My flock is about 3 months old and one of my roosters keeps chasing one of the hens around the run. Sometimes he gets ahold of her face/beak and hurts her. Is this normal? I have never had a roo before nor have I ever observed them.
Rooster behavior
- Thread starter Susies Zoo
- Start date
Does he intentionally attack her or is it just a failed mating?
- Thread starter
- #3
Hmm well I'm not sure.... He will chase her around and around until he gets ahold of her. I've never seen chickens mate so I'm not sure what I'm looking for. He just seems to grab ahold of her face. I don't know if this is part of the courting ritual? Do they do that?
He is trying to breed her. Mine are doing the same thing right now. They just haven't got it down yet. Hens aren't liking it, they are not laying yet, but the ''teenage'' roosters think they are ready. The roosters grab them by the feathers on their head and attempt to jump on their back.(usually failing) The hens sqawk and run away but if no blood or damage they are fine.
Three months is about right. What you are seeing is pretty normal. The boys’ hormones are starting to run wild. Part of it is about sex but only part of it. The mating ritual is also a dominance thing. The one on bottom is dominated by the one on top. Later on, when they mature enough, they will work out which one is dominating and the ritual will go much smoother, but right now the pullets don’t want to accept the dominance of your cockerels.
The cockerels hormones for sex and flock dominance generally kick in earlier than the pullets’. Those girls are confused about what is going on but yeah, they sure don’t like it.
From what you said, it is only one cockerel right now. Don’t be surprised to see some others get into the act pretty soon. Also, expect to see some confrontations between the boys for flock dominance as the others mature. They’ll face off, flare their neck feathers, and probably scuffle a bit. Usually it ends pretty quickly when one decides to run away. There may be some chasing involved, but as long as they have room to run away, it usually ends without any of them getting hurt.
Don’t be too shocked to see some of the girls getting involved in these face-offs either, though that is not real common. One of the cockerels will eventually establish himself as the total dominant flock master, but it’s not unusual for some of the girls to rank higher than some of the boys at the bottom of that order.
Oh, and just so you better understand the mating ritual, once they mature.
The rooster should dance. He lowers one wing and sort of circles around the hen. This signals his intent.
The hen squats. She gets flat on the ground. This spreads the rooster’s weight throughout her body and into the ground so she does not have to carry all his weight through her legs. Roosters are usually a fair amount heavier than the hens. As long as she squats and spreads that weight, that’s not a problem.
The rooster grabs the back of her head and hops on. That head grab helps him get situated so he is in the right position to hit the target and helps him keep his balance. It has another very important purpose though. It is the hen’s signal to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target.
The rooster touches vents and hops off. His part is done.
The hen stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This gets the sperm into the right place in her body.
There are a lot of variations of this, mainly with the hen initially running away or the rooster forcing her. As long as she squats to spread that load and the rooster does not draw blood, it isn’t really nearly as bad as it seems.
There is a purpose for the rooster sometimes forcing unwilling hens. To do his job as flock master, the hens have to accept the rooster’s dominance. Part of his job as flock master is to break up fights and keep peace in the flock. If the others don’t accept his dominance, he can’t do that very well. Sometimes he has to force them to accept his dominance. A big part of it too is that the pullets as well as the cockerels have to mature enough to do their part and learn to control their hormones. Right now yours are just starting to hit puberty with some more advanced than others.
Usually all this sorts itself out without any of them really getting hurt. Usually. I’ve never seen one injured during this process but I practically always have mature hens and a rooster to see them through this process. They are living animals. Anything can happen. There will be scuffles and some rough patches while the pullets and cockerels mature enough to all do their parts to this, but eventually peace will return to the flock. Until you get used to this and understand how natural all this is, you may have a couple of rough months.
Good luck with it.
The cockerels hormones for sex and flock dominance generally kick in earlier than the pullets’. Those girls are confused about what is going on but yeah, they sure don’t like it.
