Rooster woes

[mikewcgy]

Hi all,
Our flock currently has about 23 hens and 3 roosters. We ordered pullets but never got rid of the 3 roosters. There are two RIR and one Colombia rock. We believe this is a fairly decent rooster to hen ratio (I think 7:1 is generally cited).

Anyhow, our roosters have had ongoing problems particularly with their rumps being pecked to all hell. There is certainly some rooster:rooster aggression but the worst offenders definitely seem to be the hens. We've used 'stop pick' on the affected areas which does provide some temporarily relief, but it eventually got to the point where we realized we needed to do some isolating.

We setup an isolation area within the coop, so that the rooster would be able to still see the rest of the flock and vice versa. He stayed there for about 2 weeks and was looking fantastic for the first time in a long time. A couple days ago, we switched him out with one of the RIR roosters who was looking particularly bad. The hens were on him IMMEDIATELY. Following him around like a magnet, taking feathers with their pecking. This morning we found him hiding in a roosting area, covered in blood and looking worse than he ever has.

At this point we are seriously wondering how the heck to go forward here? It almost seems pointless to do an extended isolation, because the hens just immediately go after him and he is right back to his pre-isolation state.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Should we be looking to re-home the colombia rock at this point? I assume some farmer nearby might be willing to take him to diversify genetics etc.

Also, we have been raising some chicks separately that are only a month or two away from laying age. These rooster problems are really making me nervous about the upcoming need to integrate them with the current laying flock.

Thanks for your help

 

[Folly's place]

Hens can be jerks too! Can you ID the worst actors out there? By now you might have too many to be able to remove a few anyway.
Pinless peepers! Get them (online) and apply to every nasty hen.
Feed can be an issue, if the protein level is too low. Also space, availability of safe areas and out of site places. Feeders and waterers, several of each, spaced apart, work best.
Here we no longer have production reds, including the orange hatchery RIRs, because so many of them were feather pecking beasts.
Those poor roosters! Hope you can make things better for your flock.
Mary

 

[mikewcgy]

Hens can be jerks too! Can you ID the worst actors out there? By now you might have too many to be able to remove a few anyway.
Pinless peepers! Get them (online) and apply to every nasty hen.
Feed can be an issue, if the protein level is too low. Also space, availability of safe areas and out of site places. Feeders and waterers, several of each, spaced apart, work best.
Here we no longer have production reds, including the orange hatchery RIRs, because so many of them were feather pecking beasts.
Those poor roosters! Hope you can make things better for your flock.
Mary

Thanks, never seen the peepers before. I do think that with some consistency it seems to be plymouth rock and brown leghorn hens that are doing the pecking. We just got some of the colored leg bands on Amazon, so perhaps next time I see it happening I will start with that as a sort of warning flag and if its consistently a leg banded hen, maybe the peepers would work. So the peepers prevent them from seeing what's directly in front of them? Seems like it would be prohibitive for their regular daily tasks but the website says it doesn't.

 

[Folly's place]

I've never used them, but in your flock it seems like a good idea. And also consider removing the 'bad girls' if necessary.
Mary