Rooster Pecking/Injuring Hens

[AlexMalfoy]

My flock consists of a white silkie roo, a barred rock hen, a black star hen, and a bearded d'uccle hen (mille fleur). Recently, I have had issues with my silkie picking on my hens, mostly my barred rock and my bearded d'uccle. I believe he has even drew blood on the barred rock. They are all a little over 16 weeks old. What can I do to stop this behavior, and what might have caused it?

 

[DobieLover]

My flock consists of a white silkie roo, a barred rock hen, a black star hen, and a bearded d'uccle hen (mille fleur). Recently, I have had issues with my silkie picking on my hens, mostly my barred rock and my bearded d'uccle. I believe he has even drew blood on the barred rock. They are all a little over 16 weeks old. What can I do to stop this behavior, and what might have caused it?

Hormones may have caused it. I would separate him from the girls until he matures a bit.
If you don't have an isolation coop, can you create a separate area for him in your existing set up?
How big is your current coop/run?

 

[sourland]

Cockerels tend to mature more rapidly than pullets and can be real jerks. In a mixed age flock the hens teach them manners. In a flock with young pullets separation may help, or he may just be a jerk that will make good chicken and dumplings.

 

[AlexMalfoy]

DobieLover, my coop is pretty large, somewhere around 70-100 square feet. It has two levels, and I think I could find a way to separate Rain (my roo) for the time being. We don't have a run, but we let them out every day to roam and do what chickens do .

sourland, we are eventually going to sell my boy. I simply hope we can get rid of the behavior to make it easier to sell him.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Folly's place]

Are you sure that he was the one causing that injury? If he continues to be this difficult, it's not good. Maybe a one-time peck can be forgiven though.
Mary

 

[AlexMalfoy]

Mary - I have seen him peck Tiny (the bearded d'uccle) and Spartan (the barred rock) multiple times. Tiny is afraid of him and will avoid him at almost all costs. He has also picked on my black star hen, Thunder, though it seems to be less often with her than the others. When the injury was noticed, it was still fresh and Rain had what looked like blood on his beak. I had also heard Spartan crying out and saw Rain chasing her while I was walking out to feed. I'm pretty sure it's him. I will try separating him soon - nothing's going to get done today since it's New Year's.

 

[Folly's place]

He's working on being a total jerk, at least to his flockmates. Maybe isolating him will help, although moving him to a flock of big adult hens (and rooster) would be his best chance to reform.
Mary

 

[AlexMalfoy]

Thanks for the advice Mary! I was just reading some on another forum, and several people said that roos start showing mating behavior around 4 months old, which is how old my girls and boy are. Could Rain's bullying actually be partially caused by his newly-found sex drive?

 

[Folly's place]

It's most likely; he's interested, and your pullets aren't. Big hens would 'clean his clock' a few times, and teach respect, unless he's just too rough by nature.
Mary

 

[aart]

Could Rain's bullying actually be partially caused by his newly-found sex drive?

Without a doubt.....separate him asap to give your girls a break.