Rooster behavior??

[Dixiedoodle]

I have 10 hens and a roo( all are 11 months old) . He is BO. I am being to think he is hurting my hens. I have two that are almost bald right behind their comb. I have a BO hen that will stay squatted for several minutes have he is off her. I have a RIR that shakes and shakes when he is finished. I have a Black Ameraucana that runs and hides at the site of him.. Four months ago I had to put down a RIR with a neck injury. And a few days ago, a Blue Ameraucana became with drawn and died. When he first became mature, he was a gentleman and now it seems to be with less care and more like being mean.. I am not really sure how to describe his deed... He is a big boy and 'bumped' (I used the word bump because it wasn't hard and it wasn't with his feet --just sort bumped into me) me a few weeks ago. I chased him down, held him down to the ground like he does the girls and then picked him up by his feet and carried him around for several minutes.. He stays clear of me, doesn't even look at me.. and runs if I start in his direction..

Should I go ahead and send him to freezer camp? I don't want to deal with anymore injuried girls and I refuse to have any animal that doesn't respect me! OR am I over reacting and this is normal behavior????

Thank you for any and all help. suggestions ideas.. Dixie

 

[teach1rusl]

Gosh...that is one of the reasons I still debate whether to get a rooster or not. BO's are usually gentle, from what I've read. The "bump" I woudn't worry about too much, since he seems to have accepted your authority after his "punishment." But it would worry me that your girls are acting really stressed. That's kind of strange that he started off gentle and has gotten more aggressive...??? Do the girls accept him and seem to look up to him most of the time, or do they mostly seem afraid of him??? I guess that would help make MY decision on what to do...

 

[azygous]

I get the immediate impression you've already decided to eliminate him. If you aren't attached to him, that might just be the best and most simple solution. You do need to solve this problem because your girls are far more stressed than they should be from his attentions.

However, if you want to keep him due to any number of reasons, I would just separate him from the girls. That would mean letting him roam around outside the pen or have his own section in the pen and coop. That's what I've done, and it's worked out amazingly well. My roo Stan gets supervised visits with his hens, and it's easy for me to maintain dominance over him this way. At night, as the girls are going in to roost, I go out open the door to his side of the coop, and Stan hops right in. He is separated from the rest of the coop by a gate of chicken wire, and they all can still see and talk to one another.

Roosters are easy to come by. No need to put up with one that terrorizes everyone, though.