I think my rooster won't live through winter I love him and I'd like ideas on how to solve this problem.
My rooster is a meat bird that was attacked by a predator at 5-6 weeks old. I cared for him, he recovered and I kept him since he was so nice.
He is part blind (maybe 100% blind in one eye). One of his eyes is OK, the other is partly closed and I'm not sure he can see with it.
So he is a quiet rooster. Doesn't attack, doesn't jump/fly, bite, etc.
I have 6 layers and they have cohabitated with the rooster since he was 2 weeks old.
The layers didn't attack when I had 20 meat birds AND my rooster.
Then I processed the meat birds and kept only this rooster.
From that point he was bullied. Even with all the chickens lose on my property AND giving them 4 bowls of feed (for 7 chickens..), the dominant hen will RUN from her bowl to attack the rooster when he eats. She will just push him off when they are outside, no real injuries, but he hates it (ironically, at the same time it's kinda saving him, otherwise he would eat too much and probably die of a heart attack or leg problems. He is still "slim" and looks very healthy, probably partly because the hen's don't let him eat as much as he wants).
I tried:
- Giving a ton of food so they wouldn't feel like they would run out
- Standing ground in front of rooster and pushing back dominant hen thinking she would eventually understand
- Sewing a coat for rooster to prevent wounds, thinking that eventually the hens would accept him. He removes the shirt all the time, can't find a perfect fit / model.
He doesn't even go back in the coop at night, he is too afraid of the hens. I have to manually put him inside the coop (at night they don't attack him, of course, then in the morning I let them outside again and it's "ok").
It's getting cold here, and snowy. The other day I had to spend the day away from my house and it was the first really cold day of autumn. I left around 5AM, birds sleeping.. I didn't open the door for the outside pen.
The rooster was "confined" with the hens all day in the coop. When I came back he was missing all his beautiful feathers on the neck, on his butt and thighs and had one wound on the wing. It is clear that if I leave him there for a week he will be near dead.. he can't pass the whole winter like this.
Is there anything else I can try? My last idea is to remove the dominant hen for a few days but I'm afraid that an even meaner hen take the leadership of the flock.
EDIT: I have read post that say to separate the bully. Would this work if the rooster is permanently injured? I mean, would it be natural for hens to attack the weakest and it will possibly never end?
My rooster is a meat bird that was attacked by a predator at 5-6 weeks old. I cared for him, he recovered and I kept him since he was so nice.
He is part blind (maybe 100% blind in one eye). One of his eyes is OK, the other is partly closed and I'm not sure he can see with it.
So he is a quiet rooster. Doesn't attack, doesn't jump/fly, bite, etc.
I have 6 layers and they have cohabitated with the rooster since he was 2 weeks old.
The layers didn't attack when I had 20 meat birds AND my rooster.
Then I processed the meat birds and kept only this rooster.
From that point he was bullied. Even with all the chickens lose on my property AND giving them 4 bowls of feed (for 7 chickens..), the dominant hen will RUN from her bowl to attack the rooster when he eats. She will just push him off when they are outside, no real injuries, but he hates it (ironically, at the same time it's kinda saving him, otherwise he would eat too much and probably die of a heart attack or leg problems. He is still "slim" and looks very healthy, probably partly because the hen's don't let him eat as much as he wants).
I tried:
- Giving a ton of food so they wouldn't feel like they would run out
- Standing ground in front of rooster and pushing back dominant hen thinking she would eventually understand
- Sewing a coat for rooster to prevent wounds, thinking that eventually the hens would accept him. He removes the shirt all the time, can't find a perfect fit / model.
He doesn't even go back in the coop at night, he is too afraid of the hens. I have to manually put him inside the coop (at night they don't attack him, of course, then in the morning I let them outside again and it's "ok").
It's getting cold here, and snowy. The other day I had to spend the day away from my house and it was the first really cold day of autumn. I left around 5AM, birds sleeping.. I didn't open the door for the outside pen.
The rooster was "confined" with the hens all day in the coop. When I came back he was missing all his beautiful feathers on the neck, on his butt and thighs and had one wound on the wing. It is clear that if I leave him there for a week he will be near dead.. he can't pass the whole winter like this.
Is there anything else I can try? My last idea is to remove the dominant hen for a few days but I'm afraid that an even meaner hen take the leadership of the flock.
EDIT: I have read post that say to separate the bully. Would this work if the rooster is permanently injured? I mean, would it be natural for hens to attack the weakest and it will possibly never end?
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