Over zealous Rooster

[DesertChickens1]

My show rooster is very over zealous when it comes to mating. Now this isn't a problem with my show hen whom I want him to mate with. But I have a 'special' leghorn hen who has neurological problems and can't get up when she falls down. So when he mates her she falls over and I have to help her get up sometimes. And he bites her comb and I have to put liquid bandage on it all the time so it doesn't bleed. I can't separate the rooster because I need him to mate with the other hens. And I can't separate the hen because she gets depressed when she's alone and her neurological problem gets worse. Any ideas anyone?

 

[chooks4life]

I don't tolerate a rooster who harms hens, chicks, or people. Same with hens; a bully gets culled, not bred.

An animal that harms others is not worth breeding in my opinion unless it's the last of its breed or very rare; otherwise, there are many great roosters out there who won't harm others, so I give the better ones a chance to breed and cull all bullies.

He's nasty, not overly keen or clumsy, by the sounds of it; a cockerel may make mistakes early on, and be clumsy, but a rooster who harms hens is just violent. Some males have mixed instincts and they attack a hen while mating. This is very likely to breed on. My hens are worth too much for me to subject them to a brutish rooster. He's not worth his feed, in my opinion, but you may have a different philosophy there, best wishes with that.

 

[DesertChickens1]

I don't tolerate aggressiveness either, but he isn't intending to be mean or hurt her. He's very nice when they're just hanging around. It's not a problem with the other hens because for one they don't have combs because they're polish. And they aren't 'special' like the leghorn. And I probably should have called him a cockerel, he's only about four and a half months old. I sell all my polish at the end of April at fair but that's all the more reason I want him to bred with the polish hens so I can have next year's breeding/show hens ready. I may just put the leghorn in with the young pullets and see if that works. Or maybe separate her and one of the less valuable bleeding hens so she doesn't get lonely. I just wanted to see if anyone had a better way or doing it so I didn't have to go through the trouble of building another pen.

 

[blucoondawg]

I would cull the leghorn seeing as it has problems anyways

 

[DesertChickens1]

I'm going to do that tomorrow, I started making a nice little coop and run for her and my other not-so-good hen so she doesn't get lonely