Rooster picking on 1 hen

[cgriff22]

I have one rooster (about 14 months old) that has been raised with about 9 chickens of varying ages. He was raised along side 3 hens in particular (all are about 14 months old), but over the past year I've acquired a couple more groups of hens that are any where from 7 months old to 4 months old. There was a couple weeks in July that my three hens struggled with laying eggs daily (I was told the heat). They are back to normal now and the next group of 3 hens just began laying pullet eggs last week. Lyle (the rooster) has begun to ostracize one of the older hens. She is scared to death and strays far from the others (and Lyle) because whenever she comes near, he sprints after her and runs her off. At first I figured she was just avoiding his rooster rape but over the last 2 weeks it has become apparent that he is simply picking on her and attacks her. She literally walks around in fear now and is completely alone in the yard away from everyone else. It's like she has been replaced by the new hens that just recently started laying, but he's not just kicking her out of the group, he's attacking her. He cornered her the other day and what I thought was him trying to mount her, he simply pecked her hard in the head multiple times until she got free. Her comb has dried blood on it the past couple of days. I feel horrible for her, and he doesn't seem to be doing this to the other two hens of similar age. Is this normal? He has proven to be a good rooster to the girls, but this is new activity over the past 3-4 weeks that makes me nervous to leave her near him. I've also noticed that she is the first to go in the coop at night and get up on one of the roosts. She is as far away on the roosts as she can get from him.

Any suggestions? Is he just being a mean rooster because he's found new ladies? Why is he just picking on her? Is there anything to do about this or does she just have to live in fear?

 

[sourland]

She may have challenged him and lost in a fight. It sometimes happens that a rooster will ostracize a hen. Generally they do not make up and this winter will be difficult for her. Personally I value hens over roosters and he would have to go if he were mine.