- Jan 3, 2014
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I have a small flock of buff orpingtons(3). They started as layers only but became my daughters pets.
We had 3 that made it after some start up problems. In the summer we were trying to add to the laying girls.
Ended up with 3 roosters. We kept the least masculine of the three( a Rhode Island Red). He was kind of laid back and seemed intimidated some what by the girls. When he tried to mount one the rest would run him off. There was a point when they would make him sleep outside the coop at night. Our biggest girl would sit in the doorway and block him out.
Now fast forward to a few weeks ago, they were free ranging on a Saturday, like most weekends. We lost one to what I think was a Cooper's hawk. The rooster had the other 2 girls backed into some cover and was keeping them in I guess to protect them. At that point we knew he had earned his spot in the flock or so we thought.
Well now it seems that the tables have turned. He is now larger than the girls and is keeping them out of the coop at night. Kind of an issue as the temps are dropping. I put them in(by hand) and he "herded" them into the corner and was aggressively mounting them.
Is there anything I can do to help them work more together(the girls are 2 yrs old, the roo just around 5months) or do I need to replace the rooster...?
Thanks in advance.
We had 3 that made it after some start up problems. In the summer we were trying to add to the laying girls.
Ended up with 3 roosters. We kept the least masculine of the three( a Rhode Island Red). He was kind of laid back and seemed intimidated some what by the girls. When he tried to mount one the rest would run him off. There was a point when they would make him sleep outside the coop at night. Our biggest girl would sit in the doorway and block him out.
Now fast forward to a few weeks ago, they were free ranging on a Saturday, like most weekends. We lost one to what I think was a Cooper's hawk. The rooster had the other 2 girls backed into some cover and was keeping them in I guess to protect them. At that point we knew he had earned his spot in the flock or so we thought.
Well now it seems that the tables have turned. He is now larger than the girls and is keeping them out of the coop at night. Kind of an issue as the temps are dropping. I put them in(by hand) and he "herded" them into the corner and was aggressively mounting them.
Is there anything I can do to help them work more together(the girls are 2 yrs old, the roo just around 5months) or do I need to replace the rooster...?
Thanks in advance.