Possible Merak's

[pennyJo1960]

I did notice the rooster just got more aggressive about a week ago, he went after my son and has never done that before.

as they mature that is not unusual how old is your son

 

[pennyJo1960]

but how is the hen acting

 

[E.C.]

8yrs. old- third grade

 

[rebrascora]

Ok. That is certainly sounding more like Marek's unfortunately.
How many pullets and cockerels do you have? They are at the age when he will start mating her and his drive to mate will be unrelenting. If you do not have older, senior hens or a mature rooster to put him in his place, he will be trying to mate her a lot of the time. You may not have witnessed it but at that age it will be starting to happen, particularly as the days start to get longer. Those hormones really rage in young cockerels and they will harass and terrorise pullets to fulfil their desire to mate. The stress of that is a very common trigger for Marek's, especially if the female to male ratio is low.... ie you don't have enough hens or pullets to distract him and one or two get all his attention. It is best to separate young males into a bachelor pad when they hit adolescence, particularly if you don't have a flock master or older hens to teach them some manners.
I appreciate that you probably see him as sweet friendly thing but there is a point when their behaviour changes almost overnight and I have not come across a healthy cockerel that did not follow that desire to mate relentlessly. You will usually hear the pullets screaming as they are being forcible held and mated. It is not their fault that they are driven by their raging hormones. It may also be that he has injured her back or leg in doing so, but the likelihood of Marek's is high in this situation.

 

[E.C.]

I am just down to her and him only.
I will post in the morning an update
Thank you

 

[rebrascora]

Oh dear, that is not a good situation to be in. The fact that he has started showing aggression recently towards your son is down to a surge in testosterone, so the change has begun.