From what you said, it is only one cockerel right now. Don’t be surprised to see some others get into the act pretty soon. Also, expect to see some confrontations between the boys for flock dominance as the others mature. They’ll face off, flare their neck feathers, and probably scuffle a bit. Usually it ends pretty quickly when one decides to run away. There may be some chasing involved, but as long as they have room to run away, it usually ends without any of them getting hurt.
Don’t be too shocked to see some of the girls getting involved in these face-offs either, though that is not real common. One of the cockerels will eventually establish himself as the total dominant flock master, but it’s not unusual for some of the girls to rank higher than some of the boys at the bottom of that order.
Oh, and just so you better understand the mating ritual, once they mature.
The rooster should dance. He lowers one wing and sort of circles around the hen. This signals his intent.
The hen squats. She gets flat on the ground. This spreads the rooster’s weight throughout her body and into the ground so she does not have to carry all his weight through her legs. Roosters are usually a fair amount heavier than the hens. As long as she squats and spreads that weight, that’s not a problem.
The rooster grabs the back of her head and hops on. That head grab helps him get situated so he is in the right position to hit the target and helps him keep his balance. It has another very important purpose though. It is the hen’s signal to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target.
The rooster touches vents and hops off. His part is done.
The hen stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This gets the sperm into the right place in her body.
There are a lot of variations of this, mainly with the hen initially running away or the rooster forcing her. As long as she squats to spread that load and the rooster does not draw blood, it isn’t really nearly as bad as it seems.
There is a purpose for the rooster sometimes forcing unwilling hens. To do his job as flock master, the hens have to accept the rooster’s dominance. Part of his job as flock master is to break up fights and keep peace in the flock. If the others don’t accept his dominance, he can’t do that very well. Sometimes he has to force them to accept his dominance. A big part of it too is that the pullets as well as the cockerels have to mature enough to do their part and learn to control their hormones. Right now yours are just starting to hit puberty with some more advanced than others.
Usually all this sorts itself out without any of them really getting hurt. Usually. I’ve never seen one injured during this process but I practically always have mature hens and a rooster to see them through this process. They are living animals. Anything can happen. There will be scuffles and some rough patches while the pullets and cockerels mature enough to all do their parts to this, but eventually peace will return to the flock. Until you get used to this and understand how natural all this is, you may have a couple of rough months.
Good luck with it.
- Thread starter
- #6
Ridgerunner- thank you so much for the in depth explanation!! I now know what to expect and not to freak out! I see some of these things happening already. My hens seem to be much more mature but I guess that's normal. I can also see which cockerel is the dominant one. I love watching them all progress and now I guess there will be much more drama on the "chicken tv"!!!!
Hello, I just went in to check on water and feed for the night and noticed my small bantam hen limping with the left side of her face swollen. I checked her over and she doesn't appear to have broken her leg, seems more in her hip area. Feathers missing in her neck area. As I observed every one coming in, last one being the rooster, she squelched and ran/hobbled to the other side of the coop. Yup, seems good ole Randy ( you *******!) rooster has taken his way with the lil tiny Miss Sophia! My question, has anyone ever dealt with an over derived hormone rooster before? I have locked Mr Hormone outside until I get a better understanding. They're ages are all about 12 - 14 months old .
- Thread starter
- #8
Sorry chicken Mimi....I've only just aquired my first Roos and watching them carefully! Mine are only 3 months so they are just starting to get inquisitive!
Thanks Susie. I just put her in a cat carrier in the coop to keep her safe for the night. I should of just kept the rooster out but, felt bad and for safety reasons. I am re-homing him tomorrow. I'll follow up with this post tomorrow. Hope she makes it through the night.
- Thread starter
- #10
Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!- Started by Nifty-Chicken
- Replies: 522
-
-
-
-
Can I get some help from someone with careless neighbours who own dogs.- Started by RiDaGeckoGuy
- Replies: 102
-
