The birds and the bees (aka Roos doing what they do)

Tugger1

In the Brooder
9 Years
Apr 26, 2010
32
1
22
Woodlands
Question for you experts.

I have 10 RIR and 10 Buff O's and 1 Oprah (a black crevacoeur that was found and given to us). Now all was good when I first put Oprah into the coop, she was the same size as the chicks and as they grew up she has held her own.

Well now the 2 main big roosters Red and Biff and cockadoodling all over everyone ( if you get my drift ) and we have Red on Buff action.

I really have no problem with those guys going at it and would be interested to see what exactly we get when we hatch some out in the spring.

I do have a problem with those two violating poor little Oprah. Will she get hurt or will the two stupids just figure out that they have 13 other females to give'er too and ognore her. Right now Oprah has her own nesting box in the coop but if she goes out immediately with the rest of them when the coop is opened in the am she gets caught up in the mayhem (I don't think Biff knew what hit him when I kicked his buff bum off of her).

Will they calm down when we get the roos down to 2? Right now the only 2 we are keeping are the nimrods named above but have 3 more RIR roos and 2 more BO roos which are getting canned soon.
 
They're not "violating little Oprah" they're mating with an available female as nature directs them to. They won't figure out that they have 13 other females & leave her alon. They will continue to be aware that they have 14 available females & will act accordingly.
If the bird in question is very much smaller than the others she may in fact be injured by the males but a hip injury is much more likely than a broken back.
If you don't want the males mating with this female you need to seperate her from the flock. Your anthropomorphized anger won't change the males behavior.
 
13 hens and 7 roosters is an accident waiting to happen. Not only will they injure the bantam hen but they are also very likely to injure the standard hens while trying to breed them. One rooster is all that you need for this small flock. The hens will be more content and peaceful with only one rooster. Too many roosters and the stress they cause can also cause a reduction in egg production.
 

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