Rooster attacked hen

[Bill1976]

I'm interested to hear if separating the rooster worked for you. I have run into the same problem with a ~6 month old Welsummer rooster. I have three ~2yo hens along with the other 6 ~6 month old hens with whom he was raised as a chick.

He has singled out one of the 2yo hens. I first thought they'd sorted it out, but today I saw he bloodied the back of her head pretty badly. He's by himself in a smaller run/coop now and I'm in the same boat you were...wondering how long I'll have to keep him separated to avoid him attacking that hen again. He doesn't attack the other hens like this, just the one.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share.

 

[Mrs. K]

The question you need to ask is - how long do I want to wait? There is just no set rules that IF you do this, THEN the rooster will be nice. Some are, some are not.

So if you are tired of having them separated, well try it, if you don't like it, cull him. If you are not quite up to culling him now, wait a little longer and see.

IMO - I would give it a month. After that - it is a either this works, or it doesn't.

Why do you want the rooster:

• Well because I hatched/raised him...I am responsible for his life?
• Well, I like a flock with a rooster, but maybe not this rooster?

If it is the first one, you probably will keep him way too long, most of us do on the first one. Later on, with experience, people realize that it is a much better hobby to have a great rooster than try and keep a rotten rooster wishing he would be nice.

If it is the second, you need to cull him and find another rooster. A lot of people have a second rooster that is just so darn nice, they have not culled him. HE would be a darling in your flock. Find him.

Mrs K

 

[KRack]

I'm interested to hear if separating the rooster worked for you. I have run into the same problem with a ~6 month old Welsummer rooster. I have three ~2yo hens along with the other 6 ~6 month old hens with whom he was raised as a chick.

He has singled out one of the 2yo hens. I first thought they'd sorted it out, but today I saw he bloodied the back of her head pretty badly. He's by himself in a smaller run/coop now and I'm in the same boat you were...wondering how long I'll have to keep him separated to avoid him attacking that hen again. He doesn't attack the other hens like this, just the one.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share.

It didn’t work unfortunately. I gave multiple chances, and ended up separating for months trying to give him time to mature. I tried to reintegrate him a few weeks ago and he was back to his same shenanigans. So we culled him.

 

[Bill1976]

Well, that sucks, sorry to hear that. It's going to probably take a month for the one hen he was after to heal up completely, so I'll keep him separated and then see how he acts. If he attacks her again, I guess I'll have to get rid of him.

Thank you both for the responses.

 

[KRack]

Well, that sucks, sorry to hear that. It's going to probably take a month for the one hen he was after to heal up completely, so I'll keep him separated and then see how he acts. If he attacks her again, I guess I'll have to get rid of him.

Thank you both for the responses.

I’m sorry. Hopefully you have better luck!! Let me know how it goes for you.

 

[Bill1976]

Update:
The rooster in question is 7 mos old and I kept him separated from the hens for about 4 weeks. They could still see & hear each other, but he didn't roost with them and could not get to them.

I started turning him out with them on the weekends when I could keep a closer eye on him. I've noticed his aggression towards the one particular hen has abated somewhat and now he's been re-integrated with the flock. I've also started spreading the feed around over a wider area instead of everyone being fed in close quarters with one another.

These two things seemed to have helped.