Rooster keeps trying to mate a limping hen and makes her leg condition worst! Help

[KranK]

Hello I've got a limping hen. She seems pretty weak as her comb is fallen etc. She's skinny and doesn't eat to the full crop but she likes to walk in the run etc. The problem is my rooster who keeps trying to mate her and she has to run away (most of the cases she gets into the nesting box and sits there for a long time ), and when he manages to mate her, i doubt it does any good for her leg. Roo always wanted to mate sick/weak and limping hens as healthy ones don't want him to mate them and run away but the weak and limping ones can't so he mates them. I don't want to cull him but keeping him/her isolated the whole time is a bad idea too. I'm getting young hens in 1-2 months, maybe they would let him mate them so he wouldn't need to mate the sick one? Can anyone advise me what should i do?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Hello I've got a limping hen. She seems pretty weak as her comb is fallen etc. She's skinny and doesn't eat to the full crop but she likes to walk in the run etc. The problem is my rooster who keeps trying to mate her and she has to run away (most of the cases she gets into the nesting box and sits there for a long time ), and when he manages to mate her, i doubt it does any good for her leg. Roo always wanted to mate sick/weak and limping hens as healthy ones don't want him to mate them and run away but the weak and limping ones can't so he mates them. I don't want to cull him but keeping him/her isolated the whole time is a bad idea too. I'm getting young hens in 1-2 months, maybe they would let him mate them so he wouldn't need to mate the sick one? Can anyone advise me what should i do?

I'd separate the limping hen until she is better.

 

[KranK]

The fact is that 2 other hens had to be isolated because he kept mating them and made their legs worse or just jump on them and started scratching them like a ground...

 

[theoldchick]

I know you don't want to separate them but that is the one thing you need to do. In her weak condition she should be taken out of the flock to either be treated for her condition or see if she can recover on her own. If there is no improvement she needs to be allowed to pass on.

 

[theoldchick]

Well, if he is too rough with the hens he needs to leave your farm. Find a rooster that is a bit more gentle to your hens.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I agree with @Aunt Angus seperate her till she's better. I just had to keep one of my pullets separate because of bumblefoot, my cockerel kept mating her multiple times and that wasn't helping her sore foot. Poor girl is doing well now. I kept her in a crate within the coop area so she could still chat to the others. She kept laying near daily so must have be happy, I let her out to forage for a few hours a day in her own grassy area.

 

[KranK]

I'd separate the limping hen until she is better.

Well, people around me tell that it is probably a liver problem, and not an only-leg problem, cuz of her comb, "skinniness" etc. Could isolation only help? Tbh the only way to get rid of the rooster is to cull him, and i don't want to do it :/ What about getting an older and bigger rooster that would have respect so hens would let him mate them and the young rough rooster would be under his control?

 

[KranK]

I need to add that she doesn't seem to be laying eggs now and she's just about 1-1,5 years old.

 

[KranK]

+ when I isolated her last time she just stood near the fence to the chicken run and wanted to go to the other hens

 

[theoldchick]

Adding a rooster at this time would not be good. If the hen is seriously ill then cull her.