Rooster vs Hens

[coriwee1983]

Hello All!

We’ve had backyard chickens for the last several years (8 hens-this was our first flock.). After some of our girls slowed way down with egg production, and we had a very broody hen this summer that we couldn’t break of it, we decided to give her a handful of fertilized eggs. She successfully hatched 3 of the 5, 1 roo and 2 hens. We decided to kept our roo so when we wanted to introduce additional members into our flock, we could. We slowly introduced the new chicks into the flock around 8 weeks old. The other hens did great with them until the roo started to sexually mature. He is a sweet boy who protects the hens but our older hens are scared of him and hide from him. It seems like it’s affecting their overall health to be honest. I think it’s mainly due to him trying to breed with them. Should we get rid of our rooster? 6/8 of our original hens are done laying now and we originally got them for eggs. So we are also thinking of rehoming our girls that no longer lay. I feel terribly about all of it and I'm not sure what to do. Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[rural mouse]

Reading @Shadrach 's article 'Understanding Your Rooster' may be a big help.

Roos become hormonal idiots when they start breeding and it lasts until about 18 months. Your older ladies need to learn to thump him when he's presumptuous and he needs to learn to court them.

 

[CoopBoots]

I have put breeding cockerels in "horny jail" (look but no touch dog-kennel in the middle of my run) until they gain some maturity. It can help, in my opinion, and I may re-jail him if he doesn't seem improved upon release.

That said, even when my cockerels have learned some manners, some older hens may fully refuse to accept them. I have one hen in a flock of around 18 that still runs and cries if she gets any attention from my now-rooster. As long as she isn't harmed, as in scrapes or cuts or pecking injuries, and stays fit, I don't consider it too much stress for her. Every other hen eventually submitted and has no more drama with him that I can see.

There's always some drama and discomfort with a new cockerel OR rooster as the girls decide if they like him or not. It should be less if you help them all wait out his crazy phase, though.

 

[coriwee1983]

Reading @Shadrach 's article 'Understanding Your Rooster' may be a big help.

Roos become hormonal idiots when they start breeding and it lasts until about 18 months. Your older ladies need to learn to thump him when he's presumptuous and he needs to learn to court them.

I know! But they just stay as far away as they can. Tonight when we were closing up the coop, we were missing a hen and I freaked out only to find her casually walking up towards me from the tree line. I’m nervous that they may get themselves into an unwanted situation with a predictor if they keep going off by themselves to get away from him when they are out free ranging.

 

[coriwee1983]

I have put breeding cockerels in "horny jail" (look but no touch dog-kennel in the middle of my run) until they gain some maturity. It can help, in my opinion, and I may re-jail him if he doesn't seem improved upon release.

That said, even when my cockerels have learned some manners, some older hens may fully refuse to accept them. I have one hen in a flock of around 18 that still runs and cries if she gets any attention from my now-rooster. As long as she isn't harmed, as in scrapes or cuts or pecking injuries, and stays fit, I don't consider it too much stress for her. Every other hen eventually submitted and has no more drama with him that I can see.

There's always some drama and discomfort with a new cockerel OR rooster as the girls decide if they like him or not. It should be less if you help them all wait out his crazy phase, though.

I think that he is just too much for my older ladies. I know that he will settle down and he is a sweet boy and has never shown any aggression towards us or any if them other than the normal pecking order and breeding behavior. I’m in MN and it’s just now getting warm enough for them to get outside (it’s been below freezing until now) and it’s just too cold here right now to put him out in the run alone unfortunately. He does protect them though. For example, today I reapplied Vaseline to their combs one last time for the winter. I put my hand down on one of the hens (because the older ones submit to me) and while I was putting the Vaseline on her comb, my dog ran up to me and scared her so she ran off squawking and Kevin (our roo) came flying out of the coop ready to throw down and ushered her under the pines and stood in front of her. He didn’t retaliate on me or my dog at all, just made sure the hen was safe and hidden from us. I just don’t want my older girls to suffer because of it.

 

[CoopBoots]

I think that he is just too much for my older ladies. I know that he will settle down and he is a sweet boy and has never shown any aggression towards us or any if them other than the normal pecking order and breeding behavior. I’m in MN and it’s just now getting warm enough for them to get outside (it’s been below freezing until now) and it’s just too cold here right now to put him out in the run alone unfortunately. He does protect them though. For example, today I reapplied Vaseline to their combs one last time for the winter. I put my hand down on one of the hens (because the older ones submit to me) and while I was putting the Vaseline on her comb, my dog ran up to me and scared her so she ran off squawking and Kevin (our roo) came flying out of the coop ready to throw down and ushered her under the pines and stood in front of her. He didn’t retaliate on me or my dog at all, just made sure the hen was safe and hidden from us. I just don’t want my older girls to suffer because of it.

