Katepete722
In the Brooder
- Dec 23, 2018
- 18
- 18
- 34
Hello everyone,
I have a moderate size flock of 17 chickens. I currently have one mature-ish rooster Neville, about a year old, who has been with the flock since October. I also have two immature cockerels, around 4 months who have not started mounting yet. So my issue is this, Neville is a bully. He picks a hen to be the bottom of the pecking order and then chases her away from resources and sometimes just goes and pecks her in the comb for no reason. Initially I thought it was specific to one hen and rehomed her as she had lost so much weight and was generally miserable. Now he has picked another hen who had been at the top of the pecking order before his arrival. Now she is miserable and has lost weight. Neville is otherwise a great rooster. He is watchful for predators and perfectly respectful of myself and my kids. He treats his other hens like queens. He keeps the younger Roos in line.
So my question is: is this normal rooster behavior? Or should I kick him to the curb since I need to reduce rooster numbers anyway? I only started keeping roosters to offer the hens some protection and now I feel like they need to be protected from the rooster!
I have a moderate size flock of 17 chickens. I currently have one mature-ish rooster Neville, about a year old, who has been with the flock since October. I also have two immature cockerels, around 4 months who have not started mounting yet. So my issue is this, Neville is a bully. He picks a hen to be the bottom of the pecking order and then chases her away from resources and sometimes just goes and pecks her in the comb for no reason. Initially I thought it was specific to one hen and rehomed her as she had lost so much weight and was generally miserable. Now he has picked another hen who had been at the top of the pecking order before his arrival. Now she is miserable and has lost weight. Neville is otherwise a great rooster. He is watchful for predators and perfectly respectful of myself and my kids. He treats his other hens like queens. He keeps the younger Roos in line.
So my question is: is this normal rooster behavior? Or should I kick him to the curb since I need to reduce rooster numbers anyway? I only started keeping roosters to offer the hens some protection and now I feel like they need to be protected from the rooster!
