My young rooster just killed one of the hens

[speckledhen]

Ok, your rooster is just now starting to have his hormones starting to kick in. He is really a bit too old to be with pullets who are a month younger, since at this age, he is starting to become active, mating-wise, and the pullets are still babies. So, this is not a rooster, but a young cockerel.

I wonder about what picklebird said, that the pullet wasn't a pullet at all but a young cockerel.

 

[NancyDz]

I'm sorry for your loss. I leave mine fenced next to each other for weeks ... not days. Also it was with the other roosters, being on his own is a different story. I would keep them separate for a lot longer. Even if it was just him on one side and the hens on the other. Maybe even until the hens are of breeding age unless they are incubator mates. Then they get supervised time together for a couple weeks before I leave them together permanently. My hens fought my rooster for weeks, I was more worried about the roo than the hens but the hens were older than the roo even though he outsized them.

I think I might have viewed all the roos with the hens to see which one treated them best and the hens liked also... not necessarily which one liked me best.

So are you determined to have a roo? If not, cull the last one and have a hen only coop

 

[joebryant]

Question:
Several people have mentioned the rooster's still "peeping". What does peeping mean?

BTW, I would hold up on getting rid of the rooster. It could have been that he was having to defend himself from the hen and went overboard. I wouldn't kill him for one possible "mistake". It's hard to believe that he'd attack a hen viciously without cause, but you never know unless you see the entire kill procedure.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Quote:
You know how baby chicks make a peeping sound all the time? My kids will still make those small peeping sounds until they are several months old. i think it's a signal to the mother, whether they were raised by a mother hen or not.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
You know how baby chicks make a peeping sound all the time? My kids will still make those small peeping sounds until they are several months old. i think it's a signal to the mother, whether they were raised by a mother hen or not.

Thanks, I thought that it might be that, but I've never noticed it in teenage chicks. Probably they were peeping, and I didn't recognize what it was they were doing. I'll notice tomorrow though when I check the young ones in the barn tomorrow.

 

[shaggy]

Quote:
refers to the sound chicks make

quiet, high pitched "peep-peep-peep-peep"

--edit --

i think it sounds more like "eep-eep-eep-eep"

 

[jenmenke]

Are you crazy? I'm not a masochist! I didn't get the new set of hens from the same woman who sold me the three hens masquerading as three roosters!! (I got them from a woman who lives nearby and she got them from a hatchery.) I know they are never 100% accurate, but often are. So yes, it is possible the dead chicken is a male. I believe that there is a rooster among the younger set and that one was left alone. The dead bird was a calm, quiet, shy bird.

Man, you guys are awfully lenient! I shouldn't punish him for this "one mistake?!" This was no mating accident. It was like a CSI crime scene. Blood all over the walls and him! It was carnage!

nd no, I have never been set on having a rooster. It was just happened. I didn't want to get rid of all three, so I picked the one I felt was the most docile and the calmest around the other birds. I guess I picked wrong. I didn't really want a rooster. Yes they are beautiful and fun sometimes. Yes, they will be able to hatch chicks, that always fun. My favorite chicken of all-time was a rooster, but they good ones are few and far between...

So, you guys would let him off the hook and take the chance it would happen again? I can't be there all the time. I have to lock them up again predators and by that very fact, they are locked up together. I'm not willing to take the chance. He is going to go. I just don't know how yet.

I am absolutely unwilling to keep a bird that has killed another. I don't care if it's a hen or a rooster. I've had many, many hens and roosters spanning 12 years. I've got enough problems keeping them alive without them killing each other!

sorry, I was sort of rambling there. I'm still just so ANGRY about it!

 

[red star11]

that's terrible. sorry for your loss

 

[Msbear]

I would agree it is his age. I've had cockerels all together and culled the dominate ones then, all of the sudden, the laid back one became the one that chased the hens all day and bites me

I have 3 rosecomb cockerels right now that are around that age and they are very mean to the other, younger, juveniles out there (different breeds but freerange together)... I would not trust them to be alone with them in a coop at all! They have places to hide and get away.. Im assuming your little pullet had nowhere to go. The roos at that age are too young to be protectors and nurturers and are finding their own dominance. Put him in with a new pullet that is not yet a lady and cannot defend herself and bad things can happen. Chalk it up to lesson learned

 

[Lynn57]

As much as a animal lover I am...I think your better off to rehome him or put him in your freezer. How ever and or why ever it happened you will never really know, but I think you do know that you will never trust him nor probably even ever like him. Just be done with it and learn whatever you can from it.

ps. Sorry for what happened.