Rooster bullying the girls

[AeroChickens]

Last April we started our flock with what we hoped would be 5 female chicks. One turned out to be a rooster, which we thought may have actually been lucky as he could protect the flock from predators for us. Besides some lost saddle feathers due to not having enough hens, things were going great until about a month ago.

For some reason, he started attacking one of the girls consistently. He wound up making her cower with her head in the corner, and kept pecking at her, so we put him in rooster jail for a few days. When we let him out again, we had the same issue with the same hen. He doesn't seem interested in mating - the hen is laying down and he could mate if he wanted, but he keeps pecking. We put him in rooster jail again.

Then we took in 5 new hens. We kept them in their old coop next to our coop for a few days to get to know everyone, and then let them interact with our flock. Things are going pretty good with just the hens. It seems like the original flock is all lower on the pecking order than the new flock, I think because the original flock has always had a rooster to protect them. They have been staying in the same coop/run for maybe a week and a half now, and they still stay separate for the most part - the original hens prefer to be outside it seems, and the new hens prefer to be inside. They will probably fully integrate if given enough time?

Before we integrated the flocks of hens, we thought maybe we could let the rooster out with the new hens. After a short while, he had mated with most the new hens, and then he kept attacking one after mating. Chasing her all over, pecking, and if she laid down, he would keep pecking. We had to put him in jail again.

A few days after failing to introduce the rooster to the new hens without issue, we put all the hens together and let them get comfortable. Last night, we let the rooster out to sleep with all 9 hens. This morning, I sat outside since first light, watching to make sure he wouldn't be overly aggressive with any of the ladies. Things were alright for the first couple hours of light, but then he attacked the new hen again. This time he definitely could have mated with her again, but kept attacking. We let it go until he drew blood from her comb, thinking maybe we just don't understand chicken and we are missing something.

Do we just have an overly aggressive rooster that is not treating his ladies as he should? I'm pretty sure we will have to get rid of him, and I don't think we would feel comfortable giving him to someone else.

Rough timeline(I'm estimating the dates) since my story kinda goes back and forth and might be confusing:
4/27/2020: Chicks shipped
Sometime around 2/13/2021: Rooster starts harassing one of the girls he grew up with, she sticks her head in a corner of the coop and cowers, and continues to be harrased. We put the rooster in jail
A few days later: We let the rooster out to see if he will behave. They are allowed to free range for a good chunk of the day, and have lots of distractions when they are in the coop. He misbehaves, gets locked up again
2/20 : We take in 5 new hens. Move the new coop next to our run, let the hens get to know each other
2/23: We swap the coops the hens are in, so the new hens get used to their soon to be new coop
2/24: The rooster has had days of being around the new hens while in jail(in a puppy crate around them, or in our big run while the old flock was in the coop/new flock was in their run. We let the rooster out with the new flock in the big coop. He mates with a few of them, then mates with Dolly, then continues attacking Dolly. She cowers in a corner and continues to get attacked. We put the roo back in jail
2/26: We get the flocks of hens to sleep in the same coop. Rooster is still sleeping in a dog crate in the coop with them all. The hens establish the new pecking order. The new hens are all above our original flock
3/5: Things have been going decently with the hens all in the same coop. They don't seem totally integrated, but no major issues. We let the rooster out after dark, he roosts with all the girls
3/6: This morning. I wake up before light, and go and sit outside in the cold making sure he won't attack anyone. At first he is keeping all the hens off the floor for some reason. Around 7 I let them out into the run. The rooster and our hens all go and roost in the run. The new girls come out to the run here and there. The rooster mates with some of the new hens. The new hen he doesn't like comes out, and he attacks her. She lays down, he keeps attacking. She runs away, he chases her into the coop and back out to the run, she starts bleeding from her comb. We put him in rooster jail again, and are thinking he is just an aggressive rooster that we will need to kill?

This got very long. Thank you for taking the time to read. I wish I spoke chicken. I think we need to kill this rooster? Our hens will eventually fully integrate we hope, but it seems clear the rooster is just making this much more complicated and difficult.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Yeah he's a bad rooster. Just rid yourself of him.

