One Hen - OK?

[m2wandc]

I have one hen and one rooster...will she be OK until spring or will the rooster drive her insane trying to mate with her constantly? Seems like he's ALWAYS doing his mating dance and recently he's trying to ward off ME and my kids (getting a little more aggressive, but not in a 'pecking way' more of a flying towards us and trying to jump off us.)

I want to get more hen chicks, but our local feed store won't be ordering until April...I'm not in an area that can get a small amount from pet chicken dot com...what should I do? Or will this lone hen be OK for several more months?

 

[Imp]

Quote:
I think the jumping at you is called flogging. Be careful you or the kids do not get hurt. If the hen is being over mated you might need to seperate until you can get more hens. I've read the ideal ratio is 1 roo to a minimum of 10 hens.
Hopefully someone with firsthand experience will chime in soon.

Imp- Usually single chickens are not ideal.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I think she may be ok until then (it's only about 2 months until April) but if it becomes to out of hand then you may need to seperate them until you can get some more hens, I don't think 1 hen and 1 roo is ideal I think you should have at least 2 hens otherwise the roo may annoy the heck out of her but she will prob be fine for a while unless it becomes a problem in which case they would need to be seperated. Also the roos aggressiveness may become a problem, particularly with more hens to "protect", so you should really moniter his behavior and make sure nobody gets hurt. I am just assuming this is the case but i don't really know too too much, so hopefully someone with some more experiance will chime in soon. good luck.

 

[m2wandc]

How can I 'correct' the flogging behavior? (or signs showing me he is protecting his flock) ???

Right now, I go in with lacross rackets (cheesy little plastic ones my kids play with) and wave them around and he doesn't get too close to me...but he does try when I turn my back or am walking away...to fly at me...

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As for the hen...I have been giving 'time outs' now and then (not every day) but at times she seems bothered by his advances...and other times (when they are separated) she seems frantic to get back to him and his protection...it's almost a love/hate co-dependancy thing...

***

tomorrow I might be able to get a couple 7 week old chickens (hoping that's old enough to put out there with them) but if not, then I can get a few day old chicks, but holy smokes then it's another brooder situation and 7 weeks before they can go out there with them...Id' rather find some older girls, ready for his protection and advancements...

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Do you think chicken jail for him would help with his agressive tendancy?

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
If you fight him like that he will just get worse (although certainly I understand needing to protect yourself)... there are a couple people on BYC with good webpages on how to (attempt to) "fix" an aggressive rooster, basically by picking him up and carrying him around for a while every time he comes after you. Hopefully someone else can give you the URL's, or maybe you could use 'search', I *think* that Rooster-Red has the best page IIRC...

As for the hen...I have been giving 'time outs' now and then (not every day) but at times she seems bothered by his advances...and other times (when they are separated) she seems frantic to get back to him and his protection...it's almost a love/hate co-dependancy thing...

Well sure, chickens are totally flock (herd) animals and right now he is her whole flock

This is another reason why it would be really good to get at least one, preferably several, more hens

tomorrow I might be able to get a couple 7 week old chickens (hoping that's old enough to put out there with them) but if not, then I can get a few day old chicks, but holy smokes then it's another brooder situation and 7 weeks before they can go out there with them...Id' rather find some older girls, ready for his protection and advancements...

I would really NOT put 7 wk old chicks in with adult chickens, sorry. Plus which it would be real smart to quarantine them first. But, you would at least be closER to giving her a companion. Even older fully-grown chickens would best be quarantined for at least a few weeks, you know.

One thing you could consider is getting a saddle (apron) for her, to protect her feathers and skin from the majority of his attentions. If she still finds him too obnoxious you might have to separate them for a while but because that would be real hard on both of them it'd be good to avoid it if possible.

Frankly the simplest and probably best solution would be to get rid of the rooster, then get a few more hens to keep this one company.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I agree, 7 weeks old is NOT a good age to put with adult stock and your rooster is already aggressive--they might kill them! You will need to quarantine the new girls, so look for some that are at point of lay (18+ weeks old) and move them slowly into the coop.

 

[mightieskeeper]

Eat that rooster! Buy some pullets! A Bad Rooster only gets worse! I have to deal with mine until I get hatching eggs.

 

[Tanichca]

Look on craigslist for some hens. that might work....

 

[m2wandc]

I'm reading this a day late....

Yesterday I got two 7 week girls and one 5 week old girl, stuck them all in with the roo and his hen...not ONE single peck yet, it's been over 24 hours now and they all have spent the whole night (last night) and all day today in the run/coop together...and amazingly (I'm actually in AWE!) they haven't had one squabble at all....they all are just hanging out together, eating next to one another, drinking next to one another, the little 5 week old hangs out next to the roo a lot and pecks specks of dust off his feathers, he doesn't mind at all. When I come around the little 5 week old runs up and snuggles in between the two 7 week old girls...but over all they all seem amazingly content, happy and together.

Like I said I'm in a bit of awe...because I haven't seen (I sat and watched for a couple hours when I first put them together yesterday & I checked on them several times today) one (not ONE) peck that was remotely telling another chicken to get in it's place...could it be shock? When will the pecking order happen?

I'm guessing because the 7 week olds aren't mature enough to mate with the roo doesn't really care about them??? And the 3 new birds lived together (raised together) in their run at the chicken farm so they know each other and are about the same size physically as the roo and hen (the roo & hen are silkies the new ones are black sex links and a silver laced wyndotte (sp?))

Not sure why it's all going sooo amazingly smooth, but I'm happy for it!!!

***

As for the roo...starting this weekend my husband is going to start some dominate training with the roo...we were shown some techinques at the chicken farm (that's what my kids called the ranch that had chickens for sale) And honestly the roo is really a dorky aggressor...if he were to get 'really' agressive I'm pretty sure he'd find a new home or become chicken soup somewhere...but he runs away from me and TRIES to show minor signs of dominance...I think if he gets too carried away he would find the same fate our barred rock met when she was too agressive (she attacked the dog...didn't fare well in her favor)

TRUE agressive behavior we don't put up with...our barred rock was down right mean....she was far more agressive then this little silkie roo...she would chase you down...run after you...run at you...peck you, etc...This little guy, will get nipped in the bud because we don't want another one like that barred rock (and we know if we don't train now, it will only get worse)

The one time the roo flew at my son's back...he crashed into his back like a chicken would run into a fence if they were trying to escape...there wasn't any aim, but it did scare my 4 year old son...the roo was just a big flumble (is that a word?) of fleathers rolling around and when the roo fell to the ground after that he was stunned and dazed...LOL...he's a dorky agressor for sure...with me, he tries to do his mating dance, but when I walk towards him he runs away.

The roo didn't mate the one hen enough to damage any back feathers...she doesn't need one of those covers...she's fine...just seemed a bit annoyed at times with his constant morning dance...

********************

Long Story Short...there are now 4 girls and 1 roo...soon these other girls will be ready for his advancements...and they are all getting along peacefully!!!

*****

Bonus ~ And on top of a great intergration of these 5 birds...I got to meet the worlds NICEST chicken farmer and his family & his large chicken family (all healthy and happy looking birds)

 

[LexiLu]

I used to have the same problem only I had two hens. Infact, one of them died from too much pressure. Now I have plenty of hens and roos so I'm just fine. By the way, you need ten hens per rooster.