Rooster has rejected hen. How to get him to accept her

[Katakornchicks]

Hi there. I have a 2 year old EE frizzle rooster who I love. He's very gentle with people and with his hens, and has been accepting to every new hen I put in his coop. However, I recently added 1 new hen that he doesn't like. The other hens seem to have accepted her, but he has not. She hides on the edge of the run all day to try and get away from him, and he chases her whenever he sees her. (I have a very large coop and run, bigger than is needed, so they are not cramped for space at all.) The new hen is very very sweet and I feel bad. Shes not losing feathers nor does she appear ill at all, but I can tell she is stressed out.
Things I've tried:
1. I've separated her and the rooster in a separate pen alone, and let them sleep in 2 crates side by side, then let them out to scavenge in their own coop together. This had limited success. She became less afraid of him, and he seemed much less aggressive, even drinking out of the same bowl as her at the same time. I did this for 2 days. I thought we were good, but as soon as I added them both back to the flock, he's aggressive to her again.

2. I separated the rooster alone to his own coop and let her be with just girls. She was fine. She stopped hiding and scavenged with them. Again tho, as soon as I put the rooster back, she starts hiding again.

3. I've separated her, an accepted hen, and the rooster together. He stays with his hen he likes and she hides.

I believe the issue is that she won't let him mate with her. She came from a flock without a rooster. He tries to do his little mating dance sometimes for her, but it freaks her out so she rejects it. Then he gets mean.

I just don't get what he doesn't like about this particular hen. He's accepted every other hen I've put in there, from all different breeds, backgrounds, ages, and temperaments. He even accepts ducks, both male and female no problem. He feeds and attends to the baby chicks I have in there. He's normally such a good boy. What can I do? I love my new hen but I don't want her to live in fear, or worse yet be injured.

Rehoming the hen is a last resort and rehoming the rooster is not an option.

Ember, the new girl


Edward, the rooster

 

[sourland]

It sounds like Edward just can't accept rejection. I would monitor closely as this behavior sometimes escalates.

 

[Katakornchicks]

It sounds like Edward just can't accept rejection. I would monitor closely as this behavior sometimes escalates.

It does seem to have threatened his masculinity

 

[Katakornchicks]

It sounds like Edward just can't accept rejection. I would monitor closely as this behavior sometimes escalates.

Do you have any suggestions on how to perhaps get the hen to accept HIM? She's not familiar with roosters in general because she's almost 3 and has never met one till now.

 

[bonniejeureka]

Hi there. I have a 2 year old EE frizzle rooster who I love. He's very gentle with people and with his hens, and has been accepting to every new hen I put in his coop. However, I recently added 1 new hen that he doesn't like. The other hens seem to have accepted her, but he has not. She hides on the edge of the run all day to try and get away from him, and he chases her whenever he sees her. (I have a very large coop and run, bigger than is needed, so they are not cramped for space at all.) The new hen is very very sweet and I feel bad. Shes not losing feathers nor does she appear ill at all, but I can tell she is stressed out.
Things I've tried:
1. I've separated her and the rooster in a separate pen alone, and let them sleep in 2 crates side by side, then let them out to scavenge in their own coop together. This had limited success. She became less afraid of him, and he seemed much less aggressive, even drinking out of the same bowl as her at the same time. I did this for 2 days. I thought we were good, but as soon as I added them both back to the flock, he's aggressive to her again.

2. I separated the rooster alone to his own coop and let her be with just girls. She was fine. She stopped hiding and scavenged with them. Again tho, as soon as I put the rooster back, she starts hiding again.

3. I've separated her, an accepted hen, and the rooster together. He stays with his hen he likes and she hides.

I believe the issue is that she won't let him mate with her. She came from a flock without a rooster. He tries to do his little mating dance sometimes for her, but it freaks her out so she rejects it. Then he gets mean.

I just don't get what he doesn't like about this particular hen. He's accepted every other hen I've put in there, from all different breeds, backgrounds, ages, and temperaments. He even accepts ducks, both male and female no problem. He feeds and attends to the baby chicks I have in there. He's normally such a good boy. What can I do? I love my new hen but I don't want her to live in fear, or worse yet be injured.

Rehoming the hen is a last resort and rehoming the rooster is not an option.

Ember, the new girl
View attachment 3610046

Edward, the rooster
View attachment 3610048

I just started having the same problem except the roo is from a new flock of 6 that are now 4 months old. He was supposed to be a hen. I let him stay to see how he would do. I have a 8 hens in a flock who never had a roo. They are about 2.5 years old and one is 1 year old. They all got along jut fine until he started trying to mate. The 1 year old loves him but he and one of my 3 year olds started to fight last night so I separated them. Then first thing this morning after I let them out they started fighting. She stands up to him and he drew blood from her comb. I put him in jail for several hours and let him out and they are not fighting right now, but I am worried they will. I have three coops and can build up a run just for him, but I am wondering if he is more trouble than he is worth.

 

[Katakornchicks]

Guys I have a great update! They are not only getting along amazing now, they are best friends!
So here's what I did;
I kept them in a separate coop with just the rooster and the hen and a bunch of babies/pullets. They were allowed to walk freely around the coop during the day, and slept in wire crates side by side during the day. We did it for about a week, separate from the other chickens. At first Edward was not having it. He was grumpy and passive aggressive with ember. He would pace the fence for most of the day looking at his other hens. But eventually accepted it. He started feeding the babies and being friendly with ember. (I've still never seen them mate.) Today I decided enough progress had been made where they could both be reintroduced to the rest of the flock. And to my surprise, Edward has STILL not left her side. He follows her everywhere and she follows him everywhere. He's not aggressive to anyone, but he is currently ignoring his other hens and is focused exclusively on Ember. They got separated on opposite sides of the fence momentarily and I walked out there to find them both pressed up against the fence trying to reach each other. Oh my gosh its so cute. Better than I could've ever hoped for.

 

[LaFleche]

Guys I have a great update! They are not only getting along amazing now, they are best friends!
So here's what I did;
I kept them in a separate coop with just the rooster and the hen and a bunch of babies/pullets. They were allowed to walk freely around the coop during the day, and slept in wire crates side by side during the day. We did it for about a week, separate from the other chickens. At first Edward was not having it. He was grumpy and passive aggressive with ember. He would pace the fence for most of the day looking at his other hens. But eventually accepted it. He started feeding the babies and being friendly with ember. (I've still never seen them mate.) Today I decided enough progress had been made where they could both be reintroduced to the rest of the flock. And to my surprise, Edward has STILL not left her side. He follows her everywhere and she follows him everywhere. He's not aggressive to anyone, but he is currently ignoring his other hens and is focused exclusively on Ember. They got separated on opposite sides of the fence momentarily and I walked out there to find them both pressed up against the fence trying to reach each other. Oh my gosh its so cute. Better than I could've ever hoped for.

Well done!

 

[Katakornchicks]

Some pictures

 

[Mamagirl3]

Maybe he wasnt fond of her ""bed head"" look since all the other girls look like they keep their locs neat? after being with her alone he realized you cant judge a book... uh a chick by her cover ... and loved her for her real self not the feather deep stuff!?!?

 

[WoDia]

Some pictures

Beautiful couple. Congratulations! Peace in the flock…. wonderful.