Roo Issues. Please help! I do not want it to get worse!

Chickensfan

Songster
Jun 26, 2016
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California!
Hi!
I have a problem with my two roos. (yes, two) They get along perfectly fine, and even sit next to each other on the roost. Sometimes there are a few squabbles but they would never dare to permanently injure each other. They are both 1 year and 1 month old. One is a polish (in my avatar) and I think he has some sort of disability. (he walks in a diagonal line, he cocks his tail to the side, and sometimes acts very strangely.) and the other is a Pavlovskaya. The problem? Hens. The Pavlovskaya (Palmer) is quite aggressive towards the hens while he mates, and does not seem to care whether she is protesting or not. The polish (Hats) is most of the time very nice with the hens and does his little roo dance before mating them, but occasionally he can get very...into it. But the biggest problem is, sometimes when one has a hen and is mating, the other will come over and start mating her at the same time! The hen usually makes some very disturbing or distressed noises when this occurs, and she wiggles free. I am planning on buying the hens saddles. Also, after one is done mating, the instant he is finished, while the hen is still dazed, the other will hop on desperately. And in rare cases, one roo will shove the other off. And even rarer than this, they will team up on a hen, and chase her around the coop while she looks terrified. Other than this, the two roos still seem to be like brothers. I have started to let the hens out of the coop, free ranging by themselves, so they can get away from the roosters, but whenever I let them back in, the roosters go nuts. I am moving into a new neighborhood soon, and I am thinking I will make a coop for the two roosters. Just them. Then I will have a separate coop for my hens. But for now, I have even ANOTHER issue. Two of my polish hens do NOT like to free range. They prefer to stay in the coop, where they are constantly harassed by the two roos. What can I do about this?
Thank you for any advice you can give,
Marie.
 
Try letting the roos free range to, if the area is very large, the hens have a better chance of escaping if they have lots of room to run. If you don't want to do this, get a small coop for the two roos and let the hens go into the original one, only let the roosters mate the hens one at a time, keep the other one locked in the cage during this time so that they can't fight over hens and team up to get her
 
Try letting the roos free range to, if the area is very large, the hens have a better chance of escaping if they have lots of room to run. If you don't want to do this, get a small coop for the two roos and let the hens go into the original one, only let the roosters mate the hens one at a time, keep the other one locked in the cage during this time so that they can't fight over hens and team up to get her
I would let them free range, but since one has...disabilities, he is aggressive at times. and I couldn't just let one out so he could be all alone in there. I am going to get a small coop for the roos, but that's only when I get to my new house. (Which will be in a week or so, but then I am staying there to build the coops while my father watches the chickens here.) What can I do in the meantime?
 
You either need to get rid of one,or build a coop.I do not stress over the chasing down,but two on one can actually kill the hen.

My roosters chase the hens sometimes but never do two on 2.

It can take 2 full years for them to fully mature,give them time and soon they might learn to calm down and become much more gentle.Staying in the pen these next few months they may learn manors through the fence.
 
What you could do is let all of the hens out, go in and get the two polish hens and set them outside the coop, locking the door behind you. Leave the two roos locked in the coop until almost dark when they go to roost, then let the hens back in the coop, I haven't noticed my roos try to mate at that time.
 
You either need to get rid of one,or build a coop.I do not stress over the chasing down,but two on one can actually kill the hen.

My roosters chase the hens sometimes but never do two on 2.

It can take 2 full years for them to fully mature,give them time and soon they might learn to calm down and become much more gentle.Staying in the pen these next few months they may learn manors through the fence.
Thank you!
What you could do is let all of the hens out, go in and get the two polish hens and set them outside the coop, locking the door behind you. Leave the two roos locked in the coop until almost dark when they go to roost, then let the hens back in the coop, I haven't noticed my roos try to mate at that time.
Thank you for the advice! I would go in, but when I let the hens out, Hats gets very mad. And while he is mad he can be quite dangerous. And I currently live in a neighborhood that has had sightings of bears and bobcats at dusk, and I know my neighbors have cats.
I feel that it may be a bit dangerous to leave them out until it is almost dark. I am also a bit haunted by what happened in the past...It was 5:00 PM. I was giving them a little more food, when I heard a lot of commotion. I saw my hen with a bobcat on top of her. I ran at the bobcat (since they are afraid of humans, and it was only about a little bigger than a large house cat) and threw a rock. (I would not do this normally for fear of harming it, but my adrenaline was going crazy) The rock hit it in the head and by then I was about 8 feet away. It ran from me. Then my hen (still screeching) bounced (I have no idea how she bounced while her legs seemed to stop working) into a thick rosebush. I dove into the rosebush, (getting thorns that would last for weeks,) and scooped her out. She was gasping and screeching while I ran up to the house panting "You'll be ok...You can live....Please live...." but it was obvious that she was not going to make it. I, (still running) looked down at her and almost got a heart attack. Her neck was broken and limp, and her back torn open, making her lung visible. I sobbed helplessly, and kept running. When I got to the house she was barely alive, her eyes wide open in agony. I was devastated, and shaking uncontrollably. She passed away in my arms, and I stood there, my legs aching from the running, thorns in my hands, crying and shaking.
This probably does not sound realistic but I promise you that every part of this was and is true.
Marie
 
How many hens do you have?

For now, let 1 rooster free range, while the other is penned up, then rotate the next day. I would not let them both out at the same time, until they get their breeding habits sorted out. That way you could keep both of them, just not let them out together with the hens.

Young roosters are often rough until they get a bit older. The one that is rough on the hens, should settle down after while.
 
How many hens do you have?

For now, let 1 rooster free range, while the other is penned up, then rotate the next day. I would not let them both out at the same time, until they get their breeding habits sorted out. That way you could keep both of them, just not let them out together with the hens.

Young roosters are often rough until they get a bit older. The one that is rough on the hens, should settle down after while.
Thank you, but the one I would keep in would be the polish since he seems....different and could be dangerous for that purpose. (He gets mad very easily.) and then he would have to stay in every day and be alone for every day....I don't want him to get lonely.
 
How many hens do you have? I think the ratio is supposed to be 7-10 hens to every rooster, so if you have less than that then maybe thats the problem.
 

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