Original Rooster suddenly rough with an original hen

[senilking]

Over the last few years we have lost and added chickens, and began the year with 3 hens and a rooster. The rooster is the youngest at a year old, and he's never been harsh to the hens, just doing his job.

We've added 15 more hens from chick and they have integrated fairly well. We also built a new 12'x12' coop with a 25'x25' run to replace the original. Depending on the day and situation, usually the hens free range but at times we just let them into the run, and sometimes they stay in the coop (like when we were attempting to train them to only lay in the box).

Roo has been doing what roosters do, spending time around with at least half of the hens, but suddenly he has become rough with the original hens. It doesn't seem to be a submission thing, if anything they are more responsive to him.

But within the last two weeks, one of the original hens suddenly is missing all the feathers on her back and is bleeding, and I've caught him aggressively biting and kicking another of the original hens while she was under him, and raking her with his feet.

So what's up? Any idea why? And I assume the solution is to try isolating him for a few days? I've been kicking him outside for a few days and just putting him up in the coop at night, but it hasn't helped.

Can I isolate him in a cage in the coop, or should it be completely seperate? Is having them completely out of his sight better?

Thanks

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'd pen him separately probably for a month or so at least. Somewhere he can interact through the fence.

No one can say for sure, but perhaps he's trying to drive the older hens out of the flock, or he may be doing some sort of dominance display. Adding more birds can create stress in a flock.

Your rooster isn't technically mature yet, and probably doesn't know quite what to do. Removing him to break the habit, and keep it from continuing will hopefully reset everything. I've penned young rooster for 4-5 months or even longer to give them some time to calm down and mature more before releasing them in late fall, or winter when hormones are lower.

 

[senilking]

Thanks for the info. How old would be considered mature? He was hatched around March last year.

Maybe I'll build him a small fenced area in the coop, like I did with the new hens while they were growing.

I did wonder if the sudden influx of a bunch of hen hormones just drove his young rooster mind a bit wild and he's taking it out on the hens that are already used to submitting to him. It's just annoying, everything was good and integrated calmly for at least a month, and most of the hens were a week or two into laying, and then he just lost his mind.

Hopefully it works. He's a big beautiful rooster, and is good about working the flock and gathering them up whenever he notices a threat. If some hen gets startled, he comes running geared for a fight! And they're all stressed when the hens and rooster aren't on the same side of the run fence.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most roosters take 2 years to fully mature. That first adult spring they are quite hormonal, and seem to settle a bit by the second year.