My rooster is mean to one of my hens

[Siyabonga Mama]

Thank you everyone for responding. I'll separate him - from the girls for a week and see if that helps. Will keep you posted!

 

[aart]

Thank you everyone for responding. I'll separate him - from the girls for a week and see if that helps. Will keep you posted!

Best of cLuck!

Am wondering if something is wrong with that hen, undetectable by humans, and he's drumming her out of the flock.
I have had a cockbird harass to the extreme a hard molting hen,
luckily she could stay away from him and it all passed after a couple months.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Am wondering if something is wrong with that hen, undetectable by humans, and he's drumming her out of the flock.

This was my thought once you said he was not a cockerel. At 6 years there may be something wrong with her. Sometimes they will run a chicken out of the flock when they are not acting right, injured or sick. It's not always the rooster, some hens might do it too. It's an instinctive behavior to protect the flock. A sick chicken might infect the rest but I'd think more likely a weak or injured chicken might attract predators. For whatever reasons, it sometimes happens.

I agree the first thing to do is to separate the rooster for a week and see if that changes things. I've had some luck rearranging flock dynamics by separating the aggressive chicken.

If this persists then you have to decide what to do. You can keep doing what you are or isolate her with a couple of hens to keep her company. Good luck!

 

[Siyabonga Mama]

Best of cLuck!

Am wondering if something is wrong with that hen, undetectable by humans, and he's drumming her out of the flock.
I have had a cockbird harass to the extreme a hard molting hen,
luckily she could stay away from him and it all passed after a couple months.

I did wonder about that - the possibility that she was sick. I've had several unexpected losses, causes undetermined, this year. But this started several months ago, before they went into moult, and she really doesn't seem ill. It took her a few days but she's reintegrated into the flock and is eating well, everything seems normal. I'm going to let him back with them in the next few days and will see how that goes. Thanks for commenting!

 

[Siyabonga Mama]

This was my thought once you said he was not a cockerel. At 6 years there may be something wrong with her. Sometimes they will run a chicken out of the flock when they are not acting right, injured or sick. It's not always the rooster, some hens might do it too. It's an instinctive behavior to protect the flock. A sick chicken might infect the rest but I'd think more likely a weak or injured chicken might attract predators. For whatever reasons, it sometimes happens.

I agree the first thing to do is to separate the rooster for a week and see if that changes things. I've had some luck rearranging flock dynamics by separating the aggressive chicken.

If this persists then you have to decide what to do. You can keep doing what you are or isolate her with a couple of hens to keep her company. Good luck!

Thank you ... Yeah, as I told Ridgerunner, at first I thought she might be sick, but she really doesn't seem to be. I thought maybe she was no longer fertile - would he know? And care? Anyway, I have no way of knowing whether she's the author of the occasional giant egg, so she may be. In any case, I'll let them all reconnect in the veggie garden sometime over the next few days, and will report back. I so appreciate the suggestions and support from this group!

 

[Siyabonga Mama]

Well, time for an update, and it's disappointing. I completely separated the roo from the hens - I have a run in our backyard, where they spend summer (with access to the yard and a neighboring pasture), and another run with a more weatherproof house with access to the veggie garden, where they spend the portion of the year that I actually want them digging in my veggie beds. I put Mr. Roo back in the summer run, and shut the ladies into the winter run, so they couldn't even talk through the fence.

It took a few days for the Buff Orpington hen to relax and reintegrate with the flock - she was pretty spooky at first. Toward the end of the week she was relaxed and actually quite bossy - not aggressive, but definitely queen of the food platter. Yesterday I took Mr. Roo back to the ladies before feeding them, and he immediately chased the BO away from the feeder. He doesn't hurt her, just makes it clear she's not welcome.

This wouldn't be a problem if I was using a feeder that they could eat from any time, but I've stopped doing that because the mice were eating more than the chickens were - and pooping in it! YUCK! So now I feed them once a day, around midday. I give them about 1/4 cup layer pellets per bird, with an extra 1/4 because the roo is big - plus kitchen scraps and occasionally a few slices bread, and the veggie garden, where they free range, is pretty big and has a big compost pile. So I'm confident the issue isn't a shortage of resources. He just doesn't like her.

So I'm back to putting down feed for her around one side of the coop where he can't see her eating, and I guess we'll see what happens. She doesn't seem underweight so I presume she's getting enough to eat ... I'm really just sorry for her, poor girl!