** NEED some advice. Roo beating up broodies badly

[Critter Crazed]

I have a flock of 6, one bantam cochin rooster and 5 silkie hens. 4 out of the 5 silkies are broody right now. Whenever one tries to go out in the run to get a drink or something, my rooster just attacks her and beats the crap out of her! Not like normal roos will do.. I need to figure out a solution. This has been going on for a few months now. My chickens are about 11 months old.

My rooster is so sweet to me and he's like a dog to me, I can't get rid of him! I would get rid of my girls first.

I can't let my broodies have chicks right now, my parents won't let me. Plus there's FOUR of them!


Here are my solutions:
I will either lock my rooster up in a separate pen away from the girls for the rest of his life OR
Lock my broodies in my empty rabbit hutch for a few days to break them from being broody and hopefully my roo will stop.


Someone please help me?

My girls are getting hurt but I love my boy...

 

[Critter Crazed]

Anyone? Please? It's like he's not allowing the broodies outside......

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

bump !

 

[sourland]

Seperate the rooster from the hens. If you are allowing them to incubate eggs, he may be mating them on the nest. It's all about him wanting to break their broodiness so that he can start breeding them again. It can be a fairly normal behavior in roosters with a limited number of hens.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Personally, no matter how much I may love a roo, I will not allow him to beat up on any hen. He would be separated from them except for an hour or so per day. Are they sitting on eggs? If so, they should be separated anyway. If not, you might try breaking their brood. A wire cage with a wire bottom up off the ground and they should be broken within a few days. However, if they are determined to be broody, they will sometimes be broody again quickly.

It's getting hot here in Florida and I'm having to install a fan to keep the air circulating under the wire cage :rolleyes I have one white hen that I have finally given up on.

At any rate...perhaps lock him up in the coop and put them all outside for a few hours??

 

[Critter Crazed]

Thanks for the bump, Barred.

Hm, okay. I'll have to separate him if he doesn't stop, I guess. Thanks for the advice.

Anymore suggestions?

 

[eekgads]

I agree. Separate the roo fr the hens. When they come out of their broodiness, you can put them back together.

 

[Critter Crazed]

Thanks