Rooster has ostracized one of the hens

[UnionGroveGirls]

I have a group of hens that have been together for several months and got a new rooster in February. He is a nice rooster. Tolerates the dogs; eats out of my hand, etc. I am wondering why he doesn't tolerate one of the hens. He chases her away all the time. She is allowed into the coop at night, and I see her on the roost, but as soon as I let them out in the morning, she tries to stay out of his line of sight. During the day she is close to the other chickens but not with them. I have no idea how old she is. She came to me in a group of four from a neighbor who got her at the "chicken sale".

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Some roosters are that way. They only want certain hens. It's up to you to decide if it's something to remove him for. Sometimes a rooster will start trying to kill a particular hen, only he knows why. I'm not a fan of those types of roosters. It just depends on how you feel about the situation and how bad his behavior towards her are. A good rooster should look out for the whole flock.

Also sometimes the flock may try to kill a member that is unwell or if there's crowding than they will try to drive out submissive members to make more room.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have never seen a rooster try and kill a hen, and I've seen 1,000s. However I have seen roosters sit buy and allow his other hens to kill a fellow hen if the hen being attacked did not submit to the rooster and I don't just mean sexually. There is a lot that we know about chickens but there is little that we truly understand.

 

[Chickassan]

Sometimes they just do that, no idea why. I'm dealing with a similar situation my rooster has turned on a hatchmate of his. She's not sick and neither her or him are super young things but he wants to give her trouble every chance he gets. No crowding, nobody is hungry so I honestly don't know what the issue is. He's a great rooster in every other way but he's picked a terrible time to act up as iv'e got two very nice cockerels to choose from if he dosen't behave himself a bit better.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Soem just find out ones they don’t like .I had a hen who the roosters just couldn’t tolerate,she was high in order and often carried herself like a male and had a serious attitude issue,constantly bickering with boys escpecially over feed and stood up for self.Maybe it has something to do with pecking order and the way the hen is acting,maybe we’re all missing then hens behaviors and just blaming the rooster.Either way if you don’t like it you can decide if it’s an serious issue and whether or not you wanna keep or get rid of him.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have a group of hens that have been together for several months and got a new rooster in February. He is a nice rooster. Tolerates the dogs; eats out of my hand, etc. I am wondering why he doesn't tolerate one of the hens. He chases her away all the time. She is allowed into the coop at night, and I see her on the roost, but as soon as I let them out in the morning, she tries to stay out of his line of sight. During the day she is close to the other chickens but not with them. I have no idea how old she is. She came to me in a group of four from a neighbor who got her at the "chicken sale".

It will escalate In my opinion... and I WON'T tolerate it. If it were me he'd get a short while to shape up before shipped off to freezer camp. Or I might give him a time out to be in check a little. My roos MUST bring my hens together. If they are causing havoc... not on my watch. Attitude is the fastest thing I will cull for... male or female. Though feamles will *usually* be rehomed.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Soem just find out ones they don’t like .I had a hen who the roosters just couldn’t tolerate,she was high in order and often carried herself like a male and had a serious attitude issue,constantly bickering with boys escpecially over feed and stood up for self.Maybe it has something to do with pecking order and the way the hen is acting,maybe we’re all missing then hens behaviors and just blaming the rooster.Either way if you don’t like it you can decide if it’s an serious issue and whether or not you wanna keep or get rid of him.

It would seem to me that a better solution is to find the offending hen a new home because the overwhelming majority of your chickens seem fine with the way things are. So why jump from the frying pan into the fire by removing or replacing a known in your flock and go out on a limb looking for a rooster who may or may not be able to get along with just this one hen?