- Mar 17, 2016
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I have a flock of 12 chickens. There are 2 Buff Orpingtons who are the youngest of the flock (about a year old) but don’t generally get bullied. They tend to be the new favorites of our rooster so they had quite a lot of broken wing and back feathers. We put some saddles on them and there was a bit of the initial scuffles while everyone got used to the saddles, but they seemed to calm down after a few hours. We’ve used saddles before and our rooster hates them at first but seems to ignore them after a day or so.
Well this time after a couple days he’s suddenly had it out for them. He chases them all over their free range area, and if he catches one he basically pecks at her until she’s laying down and looks like she’s basically playing dead. They started hiding from him anywhere they could.
After a day or so of that, we were like ok fine, we’ll take the saddles off, he obviously has an issue with them. Nope, he’s still picking on them, still chasing them all over until they yield to him and even still pecking them while they’re down. It’s also worth noting we have another hen who’s wearing a saddle who he has no issues with. They also aren’t being bullied by any of the other hens, just the rooster.
We ended up separating the two bullied ones into their own little pen. The rooster still walks by them like he wants to get at them and of course they get terrified. We’ve tried letting them out a couple times but they just hide and he chases them if he finds them. One of them still has her saddle on but the rooster is usually more focused on the one who no longer has a saddle.
Throughout all of this, the two hens have been acting so weird. They’re obviously stressed and act cowed when the rooster gets to them, but the rest of the time they are hugely poofed up, making angry clucking noises similar to how a broody hen sounds. But they aren’t trying to sit on any nest and aren’t laying any eggs. They have always been friendly lap chickens with me so they still run to me when I go out there, but they just walk around me all puffed up and clucking. They let me pick them up and hold them and then they seem fine.
As for the rooster, he’s a little over 3 years old and he isn’t particularly aggressive with us or with the other hens. He hates our shoes lol (seriously, bare feet are fine, shoes make him so mad), but he lets us pick him up and hold him and will take naps in our arms.
Any suggestions on what to do? Do I just keep them separated until he forgets his vendetta? I feel bad for the hens because the pen area isn’t very big, but it was getting to the point where he was pecking them on the head till they bled so I knew something had to be done.
Well this time after a couple days he’s suddenly had it out for them. He chases them all over their free range area, and if he catches one he basically pecks at her until she’s laying down and looks like she’s basically playing dead. They started hiding from him anywhere they could.
After a day or so of that, we were like ok fine, we’ll take the saddles off, he obviously has an issue with them. Nope, he’s still picking on them, still chasing them all over until they yield to him and even still pecking them while they’re down. It’s also worth noting we have another hen who’s wearing a saddle who he has no issues with. They also aren’t being bullied by any of the other hens, just the rooster.
We ended up separating the two bullied ones into their own little pen. The rooster still walks by them like he wants to get at them and of course they get terrified. We’ve tried letting them out a couple times but they just hide and he chases them if he finds them. One of them still has her saddle on but the rooster is usually more focused on the one who no longer has a saddle.
Throughout all of this, the two hens have been acting so weird. They’re obviously stressed and act cowed when the rooster gets to them, but the rest of the time they are hugely poofed up, making angry clucking noises similar to how a broody hen sounds. But they aren’t trying to sit on any nest and aren’t laying any eggs. They have always been friendly lap chickens with me so they still run to me when I go out there, but they just walk around me all puffed up and clucking. They let me pick them up and hold them and then they seem fine.
As for the rooster, he’s a little over 3 years old and he isn’t particularly aggressive with us or with the other hens. He hates our shoes lol (seriously, bare feet are fine, shoes make him so mad), but he lets us pick him up and hold him and will take naps in our arms.
Any suggestions on what to do? Do I just keep them separated until he forgets his vendetta? I feel bad for the hens because the pen area isn’t very big, but it was getting to the point where he was pecking them on the head till they bled so I knew something had to be done.
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