Segregate a Roo?

[yes2matt]

Hi!

I've got a golden comet roo who is overbreeding his four hens, to the effect that their backs are kinda rough (one is about bald) and egg production is down. I like him because he's protected his girls from the neighbor dog twice successfully, and I've seen him rush and attack stray cats.

So I'm willing to have a roast, but is there a way to mellow him out or segregate him without the torture of lost love?

Thanks, Matt

 

[RedfogsFlock]

Well the ratio for roo to hen is one roo for every ten hens. Any less than that and you will have problems of overbreeding. If it were my roo I would put him in his own coop and leave him there till you get 6 more hens at least. The problem won't resolve itself in any good way if you don't have enough hens. In the end what usually happens is he will breed them to death, lieterally.

Sounds like you have a good roo, just needs a few more girls to protect.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

The rooster is not going to stop doing this thing....you just need more hens, regardless to what kind.

 

[Neilette]

How about some Chicken Saddles?

 

[Lollipop]

I dissagree with the previous posters. The 10/1 ratio is a max recommended for fertile eggs and has nothing to do with the exuberence of a young rooster. Your boy needs a little more maturity and he`ll settle down and treat the ladies with respect. There are exceptions, but 99% will be fine after about 1 1/2 years of age. It won`t hurt his little sinsabilities at all to be penned alone and, if you want fertile eggs, you can put the hens with him for a day and have fertile eggs for 2 weeks. Again, it is the immaturity of the rooster.........Pop

 

[chickenma]

I agree with lollipop.
A young rooster is like a teenager with hormones. If the hormones settle down he will be fine. I would separate him to give the girls a break. He will be fine and cool of for a bid.
Maybe you can put him with his girls for a couple of hours a day.
Good luck

 

[RedfogsFlock]

Really it would depend on the rooster. It doesn't say that it is a teenage roo, just that it's a roo.

From our experience with our roo's... Our roo's would breed anything until we got enough hens that were of breeding age. Our leghorn even bred our ducks! We now keep all of our roo's in their own coops, and only let them out occasionally with the girls. We didn't let them out however until we got more hens to make ten and that stopped the bare neck problem almost immediately.

Our polish roo kept breeding the same hens and ducks over & over until we got him more hens too. Our polish wouldn't stop trying to breed one of our ducks, and eventually it killed her. Again once we got him 9 hens he was fine.

So really it would depend on your rooster. Our two oldest do just fine penned seperately. Then again we have 6 more roo's in a coop together and they are just fine. We have a total of 28 females now (lost one last week) and our roo's do good with that ratio. No bald spots, no one getting overbred etc etc.


Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[yes2matt]

I've got 9 more pullets raising up now but they couldn't handle him yet. So I'll try segregating, then. He's gonna be mad!!! Does he have to be out of sight/earshot of his girls? (that will be difficult)

Thanks for the help...

 

[yes2matt]

Ok, I put him out separate from his girls yesterday and today. He's not happy about missing them, especially his favorite, but I can tell that their stress level is down, just in two days. Hopefully egg production will go back up, and his favorite (an EE) will start laying more than one a month.