Normal behavior? Hen hiding from Rooster

So he only has two hens he can breed at the moment. That's not nearly enough. The pullets are far too young for him. Somehow he's intimidating or terrorizing this one hen. That's why @nuthatched gave you the solution to the problem in post #5. Separate the rooster until the younger pullets begin to lay eggs so he can spread his affections among more females. They are at least five months away from being breedable. Or find him another home with a bigger flock, and give your girls some peace and safety.
 
He has gotten along with one hen, they are basically a pair now. But the other hen, the one that was originally the dominant one, is running and hiding from the roo. She's stayed inside the coop the past two days, when she tries to come out he immediately goes to her. She's just been huddling in a corner away from him.
I agree, it's not about the M/F ratio, it's about dominance. The hen that was originally dominant is the one that now fears/ avoids him. Maybe over time she will submit to him and be at peace with him, but we have seen instances where that did not happen and the rooster became more and more aggressive until the hen is injured. Meanwhile, she's pretty stressed and miserable.
 
UPDATE:
She still runs from him but today they were both out of the coop eating together. He let her eat and drink. Then after a while he chased her. So it feels like dominance thing for sure
 
My older hens have always hung out in their coop or in the smaller run that's attached to it but my younger chickens and rooster stay in the main run and roost in there.Recently I've noticed the rooster pressuring the older hens and hanging out in their run
 
I am having the same issue. I recently had a couple roosters. One of them was beating up the hens pretty badly and he had to go now a couple of the hens seem to have PTSD. One of them was going into an old dog house and wouldn’t go into the coop at night anymore and wouldn’t come out of the doghouse and wasn’t eating or drinking, I have since forced the issue and I am taking the two hens that don’t want to be with him and putting them in a dog crate with food and water so that they can get their strength back up. I am tired of the chicken drama. Any advice is appreciated. I may have to get rid of this rooster so that my girls can have some peace again, but he’s really not beating them up. He’s just trying to get them to let him be the boss. Just hate for him to have to die as I’m sure I can’t get him rehoused.
 
I am having the same issue. I recently had a couple roosters. One of them was beating up the hens pretty badly and he had to go now a couple of the hens seem to have PTSD. One of them was going into an old dog house and wouldn’t go into the coop at night anymore and wouldn’t come out of the doghouse and wasn’t eating or drinking, I have since forced the issue and I am taking the two hens that don’t want to be with him and putting them in a dog crate with food and water so that they can get their strength back up. I am tired of the chicken drama. Any advice is appreciated. I may have to get rid of this rooster so that my girls can have some peace again, but he’s really not beating them up. He’s just trying to get them to let him be the boss. Just hate for him to have to die as I’m sure I can’t get him rehoused.
My friend kept my rooster by himself before releasing him so he'd have more time to mature. He claims he's doing just fine. Sometimes it works.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom