My hen beats up the rooster!!??

[riderbecky]

My hens are like this too but my roos are about 8 wks younger than the hens. The roos have only just started crowing and trying to mate with the older hens who are having none of it.

I mostly think its funny to watch the roos grab a hen unawares and try to jump on her only to have her turn the tables and chase him around the yard cussing him out the entire time.

 

[gritsar]

My cardinal rule for pecking order issues: If they're not drawing blood, let them work it out. And make no mistake, pullets can give cockerels that are younger than them a pretty hard time.

 

[silkiechicken]

Don't worry, the little man will learn he's the rooster and put the girls in line when his ego inflates a bit. May take a while though since the hen has pecked the little guy, but he'll figure it out. I mean, I had a 3 lb silkie roo who could barely see manage to take over a flock of hens twice his size. He got eaten by a coon, I like to think he defended his hens... but I think it was more like he was so blind and out of it that he was such an easy snack the coons didn't bother with the hens!

 

[fowlafoot]

Thats pretty normal chicken behavior when you have a young rooster. He will mature and take control. I've introduced new roosters and had hens line up in pecking order to fight him, some going back for seconds before they all settled down like it had never happened. Blood is dangerous though, chickens seem to go a little mad and keep picking on a bleeder and that can lead to death but short of blood it's best to let chickens be chickens.

 

[Eliz]

No blood drawn! Just some heated arguments. I will let them work it out and see what happens. She is not laying yet so when she starts squatting maybe their relationship will change.

 

[Omran]

I think he just has to take it for now because later he will be the bad guy, my rooster got beaten up alot and after that he became th boss.
omran

 

[wilmothfarms]

Glad I found this...I'm having the same problem. My poor roo is the same age as my pullets (they are just beginning to lay) and he got beat up on the other day, in fact someone pecked his poor eye and I'm having to doctor it and hoping he doesnt end up with a pirate name when its all said and done. he is still trying to "do his thing" and a couple more hens are beginning to squat for him. But he seemed a little beat up this morning. Will he continue to get beat up so bad since they got one up on him or will it get better? I'm kinda worried cause they did this to a hen recently and she ended up getting so depressed she stopped eating and died. they all just shunned her and kept pecking on her and going after her, so I'm worried for him. He's been a good and respectful rooster and I really like him, I dont want to loose him too!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I'm sorry to hear about your rooster. Once the girls are laying and squatting for him he should start to develop his roo 'tude.
How much space do your chickens have? Being confined in too small a space can lead to alot of these issues. Sounds like your chickens are bored and the lower ranking members don't have the room to avoid the aggressors.
I free range, so my hens don't even get mated unless they want to be. They've all gotten real good at avoiding the roo when they want to.

 

[LindseyM12]

I have a roo that all of my hens HATE. I was wondering if I sort of did the same thing... Take him out for a few days and then put him back in and see if he gets to the top. He has never crowed or mounted a hen.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Removing a member from the flock for even a few days can have a bad effect. The member that was removed will have to start all over at the bottom of the totem pole. Chickens forget easily.