 

[DobieLover]

Last April we started our flock with what we hoped would be 5 female chicks. One turned out to be a rooster, which we thought may have actually been lucky as he could protect the flock from predators for us. Besides some lost saddle feathers due to not having enough hens, things were going great until about a month ago.

For some reason, he started attacking one of the girls consistently. He wound up making her cower with her head in the corner, and kept pecking at her, so we put him in rooster jail for a few days. When we let him out again, we had the same issue with the same hen. He doesn't seem interested in mating - the hen is laying down and he could mate if he wanted, but he keeps pecking. We put him in rooster jail again.

Then we took in 5 new hens. We kept them in their old coop next to our coop for a few days to get to know everyone, and then let them interact with our flock. Things are going pretty good with just the hens. It seems like the original flock is all lower on the pecking order than the new flock, I think because the original flock has always had a rooster to protect them. They have been staying in the same coop/run for maybe a week and a half now, and they still stay separate for the most part - the original hens prefer to be outside it seems, and the new hens prefer to be inside. They will probably fully integrate if given enough time?

Before we integrated the flocks of hens, we thought maybe we could let the rooster out with the new hens. After a short while, he had mated with most the new hens, and then he kept attacking one after mating. Chasing her all over, pecking, and if she laid down, he would keep pecking. We had to put him in jail again.

A few days after failing to introduce the rooster to the new hens without issue, we put all the hens together and let them get comfortable. Last night, we let the rooster out to sleep with all 9 hens. This morning, I sat outside since first light, watching to make sure he wouldn't be overly aggressive with any of the ladies. Things were alright for the first couple hours of light, but then he attacked the new hen again. This time he definitely could have mated with her again, but kept attacking. We let it go until he drew blood from her comb, thinking maybe we just don't understand chicken and we are missing something.

Do we just have an overly aggressive rooster that is not treating his ladies as he should? I'm pretty sure we will have to get rid of him, and I don't think we would feel comfortable giving him to someone else.

Rough timeline(I'm estimating the dates) since my story kinda goes back and forth and might be confusing:
4/27/2020: Chicks shipped
Sometime around 2/13/2021: Rooster starts harassing one of the girls he grew up with, she sticks her head in a corner of the coop and cowers, and continues to be harrased. We put the rooster in jail
A few days later: We let the rooster out to see if he will behave. They are allowed to free range for a good chunk of the day, and have lots of distractions when they are in the coop. He misbehaves, gets locked up again
2/20 : We take in 5 new hens. Move the new coop next to our run, let the hens get to know each other
2/23: We swap the coops the hens are in, so the new hens get used to their soon to be new coop
2/24: The rooster has had days of being around the new hens while in jail(in a puppy crate around them, or in our big run while the old flock was in the coop/new flock was in their run. We let the rooster out with the new flock in the big coop. He mates with a few of them, then mates with Dolly, then continues attacking Dolly. She cowers in a corner and continues to get attacked. We put the roo back in jail
2/26: We get the flocks of hens to sleep in the same coop. Rooster is still sleeping in a dog crate in the coop with them all. The hens establish the new pecking order. The new hens are all above our original flock
3/5: Things have been going decently with the hens all in the same coop. They don't seem totally integrated, but no major issues. We let the rooster out after dark, he roosts with all the girls
3/6: This morning. I wake up before light, and go and sit outside in the cold making sure he won't attack anyone. At first he is keeping all the hens off the floor for some reason. Around 7 I let them out into the run. The rooster and our hens all go and roost in the run. The new girls come out to the run here and there. The rooster mates with some of the new hens. The new hen he doesn't like comes out, and he attacks her. She lays down, he keeps attacking. She runs away, he chases her into the coop and back out to the run, she starts bleeding from her comb. We put him in rooster jail again, and are thinking he is just an aggressive rooster that we will need to kill?

This got very long. Thank you for taking the time to read. I wish I spoke chicken. I think we need to kill this rooster? Our hens will eventually fully integrate we hope, but it seems clear the rooster is just making this much more complicated and difficult.

Remove this cockerel from your flock either by sending him to freezer camp or giving him to someone else to put in their freezer. Your flock will be much more peaceful.
Then give your two sub-flocks several months to fully integrate.
If you want a rooster, I would search for an actual rooster (over one year old) that has proven himself to be a good protector, non-human aggressive and good to the ladies. Do not take in someone else's "oops" cockerel unless he's very nearly one year old and has had time to mature and show his true colors.
Good luck.

