Rooster attacking one of my hens

[huntersmoon]

I know this has been covered several times but saw in the old threads the recommendation to post a new thread with specifics about the flock.

I've got seven adults - six hens and one rooster. The rooster is a Bantam and the hens are a mix of Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red (my eight year old Old Red Hen), Ameraucana, Buff Orpington, and Black Laced Wyandotte. The rooster, buff, and wyandotte came from a friend - but the rooster (her kids named him Penguin because of how he walks) came over first and then two years later the she gave me the two hens. When Penguin the rooster came, I had Old Red Hen and another equally old Buff Orpington. That Buff Orpington developed bumblefoot and although we treated her and she recovered, Penguin had begun attacking her. The vet said that he would always view her as a threat to the flock because he had seen her infected foot. Another chicken expert was dubious that the rooster would have that kind of memory. That old Buff Orpington eventually died.

Q- I'm wondering if Penguin is attacking this younger Buff Orpington who he used to get along with, because she came to us after he had started rejecting the other old Buff Orpington.

He is a good rooster otherwise. He's nice to the other hens, he's gentle with people. He doesn't draw blood on the Buff Orpington, but he does chase and peck her very frequently.

Q - Should I leave them alone as long as he isn't actually injuring her? I've got my eight other chicks that will be added to the flock when they are old enough, so I know that will mix things up a bit. None are buffs.

Q - Based on the other threads I assume if anyone gets rehomed it's the Buff Orpington?

I had thought about adding a couple more Buff Orpingtons to the flock to maybe confuse him, not sure if that's a sound strategy.

Thanks
Shannon

 

[ejtrout31]

i would put the roo in a dog crate for a day or 2 inside the pen or do the other way around with the hen

 

[huntersmoon]

Thanks, I'll do that tomorrow morning.

 

[TheBeardie]

I, personally, would rather keep the hen. Roosters aren't necessary unless you are looking for fertile eggs. It will be easier to rehome her, but I would try with him first. A hen is worth more to me than a rooster and this behavior might move on to other hens.

You could upset the flock order by removing him for a week or so, though that might not be enough to stop his bad behavior.

 

[huntersmoon]

I have a mobile coop I keep from before we built our permanent, and it could definitely house him. Would that be better than the crate kept inside their regular coop? i.e. would it be better for him to be confined but next to them, or in that other larger coop?

 

[TheBeardie]

I have a mobile coop I keep from before we built our permanent, and it could definitely house him. Would that be better than the crate kept inside their regular coop? i.e. would it be better for him to be confined but next to them, or in that other larger coop?

Completely separated should have a bigger effect. Injured flock members that get separated can have a really hard time being reintroduced, so I expect a complete removal will mix up the pecking order and should help the bullyed hen.

Also I wouldn't separate her, that would put her further down the pecking order and could cause the other hens to start bullying her too.

 

[huntersmoon]

Thanks for the help!

 

[huntersmoon]

So I removed my rooster to our mobile coop and kept him in it for 3-4 weeks, with a brief failed test return in the middle. I've moved him back in now, bc I had to move my new chicks into the mobile coop. My buff, Golden Girl, is clearly staying away from him. She'll stay up on the roost until I come open the door to the run, and she'll generally avoid him. He will watch her and every once in a while rush up to her. Her comb is pecked, and it was fully healed while he was gone, so it's just him pecking her.

I can easily keep him separated still - in the coop while they're in the run or vice versa, but I'm thinking if 3-4 weeks in the mobile coop didn't change his ways, he's not going to.

However, I did get two more buff orpington chicks thinking that it might divert his focus.

1. Do you think that's possible - that when there are three buff hens he will not always single her out? He did used to get along with her until my other buff (who passed) got bumblefoot. He had targeted that buff, then she died, and then my friend brought me his two former coopmates, one of which was this Golden Girl.

2. I thought, also, that a rooster was never supposed to pick on a hen, since his job is to protect them?

It sounds like the opinion is that if I have to rehome someone it should be the rooster.

Thanks
Shannon

 

[huntersmoon]

Would the Pinless Peepers be a good option for the rooster? I had never heard of them before but they sound promising.