl might take the focus off what he's doing to Pearl? She's a sweetheart and I see a change in her behavior lately. She was always first out to eat in the morning and now she's much more subdued. It's either that or find a new home for Merle.

no it will be bad if you get another hen. why not seperate the rooster or the hen your choice. not going to be easy !

 

[donrae]

no it will be bad if you get another hen. why not seperate the rooster or the hen your choice. not going to be easy !

Why would getting another hen be bad? Neither the roo or the hen will be happy living alone, birds are gregarious.

 

[thebanthams]

What they are describing agressive mating, , it will be bad when another hen comes in, Some roosters are mean !

 

[donrae]

What they are describing agressive mating, , it will be bad when another hen comes in, Some roosters are mean !

Well, everyone had their own take. My thought is he's young and virile and needs more hens to spread his attention around, especially first thing in the morning. It's very normal for roosters to want to mate in the mornings and the op says he settles down and they're fine after a while, so it doesn't sound like he's hounding her all day. One rooster, especially a young one, is just wired to mate with several hens. One hen's going to have a hard time if all that attention's on her.