Rooster too aggressive with hen(s), what to do?

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Definitely separate, than decide their fate. My experiences with buff Orpington roosters is they often take 2 years to mature and become better roosters. I almost always have to remove younger males their first season or two. By the third they are often great roosters. Young Males are driven mostly by hormones and tend to make decisions based on those hormones. I definitely wouldn't keep any that are drawing blood on pullets or hens.

 

[Mrs. K]

Always solve for the peace of your flock. I personally do not like roosters raised just with flock mates. They become bigger earlier, sexually mature earlier, and nothing else is big enough to give them some manners.

I would cull both of them, let your girls grow up in peace. Get some experience yourself. Roosters take a little experience in my opinion. You can always get a rooster later, but I would not recommend having a rooster with only 6 birds.

 

[ramboas93]

young male roosters are always overly eager and excited, they will settle down with age. Just like teenage boys.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Hi all,

I have 6 buff orpingtons - 2 of which are roosters. They are 4 months old, and the hens are not laying yet. I know having 2 roosters for 4 hens is a bad idea, and we are intending to cull one of the roosters. The roosters actually seem to get along fine together (one is very Alpha and other very Beta), but they are way too aggressive with the girls.

One of my hens, Thelma, is able to escape from the coop and enclosure. When she escapes, she comes up near the house and pecks around one of our trees for bugs. She's very sweet and tame and let's me hold her. When I see her, I scoop her up and bring her back to the coop. I think that she escapes because the Alpha rooster very aggressively mounts her and she hates it and fights him off. Last time I brought her back, he grabbed her by the comb to mount her, causing her too bleed, and while he did the Beta rooster pecked at her (in my opinion, viciously). I hate that I'm bringing her back to be abused, and she basically gets out again as soon as she can.

I'm wondering that if I cull one of the roosters (Alpha or Beta?), will the aggression towards the hens, and particularly Thelma, stop? Are they doing it to compete with the other one? Or will the other already have learned this behavior and still treat the girls aggressively? I like the look of the Alpha, but we don't have many predators, and I don't know that we need him for the flock if he's gonna be like this. I'm also open to being an all-lady zone if that's the most peaceful for everyone.

Thanks so much!
Paige

For me it only got worse. My hens ended up bleeding I ended up bleeding. I only wanted eggs so.....when my husband ended up bleeding you can guess the rest.