I hope this is the right place to post this...I have 20 chickens...Most are hens...I have 4 roos. A Barneveldor Roo and 3 silki roos (we were hoping for hens)...anyhoo...they were hatched last June and have lived and cohabited together all this time with no issues...The Hens have been laying about 4 weeks and of course the roos have started getting frisky. There has been a definite pecking order with one of my silkie Roo's Jack being at the top, then the barneveldor Rolo after him and then the other two roos. I got back this mornign from running out for groceries and someone had attacked Jack...I watched them all for about 3 hours this afternoon. Jack mostly hides in the corner trembling now...runs away from my Brahma girls..but I've seen no interaction from the other roo's towards him...Could it be hens that did this? I have seperated Jack into a carrier and will keep him in the house until he heals...they pecked most of the feathers from his face and around his lobes..poor guy...it just makes me heart sick..he is my baby...he did finally start to crow about an hour after I seperated him. but he also acts exausted...any ideas advice are greatly appreciated...I don't want this to keep happeneing...oh, I did put our little silkie hen in with him when I first seperated them and even she started pecking the back of his neck...realize that this girl Luna is at the very bottom of the pecking order in the coop. I just don't understand how Jack went from being top dog to the bottom of the pile in one morning...Please help! Thanks
So sorry. You need to find the offender and pull him/her out. Do they free range together? Perhaps once he's healed you can reintroduce them slowly and watch the interactions. If he's your favorite and a nice boy, and it's the other roosters picking at him you can get rid of the offender. If it's your hens, then I'd wait until he's a bit more mature and they may do better at accepting him. I can't remember the exact numbers, but it seems your hen to rooster ratio is low. The other option is to put all the boys in a bachelor pad away from the girls until hormones settle down a bit. I wouldn't do anything until he's healed up though. I'm sure you'll get more advice from the more experienced keepers.
Born in June means he's about 7 months old - hormone raging time - if he hasn't tried it before maybe he tried mating one of the Brahma girls and found out why size matters. Wait till he heals and bring him back out with the flock and see what happens. He may end up at the bottom of the order again - but if he got to the top once he'll probably rise again pretty quickly. But you definitely don't want anyone around him while he's wounded. And yes pullets or hens will peck a rooster of any age - especially if he's not confident or big enough to force the issue when it comes to mating. My silkie, Daisy, that I suspect is a rooster hasn't crowed or mounted anyone - but he knows he's not the leader. He hides when the lead rooster comes around and he cowers when the 2nd rooster in charge walks by. I just can't bring myself to get rid of him because he's so pretty - he's a partridge.
Four roosters is a bit much for 20 hens but as you say, no problems. Until now. Looks like Jack got evicted from the top slot, it happens. I doubt it was the hens but I guess anything is possible since you didn't see the fight. Offhand I'd say someone needs a new home. You'd just need to sit and watch them to know which one.