What passes for love among chickens can look (and sometimes actually be, although definitely not always) quite brutal. I fully understand wanting to shield the older hens who are completely unused to having a male around. They are lucky to have you looking out for them!

 

[coriwee1983]

What passes for love among chickens can look (and sometimes actually be, although definitely not always) quite brutal. I fully understand wanting to shield the older hens who are completely unused to having a male around. They are lucky to have you looking out for them!

Thank you so much!

 

[Ridgerunner]

You do not mention how old he is now. You don't give your location either but I'll assume you are somewhere south of the Equator.

What you describe sounds normal for an immature cockerel in a flock of mature hens so I'll assume that. His hormones are driving him to become flock master. Mating is a huge part of that. There may be some element of fertilizing the eggs but the main purpose is for him to establish dominance over the hens so he is driven to mate with them. The mating act is a lot about dominance. The one on top is dominating the one on the bottom. That is why you will sometimes see boys mating boys, girls mating girls, and on really rare occasions hens mating immature cockerels.

Many mature hens want a mate that will be a good father to their potential chicks. They want a flock protector that will find them food and maintain peace in the flock. An immature snotty brat of a teenager usually doesn't measure up for some of the hens so they resist him. That's where the conflict comes in.

This resistance can take different forms. Sometimes the dominant hen will fight him and keep him subdued. Some other hens may willingly squat for him but if the dominant hen sees them mating she'll knock him off.

She and some of the other dominant hens may seek him out and be fairly brutal toward him. Some people on here call that schooling him and that it makes him a better rooster. I respect their opinion but I don't agree with it.

Sometimes they run away from him but submit if he catches them. Or they keep their distance.

Sometimes this is so peaceful you don't even notice any conflict until one day you notice he is in charge.

So what can you do? Some people on here will see that he is a cockerel and will immediately say, "Off with his head!" That does resolve the problem.

Are any physically getting hurt? If not, this is something that he should mature out of. You are dealing with living animals so you don't get guarantees. Anything can happen. But the majority of the time he will grow out of his hormonal state as he matures and the mature hens will learn to respect him as he matures and starts acting like a rooster instead of a hormonal teen. The personality of your hens has an effect on this too, it's not just him. Some hens are more willing to accept a rooster than others. So one option is to carry on as long as no one is getting injured.

You can isolate him from the hens until he matures more. I don't know how long that will take. Some cockerels are pretty mature at 5 months, some not until they are a year old. Most of mine are OK at 7 months but again, that depends some on the hens personalities.

If your issue is only with that one hen, you can try removing her and see how it goes. Either permanently remove her or isolate her for a week or so and see how it goes. I've solved for peace in the flock by removing hens instead of boys when I deemed it appropriate.

I can't recommend one above the others. We each have our unique situations and we each have our own goals and desires. It has to be your decision.

Good luck!

 

[McChooky]

I know! But they just stay as far away as they can. Tonight when we were closing up the coop, we were missing a hen and I freaked out only to find her casually walking up towards me from the tree line. I’m nervous that they may get themselves into an unwanted situation with a predictor if they keep going off by themselves to get away from him when they are out free ranging.

After raising 2 cockerels my 4 older hens still rejected them so I gave one away.He's now 2 yrs old and they still reject him so I'm separating my older hens and giving them their own space. I'm attached to my older girls and don't want to get rid of mine. Its a fun hobby(most of the time!)

 

[Mrs. K]

Always solve for peace in the flock. I solve so that I am happy too. You actually have 3 problems:

• old non productive hens
• juvenile rooster
• no eggs 2/6 laying

You speak of rehoming, but few people will want non laying hens. I do not think you are comfortable with culling birds, but may be mis-reading that. Even if you can rehome a few of them, that would give you room for a couple of chicks this spring. Which would help your egg problem.

Now, there is a possibility that the old girls will come back into lay with warmer weather. But they won't lay like the young ones.

When I read your post, I sense that you don't like the young rooster with the old girls causing strife. Go ahead and let him go, either to your soup pot, or down the street. That would give you a lovely all hen flock.

The thing is, you need to change something or it going to cause you and the girls more strife.

Mrs K