Need Rooster Help!! Hen is badly injured!

[Masers]

Hello!

We have four chickens—three hens and one rooster. The hen that is at the bottom of the pecking order is very aggressively attacked by the rooster. He is otherwise pretty docile—seems protective of the other two hens, and is gentle and not at all aggressive with us or our kids. However, he has very badly injured the poor hen....he pecks at the back of her head and neck. We finally separated her and put her in a dog kennel for the last couple days in our coop, after realizing that the back of her head was basically just bloody pulp. (Literally I don’t even know how she’s alive!) She is missing many of her feathers from her neck and back, and had been completely ostracized from the other 3 chickens. (They free range and the other 3 are always together, while she is always alone.) However, she otherwise seemed to be healthy and was still laying every day.

We don’t know what to do now. She’s been separated and is hopefully (?) healing in the kennel. (anything we can do to help with the healing process? I honestly don’t even have the words to describe how disgusting and terrible the back of her head looks.) We don’t really want to get rid of the rooster, but feel really bad for the hen and don’t know how to reintroduce her without the rooster becoming very aggressive towards her again. Also worried that he will turn on one of the other two hens at some point.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!!!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

the rooster and one hen are young...they were born in the summer. So less than a year.

He's not a rooster, he's an idiot... er um cockerel already showing questionable behavior.

He is likely doing this because she refused to accept him as a dominant mate. At least that is what I have seen in the past.

She deserves to live the rest of her life in peace..

If it's the lesser of the evils as far as decisions go... I'm sorry but she sounds like a worthy hen and he sounds replaceable.

 

[Folly's place]

I have zero tolerance for cock birds or cockerels who attack humans, or who injure hens or pullets. He's a looser in my book, and would make a nice crock pot dish for some family.
Even if this hen has a health issue (and she might) this is really bad behavior on his part.
Grow some chicks this year and find a nicer cockerel!
Mary

 

[Qualien]

Out of curiosity, where did you get your Cockerel? I had 3 that I got from tractor supply, as soon as they started crowing (1-2 days, they were supposed to all be pullets) two fought each other bloody, and the last ripped the toungue out of one of my most submissive hens. I'm wondering if It's a genetic thing.

 

[Folly's place]

First, get her wounds healed, and do examine at all of them, at night with a flashlight, looking for mites or lice. Treat them all if you find any on even one bird.
That's a fixable problem that possibly could be part of this story.
General questions first: What are your coop and run dimensions? Do you free range at all? What diet are you feeding? What breeds, and how old are your birds?
If their environment and diet are good, then this poor hen needs to be rehomed, and this rooster is very questionable, at best.
Did he do all that damage, or could it have been a predator, or the other hens?
Mary

 

[Masers]

Fashion a helmet for the hen? (Sorry I don’t have any real advice as I’ve never dealt with that. The only aggressive rooster we had was fine with the chickens and not us- so we ate him)

Hahah yes, I was wondering if I could put a little scarf or hat on her! Helmet is an even better idea!
Really bums me out. He’s a good rooster aside from this, but I sure hate what he’s doing. And I feel really guilty about it. She’s a sweet hen, and honestly she seems bonded to me since she’s been ostracized from the others. She follows me all around and once even landed on my shoulder and hung out there for awhile. None of our other chickens do anything like that! Poor old thing.

 

[NatJ]

I'm thinking you may have to choose between the rooster and that hen, and only keep one of the two.

After the hen heals up, you could try re-introducing her to just the other hens (with the rooster penned seperately.)

If the hen can re-integrate with the other hens, I would keep all the hens and get rid of the rooster.

If the other hens will not tolerate this hen even after she's healed, then I would get rid of her (re-home or butcher), and might give the rooster another chance. (But if he ever injured another hen, he would be completely out of chances, at least with me.)

 

[NatJ]

Thank you, that’s a good idea. Do you think we could keep the rooster in the dog kennel, or is that cruel? (I imagine he’d be crowing night and day in there!) And if so, how long? We just don’t really have many options of how to keep them separate.

That could be an option, yes. I can't judge whether it's cruel to keep the rooster in the dog kennel--depends on the size of the dog kennel, the way the rooster reacts, whether you let him out for exercise each day, your own personal definition of cruelty. For myself, the bother of caring for a rooster in an extra pen would make me get rid of him long before I would consider the situation cruel.

Or you could just decide not to tolerate the rooster because of what he's already done, and re-home him without waiting to see what happens after the hen heals.

 

[Folly's place]

Some breeds and family lines tend to have more aggressive individuals than others, so yes, there's genetics involved. There are both nice and nasty individuals in (nearly) every breed, and management also matters. It's not totally one or the other!
Breeders can select for different traits; some ignore behavior, for example. Many/most ignore longevity, only breeding birds who are one to two years of age, max. Some only care about egg production, some only care about pretty looks.
Trying to breed for the 'whole package' is tricky, and what makes it interesting! I have absolute rule-outs, and bad temperament is #1!
Mary
Mary

 

[ktomacie]

By reading the thread it sounds like you made up your mind.. keep the rooster and get rid of the injured hen. Instead of trying to heal her up just end it and have a good meal. Be aware that once you get rid of the roosters target bird he might decide that one of the others is a good replacement target though.