Pullet rooster(s) killed a hen!

wildlifezone

Chirping
6 Years
Oct 12, 2013
4
2
62
I know roosters can be a pain in the ass, and I am pretty good at ethology, but I did not anticipate pullets would kill a hen almost their size, their age.

We hatched 3 babies that are half banty, Easter egger?/Wyandotte mutts, now several months old, 2/3 grown, two roosters (dang!) and one hen. At roughly the same time we hatched two bantam cochins, both females. The same Mom was incubating all but not all her eggs, the banty cochin hen had laid her eggs in the communal nest. The cochins took another week or so to hatch so we had to separate and incubate, as our broodie hen stopped incubating once the others hatched. So the chicks are unrelated but were incubated together mostly, and have been roosting together for ~ 2 weeks.

We built a large new coop for the newbies at night, they free range over 1.5 acres during the day. Mom is gone, was killed by a coyote 3 weeks ago. :(

The 3 half-sized mutts get along with the rest of the flock, which includes 4 other roosters who all avoid each other and are housed separately at night. We've been keeping the cochins inside the new coop all the time until they get bigger, we've had Cooper's hawks on the property. We put the half banties in with the bantam cochins at night, they all got along ok for 2 weeks now.

But this AM went in to find the roosters (and their sister??) had killed one of the little 2/3 grown cochin hens. I didn't see it happen, but the only other chicken in the coop besides all the pullets is a decrepid hen who can't see well and bothers no one, mostly sits up in her box all day,and has been a surrogate mom for months. The coop is very big, they have a lot of space. I thought the roosters would be harassing the hen for mating, eventually, but not kill her. We have been scouting for homes for them, because we are full up of roosters anyway, but I thought we had a little time, the pullets have only just begun acting like roosters (sparring a little, crowing pathetically). Chickens can be ruthless.

We are very sad, we hand raised the cochins, they were very sweet, now one is alone with no other her size. I'd get another bantam to keep her company, but they'd have to learn to get along and be buddies, no guarantees for success.
 
I pull my cockerels out as soon as I suspect , their attitude usually gives them away as much as their feathers ,

I call it small cock...erel. Syndrome .

Sorry for your loss , it sounds like you are out of control with cockerels and roosters , be careful those little bombs can explode when no one is looking
 
There is no sence in getting more hens or pullets until you get your rooster situation under control.
Advertise them free on craigs list. Get them all gone except one Nice One if you have to have one.
Setting up separate housing, and fussing with places to put them is alot of work and effort that is unnessary, and probably not much fun for you.
Honestly i hatch out my own chicks too, an end up with half roosters. Before they start running my hens ragged, i either find them a new home, give them away, put them in the freezer, or use them for coyote bait.
My hens are to precious to me to put up with it.
 
But this AM went in to find the roosters (and their sister??) had killed one of the little 2/3 grown cochin hens. I didn't see it happen, but the only other chicken in the coop besides all the pullets is a decrepid hen who can't see well and bothers no one, mostly sits up in her box all day,and has been a surrogate mom for months. The coop is very big, they have a lot of space. I thought the roosters would be harassing the hen for mating, eventually, but not kill her. We have been scouting for homes for them, because we are full up of roosters anyway, but I thought we had a little time, the pullets have only just begun acting like roosters (sparring a little, crowing pathetically).
The deaths happened overnight? If so it's far more likely a predator got in. Chickens can't see much of anything in the dark.

You are going to have to do something with all those excess males. If you aren't going to butcher them you should consider penning them up so they can't harass the females to no end.
 

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