Separating rooster from my girls to regrow feathers

[Jenjens]

I have a very good boy, who for the most part, treats his girls great...however, he is sex-agressive. 2 hens allow him to mate, but the other 2 girls don't want to mate so he chases them down and pins them down. They have lost a lot of feathers and the chicken aprons did absolutely nothing for them. One also has bumblefoot.

I have 2 sections in the yard, so this morning I put the girls with the coop area and put the rooster in the front yard with the deck. He seems upset and keeps making this new sound I have never heard and won't stop crowing. I don't live in a farm, it's a regular neighborhood, so I hope this non-stop crowing doesn't last long. he won't eat, not even his favorite snack, and I feel bad for him, but I know that my girls need to regrow their feathers and I don't like watching him practically raping them.

does any one have any experience with having separate spaces in their yard? They can see each other through the fence. I know he takes great pride watching over them, so I feel bad that he lost his job, and he will get lonely. I know a lot of you on this forum don t take nicely to aggressive roosters, but it's only when he wants to mate and I love him very much, so NO, he is not being culled.
Thank you

 

[sourland]

I think that there is a high probability that he will continue to be aggravated and noisy.

 

[aart]

How old are these birds, in weeks or months?

Not sure how you could love a cock/erel that is abusing your girls.
There are some hard choices to make when keeping chickens.
Solve for the peace of the flock.

 

[Sammi_0411]

Its nt for us to decide why she should love her rooster thats kinda rude.... this can be common with mating i do feel he will keep making a racket tho as he seperated so.dont know wat to suggest hun sorry maybe someone coud give some helpful advice ? Xx

 

[aart]

thats kinda rude

It's realistic....when the female birds are being injured by the male.

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

For the crowing, you could try a no-crow collar. I made a homemade one for my old roo, and it worked great. I think you're doing the right thing by separating him. The refusal to eat is just pouting and throwing hinself a little temper tantrum. He'll eventually get hungry and eat. Just make sure he has fresh food and water available at all times. The best thing you could do that may have the most impact for a long-term solution where your roo can live with his girls is get more hens. A 4:1 hen to roo ratio is not a lot, especially for him being as aggressive as he's being. If you can't get more hens, you may have to keep him separated. You could try to reintroduce them in a few weeks or so and see if anything has changed, but I wouldn't put my money on it. Sorry he's being a little pill! Best of luck to you!

 

[Mrs. K]

A lot depends on the age of your birds. But I am thinking that the excessive feather loss is probably due to molt this time of year. They are loosing those old feathers. I am not a believer in separating birds, I think it causes more problems than it solves.

A better solution is to take a look at your run. Is it a wide open bare space? A lot of runs are. I would suggest adding a lot of clutter to the run area. Boxes, mini walls, roosts, chairs, ladders, pieces of plywood. Anything that allows a bird to step out of sight, out of mind for a few moments. Roosts allow birds to get out of reach of a rooster.

So I would try that.

 

[Jenjens]

Thank you all for the replies. He didn't last long separated. I couldn't handle the crowing anymore! He was throwing a fit. So I think I am going to get 2 more girls for him. I think that will help a bit. The thing I am worried about is that they are under a lot of stress. I changed their sleeping location, and they aren't happy about that, and the other 2 regrowing their feathers.

I will also try to make our yard more interesting. Thank you everyone.

 

[HenKat]

My rooster has very similar behavior. He is very nice to humans, loves watching his flock, but mates aggressively. Lilly, my Buff Orpington, was pretty much naked despite her variety of hen aprons I tried. This picture was after a couple weeks of regrowth.

For a few months I would put him outside the chicken run in the AM (similar to your system) and he would also crow continuously until he was let back in with the ladies.

We got chicks this spring, and for a month we had Lilly in with them, so she could have a break and start to regrow feathers. When they were all big enough to integrate we put the chicks in with the big hens, and Arnie, the roo, on his own smaller side by himself. It has been another month, and he has settled down some. Lilly is FINALLY getting her feathers back, which is important because winter is coming and she would have been soooo cold.

Watching how peaceful the girls are without him there in the morning I can't imagine putting him back with the hens, especially since the pullets aren't old enough to mate and I know how that would go... :-(

I am going to make Arnie his own insulated coop before winter (currently he has a large covered dog crate). He is able to see and talk with the other hens, so he has some socialization. Maybe we will eventually create a rooster flock. But I decided that my hens deserve my protection.

Arnie has adjusted to the new setup. No excessive crowing. Most days I offer him time outside freeranging. Sometimes he decides to just stay in the run near the others, but other times he happily wanders around the yard foraging and requesting treats.

It isn't ideal. But we also are quite fond of our roo for various reasons. This separate but close together system works for us right now, and the happiness and peacefulness level overall has greatly improved.

I encourage you to reconsider keeping them together. I'd give it more time and see if he adjusts.