Rooster acting weird towards hen?

[Chicken6000]

So lately all of the hens were broody, I know crazy... They all broke from their broody phase after not hatching any eggs (we used fakes since they were all broody, after they all left their nesting boxes we noticed that the rooster was a little overwhelmed with all the hens back and active, I'm sure he's adjusting back to how it was before they were broody. One of our hens though, she's distancing herself from everyone else, the rooster just stares at her and makes a weird high pitch noise. He also tries to attack and fly towards her if he has the chance. These two grew up together, all the hens including her were inactive laying in nesting boxes for about 1-2 months, all hens leave their broody phase and she is the only one that's being bullied by our rooster, what could it be?????

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Are you sure he is actually attacking the hen? After all hens have gone broody so suddenly, the rooster may be stressed out because it was a sudden change and not normal. He was without the company of his hens for a time and that would bother him. The hen you are saying is getting bullied may be getting chased by the rooster because the rooster may see her as his favorite and wants to mate her more than the others. Has he taken a liking toward her? Is she low in the pecking order? What breed is she?

 

[Chicken6000]

Are you sure he is actually attacking the hen? After all hens have gone broody so suddenly, the rooster may be stressed out because it was a sudden change and not normal. He was without the company of his hens for a time and that would bother him. The hen you are saying is getting bullied may be getting chased by the rooster because the rooster may see her as his favorite and wants to mate her more than the others. Has he taken a liking toward her? Is she low in the pecking order? What breed is she?

Yea he sure has taken a liking for her, they both grew up together since they were little chicks, the rest of the flock/hens were introduced later down the road. They are both 16 months old (Hen and Rooster) her breed is a black australorp, his breed is not known. And i’m sure that he is, he chases her with his wings down and lunges his feet in a way, it’s possible he’s trying to mate like you said, it’s hard to tell.

 

[aart]

And i’m sure that he is, he chases her with his wings down and lunges his feet in a way, it’s possible he’s trying to mate like you said, it’s hard to tell.

Sounds more like an attack, I'd segregate him.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sometimes a flock kicks a member out. The reason is not often obvious. If they think she is sick or injured it could be a way to stop her from attracting predators to the flock. That's an instinctive reaction from when they were feral. Sometimes it is just the rooster, sometimes the entire flock. Sometimes a hen will challenge for the top spot and will fight the rooster. That usually only happens when you add a rooster to a flock of hens and it was the dominant hen but maybe since yours were all separated for a while it is something like that. Sometimes one chicken forms an intense dislike to another chicken, strong enough that they want to kill the other. It could be something totally different.

My suggestion is similar to Aart's. Isolate him and see how the flock reacts over the next week. If the flock accepts her back it has something to do with the rooster and you may need to decide between him and her. If the flock does not accept her back within a week it has something to do with her. It is also possible after a week's separation he will accept her.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Yea he sure has taken a liking for her, they both grew up together since they were little chicks, the rest of the flock/hens were introduced later down the road. They are both 16 months old (Hen and Rooster) her breed is a black australorp, his breed is not known. And i’m sure that he is, he chases her with his wings down and lunges his feet in a way, it’s possible he’s trying to mate like you said, it’s hard to tell.

I have seen my rooster with both of his wings down while he is chasing a hen like his life depends on it (he wanted to mate), but your rooster does sound like he is attacking. In this case he might be holding his wings down in an aggressive way instead of an impressing way. If he is leaping at the hen with his feet out instead of trying to grab the back of her neck and mount her (like they would do in mating), then he would be definitely attacking.

 

[Chicken6000]

Sometimes a flock kicks a member out. The reason is not often obvious. If they think she is sick or injured it could be a way to stop her from attracting predators to the flock. That's an instinctive reaction from when they were feral. Sometimes it is just the rooster, sometimes the entire flock. Sometimes a hen will challenge for the top spot and will fight the rooster. That usually only happens when you add a rooster to a flock of hens and it was the dominant hen but maybe since yours were all separated for a while it is something like that. Sometimes one chicken forms an intense dislike to another chicken, strong enough that they want to kill the other. It could be something totally different.

My suggestion is similar to Aart's. Isolate him and see how the flock reacts over the next week. If the flock accepts her back it has something to do with the rooster and you may need to decide between him and her. If the flock does not accept her back within a week it has something to do with her. It is also possible after a week's separation he will accept her.

Currently everybody but the rooster accepts her, the hens don’t mess with her and are normal, the rooster just stares and makes a noise at her sometimes, if he gets close or has an opportunity he chases her, before all the hens went broody, the hen was the alpha hen, i really don’t know what to do, she isn’t sick or anything. The rooster is just being all mean, i don’t know what to do.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Currently everybody but the rooster accepts her, the hens don’t mess with her and are normal, the rooster just stares and makes a noise at her sometimes, if he gets close or has an opportunity he chases her, before all the hens went broody, the hen was the alpha hen, i really don’t know what to do, she isn’t sick or anything. The rooster is just being all mean, i don’t know what to do.

Separate him and see how it goes.

 

[Chicken6000]

Separate him and see how it goes.

Do i just separate him temporarily? How long? Should the hens still see him? I’m new to this sorry!!

 

[wrathsfarm]

How new is the rooster? Have you seen him mate her?
If she's head hen she may have not submitted to him yet. This would make him get aggressive towards her, to the point where she either submits or he kills or drives her out of the flock.