Rooster trying to kill hen!

[DCGregg]

I have an almost 3 month old rooster that is severely attacking a same aged hen. They have been with each other plus 1 other rooster and 2 hens (5 chickens total) since hatching and they’ve been fine up til now. The behavior from the rooster looks like a full on cock fight! He seriously looks like he’s going to tear her apart! She’s been hiding in the coop from him. He won’t let her near the food or water so I’ve had to put food and water in the coop for her. When I made her come out of the coop to try and assess the situation more closely, he seriously behaves incredibly violent like he’s lost his mind!

It does NOT resemble the normal squabbles roosters have for dominance, it looks like he wants to kill her! I know that people say to let them “work it out”, but I’m not sure she’s going to survive this if I don’t separate them.

I tried to break up the fight. She got away and ran into the coop. He went in after her and they were banging all around inside, she was screaming. I panicked and banged on the walls to hopefully startle him out of attack mode. Everything went quiet. When I looked inside, he had her pinned down, and he was standing on her.

I quickly made a phone call for advice, keeping an eye on them to be sure the fight wouldn’t escalate again. He seriously stood on her for 20 minutes straight- through the entire duration of the call, and as I rummaged around getting a crate ready to put him into. I had to scare him off of her, otherwise he probably would have stood on her all night since it was getting dark and the other hens where going in for the night

Oh, I forgot to mention that his behavior is making the other rooster go crazy towards her too!!! They are both teaming up on her!

I kept her separated from the rest of them for the night so to observe her. She doesn’t appear to be sick. She’s the smallest and most timid of the lot. I’m not sure how this behavior got provoked but I need it to stop!

The next day was a repeat! He still has a death wish for her! I’m not a chicken, but this doesn’t make any sense to me because as far as I can tell, she’s not sick and her timid behavior should not be a threat to his alpha position. Would a rooster want to kill a hen on the bottom of the pecking order if he thought she was too timid or weak?
I figured I would share this with the community to find out if anyone has experienced this and how they resolved it. Thank you!

 

[Mylied]

He's trying to mate her but he's a young punk and she's probably too immature to squat and take it. Chicken sex isn't the nicest. His trying to mate her makes the other cockerel want to also mate her. Not a good idea to have two young cockerels in with only two pullets. I wouldn't even have one young cockerel in with 2 pullets. Separate, rehome, or get more girls.

 

[The Happster]

Your cockerels are just trying to mate. It's perfectly normal, but since it's escalated, I'd remove the cockerels. It's not fair on that pullet.
Either in a separate pen, or rehoming.
They will likely calm down a bit once past a certain age, but meanwhile, that pullet needs some space.
And two males for one female is not going to work.

 

[DCGregg]

He's trying to mate her but he's a young punk and she's probably too immature to squat and take it. Chicken sex isn't the nicest. His trying to mate her makes the other cockerel want to also mate her. Not a good idea to have two young cockerels in with only two pullets. I wouldn't even have one young cockerel in with 2 pullets. Separate, rehome, or get more girls.

Thank you OneHappyRooster!

Do they really try mating less than 12 weeks old?! And only with her? He leaves the other 2 hens alone.

I wanted 5 hens. The lady who sold them to me thought it was likely they were all female. She says it’s still too early to tell their gender, but I have it in my head that 2 out of the 5 are roosters (by looks and behavior) for over a month now.

 

[BDutch]

My advice/choice would be to set the 2 young roosters apart without seeing the pullets. Try to rehome one rooster. This is not urgent as long as they don’t get into a bloody fight.
And set one rooster back after the pullets start laying.

 

[BDutch]

Thank you OneHappyRooster!

Do they really try mating less than 12 weeks old?! And only with her? He leaves the other 2 hens alone.

I wanted 5 hens. The lady who sold them to me thought it was likely they were all female. She says it’s still too early to tell their gender, but I have it in my head that 2 out of the 5 are roosters (by looks and behavior) for over a month now.

If you keep one rooster, you can get offspring and have as many chickens as you like for free. But you have to deal (cull/rehome) with roosters every time you hatch chicks.

 

[The Happster]

Thank you OneHappyRooster!

Do they really try mating less than 12 weeks old?! And only with her? He leaves the other 2 hens alone.

I wanted 5 hens. The lady who sold them to me thought it was likely they were all female. She says it’s still too early to tell their gender, but I have it in my head that 2 out of the 5 are roosters (by looks and behavior) for over a month now.

It happens. It's not too early to tell gender.
Cockerels always have their favourites, but it's possible she's the only girl.
Do you have photos?

 

[BDutch]

Fyi?
First time I bought chicks, I asked for only pullets. The seller said they where 6 weeks old and he could see (quit certain) what gender they where and sold me 5 pullet-chicks.
I asked if I could come back to change if there was a cockerel. He said yes of course.

After 6 weeks it was obvious I had 2 hens and 3 cockerels. I couldn’t change them for 12 week old pullets because he was sold out. But I got 4 younger chicks instead. One escaped (never seen again), one died, one was a pullet and one was a cockerel.

I kept the cockerel until spring. I couldn’t keep him because he was too noisy early in the morning. But in the mean time I had a broody and he made beautiful offspring. After 8 weeks its was clear I had 3 pullets and 3 cockerels.

 

[Mylied]

X2 on pics. People like to be a little sneaky with selling 'pullets' they know aren't. If she claimed they were likely female when she sold them to you, why would she say a month later it's too soon to tell? Unless it's a silkie or other hard to sex breed, it should be clear at 3 months who is a cockerel. The males are ready to breed before females.