Rooster singling out hen and aggressive?

[Areyoucluckingme]

What would cause a rooster to single out a hen and be aggressive/chase her? She has been a part of the flock for a year and never had this issue. She has a totally bald and bloody back of her head. I thought at first he was just being too rough when mating but none of my other hens have this issue and I've now watched him chase her for no reason every time she tries to leave the coop. She just stays in there all day l, afraid to come out. Other hens are leaving her alone. This is a new thing in the past week. He is otherwise a very gentle rooster that I raised myself. I am rehoming her due to it because I don't have a way to separate.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

The other chickens will peck and attack her if they see a wound or any blood. This may not be 100% the roosters fault the other hens may be making it way worse.

 

[Areyoucluckingme]

I already had plans to rehome her and I did today. The new owner is going to put some ointment on her. I know hens will peck when they see blood, but I also watched him chase her all around. I just wanted to know what may cause him to behave that way.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

Honestly i have no idea other than him seeing a wound and being extra about it.

 

[Mrs. K]

There is not a lot of reasoning with a rooster, and really nothing to change it. For whatever reason, she no longer fit in the flock. I think you handled it exactly right...

BUT - if he picks a new victim - well than he needs to go. Managing flock dynamics can be tricky.

 

[aart]

I had this happen once. Luckily I have plenty of space for her to get away.
It lasted a few months, then just stopped.
<shrugs>

 

[triciayoung]

I agree with @Gigachad chicken. She was probably the rooster favorite and he wanted to mate frequently with her. I would bet the bloodiness came from the other hens pecking at her.

 

[Taffy57]

What would cause a rooster to single out a hen and be aggressive/chase her? She has been a part of the flock for a year and never had this issue. She has a totally bald and bloody back of her head. I thought at first he was just being too rough when mating but none of my other hens have this issue and I've now watched him chase her for no reason every time she tries to leave the coop. She just stays in there all day l, afraid to come out. Other hens are leaving her alone. This is a new thing in the past week. He is otherwise a very gentle rooster that I raised myself. I am rehoming her due to it because I don't have a way to separate.

I had the exact same issue with one of my roosters & the hen he picked on was his foster mam, by that I mean he was hatched in an incubator & then introduced to his foster mam at night. She was a fantastic mother & did a brilliant job of raising the 4 chicks I put under her. I did a lot of research on this issue and found a couple of articles that stated if a rooster detects that a hen is sickly / unwell, then it has been known that they will attack in order to drive the sickly bird away from the flock as it could attract predators. I had no choice but to get rid of the rooster & as far as I could tell the only thing wrong with the hen was she was a little under weight after sitting on a bunch of eggs for 3 weeks ! I'm now waiting for one of his sons to mature and take his place.