Well behaved roos attacking hen?

[docdubz]

It sounds like you have too many roosters still in the flock.

It's 3 roosters in with 25 hens. And these roosters never show any aggression to the other hens, just the two that have managed to escape the main flocks run and get into the bachelor flocks run.

Normally gentle.....until the dominant males were removed??

The ones that were removed from the main flock were not the dominant males, they were the ones that couldn't behave themselves. The rooster that has always been the alpha is still in the main flock. The ones that I removed were the subdoms that would dogpile on a hen if the alpha wasn't looking.

 

[docdubz]

Just like you, I'm not sure what's going on here. But I've got a few thoughts:

You say it's a change that applies only to specific hens--I wonder if the hens are acting differently, and the roosters are reacting to the hens' new behavior?

You could try having a hen-only flock, for the hens with problems and maybe some other hens as well (so they aren't lonely.) I don't know whether the hens might do better with roosters after several months away, or whether they would just need to live separate forever.

For your roosters that are normally gentle, have you noticed whether it is all of them or just some of them that are rough to those hens? If only some of them are a problem, you might move those ones out of the pen with the hens.

I'm pretty confused myself. How many chickens do you have, by ages and by sex? The better you can explain the numbers, sex, and ages the more likely it is to help me understand. How are they housed, inside and outside? Where does this happen? How much room do they have, in feet or meters or are they free ranging with no fences? Have you added (integrated) new chickens recently or maybe removed some to change the pecking order? This sound like a new behavior. If so, what has changed that might have caused it.




I think this means you have a bachelor flock (of unknown age) penned separately but on two different occasions a girl of unknown age got into their enclosure and was abused, possibly injured. When you put those girls back with the main flock the flock rooster or roosters mounted her. I don't know what you mean by "violently mounter to death", could you explain what you saw?



Could you explain what this remembering looked like? How did you reintroduce her and what happened?

Since these both have similar questions I'll answer them both here. I've noticed no changes whatsoever aside from these two particular hens being attacked. The main flock has 4 of the hens are 1 year old and 21 of them are 7 months old. The three roosters in with them are 1 year old. Their coop is 250 square feet and their run is about 2000 square feet. No new birds have been added. They seem perfectly content aside from towards those two hens that got in with the bachelor flock.

And, when I say violently mounting them I mean they jump on their back and claw like hawks ripping chunks of flesh out. All three of the roosters will do it and the other hens will crowd around. It looks much more like attempted murder than a mating attempt.

The more I think about it I'm starting to think these two hens were deemed outcasts and that's the whole reason they escaped into the bachelor flock to begin with.

 

[NatJ]

The more I think about it I'm starting to think these two hens were deemed outcasts and that's the whole reason they escaped into the bachelor flock to begin with.

Interesting idea That would explain everything you've mentioned so far.

 

[Ridgerunner]

And, when I say violently mounting them I mean they jump on their back and claw like hawks ripping chunks of flesh out. All three of the roosters will do it and the other hens will crowd around. It looks much more like attempted murder than a mating attempt.

I've never seen anything like that. The attempted murder I've seen involves pecking viciously at the head.

The more I think about it I'm starting to think these two hens were deemed outcasts and that's the whole reason they escaped into the bachelor flock to begin with.

That makes more sense than anything I can come up with.

 

[Vickischics]

She's gorgeous!!


The 'rooster' to hen ratio of 1:10 that is often cited is primarily for fertility efficiency in commercial breeding facilities.

It doesn't mean that if a cockbird has 10 hens that he won't abuse or over mate them.

Many breeders keep pairs, trios, quads, etc ....short term and/or long term.

It all depends on the temperaments of the cock and hens and sometimes housing provided.

Backyard flocks can achieve good fertility with a larger ratio.

Thank you!

 

[Vickischics]

She's gorgeous!!


The 'rooster' to hen ratio of 1:10 that is often cited is primarily for fertility efficiency in commercial breeding facilities.

It doesn't mean that if a cockbird has 10 hens that he won't abuse or over mate them.

Many breeders keep pairs, trios, quads, etc ....short term and/or long term.

It all depends on the temperaments of the cock and hens and sometimes housing provided.

Backyard flocks can achieve good fertility with a larger ratio.

Thank you!!