 

[AeroChickens]

Remove this cockerel from your flock either by sending him to freezer camp or giving him to someone else to put in their freezer. Your flock will be much more peaceful.
Then give your two sub-flocks several months to fully integrate.
If you want a rooster, I would search for an actual rooster (over one year old) that has proven himself to be a good protector, non-human aggressive and good to the ladies. Do not take in someone else's "oops" cockerel unless he's very nearly one year old and has had time to mature and show his true colors.
Good luck.

Thanks for the response! I guess its fine to let the flocks free range while they integrate over the several months? We've been keeping them in the run because we didn't know it would be such a long process. If we let them free range, I'm sure they will split up.

I'll start looking for a chicken processor, as it sounds like it can be quite cheap to have someone else do it for us. I'll learn if I have to, but would prefer to avoid it.

Really would have been ideal if all the chicks we ordered were hens, or if he didn't grow up to be a jerk!

 

[Chikibabymom]

Thanks for the response! I guess its fine to let the flocks free range while they integrate over the several months? We've been keeping them in the run because we didn't know it would be such a long process. If we let them free range, I'm sure they will split up.

I'll start looking for a chicken processor, as it sounds like it can be quite cheap to have someone else do it for us. I'll learn if I have to, but would prefer to avoid it.

Really would have been ideal if all the chicks we ordered were hens, or if he didn't grow up to be a jerk!

Any updates? Did you find someone to process him for you? I was hoping he’d get alone with the new hens but he seemed like a bully I hope your flock is doing better!

 

[AeroChickens]

Yeah, there is a farm about 30 minutes away that does processing that I brought him to. Traded him for a jar of pickles to save myself from having to take the hour round trip to pick him up in a couple days.

The new hens are getting along alright, I actually posted about that here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/integrating-flocks.1451280/

Maybe I should add an update there too?

Since I made that post I've added more clutter to the run, and I plan on making a second bucket feeder this weekend. A couple of the new hens are still being bullies and like to guard the entrances to the run and coop when its time for them to come in at night, I've gotta figure out how to stop them from doing that. Been trying to spend lots of time around them with a spray bottle because that seems to make our chickens more comfortable with interacting with the other three that aren't such bullies.

Tonight one of the 4 original hens we had was apparently not being allowed into the coop by the two bullies who were taking turns, my fiance had pick up the bullies, who were practically falling asleep it sounds like, and put them on the roosting perch so that Peggy could come inside. Peggy is the Blue EE in the corner, the bullies are Nora the barred rock that's to her left, and Dolly the Australorp. Its very windy tonight and apparently they are unsettled by it

 

[Chikibabymom]

Yeah, there is a farm about 30 minutes away that does processing that I brought him to. Traded him for a jar of pickles to save myself from having to take the hour round trip to pick him up in a couple days.

The new hens are getting along alright, I actually posted about that here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/integrating-flocks.1451280/

Maybe I should add an update there too?

Since I made that post I've added more clutter to the run, and I plan on making a second bucket feeder this weekend. A couple of the new hens are still being bullies and like to guard the entrances to the run and coop when its time for them to come in at night, I've gotta figure out how to stop them from doing that. Been trying to spend lots of time around them with a spray bottle because that seems to make our chickens more comfortable with interacting with the other three that aren't such bullies.

Tonight one of the 4 original hens we had was apparently not being allowed into the coop by the two bullies who were taking turns, my fiance had pick up the bullies, who were practically falling asleep it sounds like, and put them on the roosting perch so that Peggy could come inside. Peggy is the Blue EE in the corner, the bullies are Nora the barred rock that's to her left, and Dolly the Australorp. Its very windy tonight and apparently they are unsettled by it

I’ll be sure to read the linked post as well since in a few months I’ll have to integrate my new chickens with my current flock. Hopefully your hens get along well eventually!

