What's your opinion? Has anyone else ever noticed this difference in behavior in their own flock?
My husband and I were talking the other day as we watched our flock of birds and planned the next chores that needed to be accomplished. We were watching Roo behavior as we discussed which hens needed to be separated in order to recover their feathers; also which roos needed to be butchered and which ones kept. As we noticed the violent manner in which the young roos were grabbing the hens to breed them we got to recounting the days when we first had chickens.
One thing I"ve noticed is that all the hens are afraid of these roos. The main flock of birds running together are 7 month old Australorp hens & Oprington hens with my 5 year old red star hens and my 5 year old black star hens; also five 5 year old standard cochin hens. I've taken out all but two roos: One 7 month old Orp & one 7 month old Australorp.
About 3 months ago I removed the 5 year old Red Star Rooster, the 4 year old Black Star/ducle mix, two 7 month old Australorps, and one 7 month old Orpington which was killed in the coop after seperation - wish I'd kept that one.
My other roos are rough on the hens but these guys!!!! The one Australorp roo I left with the flock is worse than the one Orp but they both will grab a hen as she darts past them in the opposite direction, yank them violently by the neck snapping them back towards them, then remove quite a few feathers as they try to mount and breed these hens. I'd swear I heard a snapping sound from one hen, yesterday. I thought the roo had literally broke her neck. It's like nothing I"ve ever seen before. Even when the older hens submit and wait for them, they will still sorta attack them in an effort to breed them. A lot of my hens will stay on the roost most of the day to avoid the roos.
Our comparison was this: our very first flock & the flocks we raised for many years thereafter all had roos that were mixed breeds and raised from egg laying varieties of hens who sat the nest and raised chicks - natural. Most were born here but some where bought from the local feed stores. Often times, we've always had 4 to 5 roos running in the flock.
We never had the problems we've been experience the past 5 or 6 years since I've been mail ordering my chicks. We never had to isolate hens so bald spots could heal, or worry about which roos we'd keep and which one we'd cull prior to mail order. They all worked in perfect harmony with each other; never assaulting & damaging our hens the way these hatchery roos have been doing. But all that ended when my final 'home grown' roo died of old age and a hawk got my prized ducle who seemed able to keep these younger hatchery roos in line. If a hatchery roo made a hen scream, that ducle would dart over and take on as many as three much larger roos to save the hen. He'd just save her, not try to breed her and claim her as his own. I sure miss him. No roo would even question his command; can't believe that tiny little guy mastered so much control over the other roos.
Anyway, They were the last of my 'home grown' roos. I even change breeds due to this problem and it seems to be even worse now. The environment and setup is the same. The number of hens & roosters is approximately the same. The breeds have always been egg laying varietys but I have now switched to dual purpose birds (orps & australorps). I never butchered my birds in the past but now I'm constantly having to cull. I don't think it's the breed because the problem was apparent with the egg laying variety that I ordered from the hatchery. And I THOUGHT I'd ordered some much quieter birds in the orps & australorps.
We do have one roo that was born and raised here but he has only had the hatchery roos to learn from. Hence, he is just as hard on the hens as our other roos. I used to think he was just plain retarded.
So could it be:
* The hatchery's stock? ( I have only been ordering from the same, 'top rated' hatchery)
* Incubator hatched chicks not having a mother and natural flock to learn proper behavior from?
* breed???? (I'd have to rule that out do the the varieties I"ve experienced it with)
* other????
Just curious what you guys thought about it or if anyone else has noticed this behavior.
My husband and I were talking the other day as we watched our flock of birds and planned the next chores that needed to be accomplished. We were watching Roo behavior as we discussed which hens needed to be separated in order to recover their feathers; also which roos needed to be butchered and which ones kept. As we noticed the violent manner in which the young roos were grabbing the hens to breed them we got to recounting the days when we first had chickens.
One thing I"ve noticed is that all the hens are afraid of these roos. The main flock of birds running together are 7 month old Australorp hens & Oprington hens with my 5 year old red star hens and my 5 year old black star hens; also five 5 year old standard cochin hens. I've taken out all but two roos: One 7 month old Orp & one 7 month old Australorp.
About 3 months ago I removed the 5 year old Red Star Rooster, the 4 year old Black Star/ducle mix, two 7 month old Australorps, and one 7 month old Orpington which was killed in the coop after seperation - wish I'd kept that one.
My other roos are rough on the hens but these guys!!!! The one Australorp roo I left with the flock is worse than the one Orp but they both will grab a hen as she darts past them in the opposite direction, yank them violently by the neck snapping them back towards them, then remove quite a few feathers as they try to mount and breed these hens. I'd swear I heard a snapping sound from one hen, yesterday. I thought the roo had literally broke her neck. It's like nothing I"ve ever seen before. Even when the older hens submit and wait for them, they will still sorta attack them in an effort to breed them. A lot of my hens will stay on the roost most of the day to avoid the roos.
Our comparison was this: our very first flock & the flocks we raised for many years thereafter all had roos that were mixed breeds and raised from egg laying varieties of hens who sat the nest and raised chicks - natural. Most were born here but some where bought from the local feed stores. Often times, we've always had 4 to 5 roos running in the flock.
We never had the problems we've been experience the past 5 or 6 years since I've been mail ordering my chicks. We never had to isolate hens so bald spots could heal, or worry about which roos we'd keep and which one we'd cull prior to mail order. They all worked in perfect harmony with each other; never assaulting & damaging our hens the way these hatchery roos have been doing. But all that ended when my final 'home grown' roo died of old age and a hawk got my prized ducle who seemed able to keep these younger hatchery roos in line. If a hatchery roo made a hen scream, that ducle would dart over and take on as many as three much larger roos to save the hen. He'd just save her, not try to breed her and claim her as his own. I sure miss him. No roo would even question his command; can't believe that tiny little guy mastered so much control over the other roos.
Anyway, They were the last of my 'home grown' roos. I even change breeds due to this problem and it seems to be even worse now. The environment and setup is the same. The number of hens & roosters is approximately the same. The breeds have always been egg laying varietys but I have now switched to dual purpose birds (orps & australorps). I never butchered my birds in the past but now I'm constantly having to cull. I don't think it's the breed because the problem was apparent with the egg laying variety that I ordered from the hatchery. And I THOUGHT I'd ordered some much quieter birds in the orps & australorps.
We do have one roo that was born and raised here but he has only had the hatchery roos to learn from. Hence, he is just as hard on the hens as our other roos. I used to think he was just plain retarded.
So could it be:
* The hatchery's stock? ( I have only been ordering from the same, 'top rated' hatchery)
* Incubator hatched chicks not having a mother and natural flock to learn proper behavior from?
* breed???? (I'd have to rule that out do the the varieties I"ve experienced it with)
* other????
Just curious what you guys thought about it or if anyone else has noticed this behavior.
