Rooster attacking girls

[ZepChick]

I have 4 month 2 week old EE rooster and 20 girls. There are certain girls (a gold cochin, a brown/red EE, a blue/wheaten EE) that he will run up to and grab their back feathers and he will not let go until they escape and even if they escape he will chase them around until he grabs them again. To actually get away from him they have to run back inside the coop. For no reason he will attack them like that. Eating/rehoming him is not an option as we love the brat very much.... it is a good thing he is cute Please any ideas are greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!! Thanks!

 

[FlockEweFarm]

He is trying to er, uh...be romantic with them. My roo is doing the same thing, and he is the same age, its aggravating, noisy, traumatic to watch and irritating to the hens, but hopefully he will hone his ,"skills" shortly. Check out Rooster Red's page on roo behavior, he is the zen master of all things rooster and can give you all kinds of advice on taming the savage beasts. But our guys are rather randy, clutzy, hormonally driven, beasts right now.

 

[mbleily]

Quote:
Mine are only three months and the darn roos think they are Gods Gift to the girls. The girls, however run screeching to high heaven to help them. LOL It has gotten so bad the girls stay in the house unless I am out there to protect them. I really have to get rid of a few of the roos. ( I have 5 and 23 pullets.)

 

[chickenannie]

Here's the same thread from earlier --

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=68906

 

[ZepChick]

I just finished reading that entire thread and we recently put the big bad roo in a pen made for a dog out of wire with a dog house in it.

1. When exactly will his hormones quit raging?
2. Will he eventually start being nicer to the girls once his bratty hormones stop flaring?
3. Since we have only one roo, after he is more "manly", will he begin to realize that he doesn't need to attack the girls to be "romantic" and start acting more gentlemenlike?

I realize that those questions are alike but it is our first time raising chickadees and we don't want to get rid of the roo. Thank you very much!!!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Does any male?!?!?

Sorry I couldn't help myself. :|
The basic answer is no. Boys will be boys and roos will be roos. You can knock him down a few pegs by following some of rooster red's great advice, but roosters only live for one thing and they aren't delicate about getting it.
I have a bratty roo myself; only it's me, and not the hens he's fixated on right now.

 

[chickenannie]

1. When exactly will his hormones quit raging?

Never. You just have to provide enough hens that he only gets each of them once in a while (once or twice a day?).

2. Will he eventually start being nicer to the girls once his bratty hormones stop flaring?

Nope, although roos do seem to "learn" how to breed better after a while, meaning, their balance gets better and the act is done more quickly with less falling off the hen and tearing her feathers etc. When they are young, they are just inexperienced and will cause harm by doing dumb stuff like just sitting on top of the hen even after the act and not getting off, or trying to hold on while he's slipping sideways and ripping her feathers off, or breeding the same hen right after he just bred her several times, thus making the hens lives hellish.

3. Since we have only one roo, after he is more "manly", will he begin to realize that he doesn't need to attack the girls to be "romantic" and start acting more gentlemenlike?

Nope. see response above. It's taken my BO roo a loongg time to develop a protective side (a year) and even now he's mostly just a dumb bunch of hormones.

 

[joebryant]

Hmmph! Come on, ladies, be nice. I just want to say something in the rooster's defense.

...uh ... let me think ...mmmmm duh... NEVER MIND!

 

[Hotwings]

At 4 months he is young. Your hens must be lower ranking ones as they seem always to get it bad. Maybe he needs some older top ranking hens to whip him into shape. Good luck. Get him some turkey hens lol.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
I was talking about roos, not humans.