 

[AeroChickens]

Don't rush it when you do! We tried rushing it because of the rooster situation, so its been a bit more difficult than it could have been I think

 

[Stillplaysindirt]

Last April we started our flock with what we hoped would be 5 female chicks. One turned out to be a rooster, which we thought may have actually been lucky as he could protect the flock from predators for us. Besides some lost saddle feathers due to not having enough hens, things were going great until about a month ago.

For some reason, he started attacking one of the girls consistently. He wound up making her cower with her head in the corner, and kept pecking at her, so we put him in rooster jail for a few days. When we let him out again, we had the same issue with the same hen. He doesn't seem interested in mating - the hen is laying down and he could mate if he wanted, but he keeps pecking. We put him in rooster jail again.

Then we took in 5 new hens. We kept them in their old coop next to our coop for a few days to get to know everyone, and then let them interact with our flock. Things are going pretty good with just the hens. It seems like the original flock is all lower on the pecking order than the new flock, I think because the original flock has always had a rooster to protect them. They have been staying in the same coop/run for maybe a week and a half now, and they still stay separate for the most part - the original hens prefer to be outside it seems, and the new hens prefer to be inside. They will probably fully integrate if given enough time?

Before we integrated the flocks of hens, we thought maybe we could let the rooster out with the new hens. After a short while, he had mated with most the new hens, and then he kept attacking one after mating. Chasing her all over, pecking, and if she laid down, he would keep pecking. We had to put him in jail again.

A few days after failing to introduce the rooster to the new hens without issue, we put all the hens together and let them get comfortable. Last night, we let the rooster out to sleep with all 9 hens. This morning, I sat outside since first light, watching to make sure he wouldn't be overly aggressive with any of the ladies. Things were alright for the first couple hours of light, but then he attacked the new hen again. This time he definitely could have mated with her again, but kept attacking. We let it go until he drew blood from her comb, thinking maybe we just don't understand chicken and we are missing something.

Do we just have an overly aggressive rooster that is not treating his ladies as he should? I'm pretty sure we will have to get rid of him, and I don't think we would feel comfortable giving him to someone else.

Rough timeline(I'm estimating the dates) since my story kinda goes back and forth and might be confusing:
4/27/2020: Chicks shipped
Sometime around 2/13/2021: Rooster starts harassing one of the girls he grew up with, she sticks her head in a corner of the coop and cowers, and continues to be harrased. We put the rooster in jail
A few days later: We let the rooster out to see if he will behave. They are allowed to free range for a good chunk of the day, and have lots of distractions when they are in the coop. He misbehaves, gets locked up again
2/20 : We take in 5 new hens. Move the new coop next to our run, let the hens get to know each other
2/23: We swap the coops the hens are in, so the new hens get used to their soon to be new coop
2/24: The rooster has had days of being around the new hens while in jail(in a puppy crate around them, or in our big run while the old flock was in the coop/new flock was in their run. We let the rooster out with the new flock in the big coop. He mates with a few of them, then mates with Dolly, then continues attacking Dolly. She cowers in a corner and continues to get attacked. We put the roo back in jail
2/26: We get the flocks of hens to sleep in the same coop. Rooster is still sleeping in a dog crate in the coop with them all. The hens establish the new pecking order. The new hens are all above our original flock
3/5: Things have been going decently with the hens all in the same coop. They don't seem totally integrated, but no major issues. We let the rooster out after dark, he roosts with all the girls
3/6: This morning. I wake up before light, and go and sit outside in the cold making sure he won't attack anyone. At first he is keeping all the hens off the floor for some reason. Around 7 I let them out into the run. The rooster and our hens all go and roost in the run. The new girls come out to the run here and there. The rooster mates with some of the new hens. The new hen he doesn't like comes out, and he attacks her. She lays down, he keeps attacking. She runs away, he chases her into the coop and back out to the run, she starts bleeding from her comb. We put him in rooster jail again, and are thinking he is just an aggressive rooster that we will need to kill?

This got very long. Thank you for taking the time to read. I wish I spoke chicken. I think we need to kill this rooster? Our hens will eventually fully integrate we hope, but it seems clear the rooster is just making this much more complicated and difficult.

Off with his head. Problem solved. He's not going to change.

 

[Stillplaysindirt]

would you want to live like that? NO. off with his head. monsters need to be permanently controlled. THEY DO NOT CHANGE!