What do I do??

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry that you lost him

He was the one that the girls were picking at his legs right?
He had been previously been living with the until you pulled him to treat his legs right?
Just trying to get up to speed here.

For hens to pick at and attack an almost 1yr old rooster - something was not quite right there, imho.

Are there other cockerels/roosters with these hens?

Hens are not that nice at times, imho, I don't think I would cull productive healthy laying hens - not at this time but I would be hesitant to put another docile rooster with them too. An older mature, larger rooster may fare better.

You mentioned that you lost a good breeding male, did you have specific hens you were going to put him with or just do a backyard mix?

 

[KikiDeAnime]

So, he'd had cuts on his legs that weren't healed. You're pretty sure the cuts came from the hens. You put him out with the hens today with open wounds on his legs. The last you saw he was mating with one of the hens. The next thing you know, 5 hens are attacking him and he's dead on the ground. I'm just trying to sort out the information so far. Is it possible he was killed by a predator, and they were attacking his body? I have never in all my years of chicken keeping had hens attack and kill another chicken. I know it happens, but I don't think it's very common. Chickens prey on weaker birds. They aren't warm, fuzzy and nurturing, that's for sure. I wouldn't butcher the hens unless I knew for sure what happened.

I had to get the hens off him myself

 

[KikiDeAnime]

I'm sorry that you lost him

He was the one that the girls were picking at his legs right?
He had been previously been living with the until you pulled him to treat his legs right?
Just trying to get up to speed here.

For hens to pick at and attack an almost 1yr old rooster - something was not quite right there, imho.

Are there other cockerels/roosters with these hens?

Hens are not that nice at times, imho, I don't think I would cull productive healthy laying hens - not at this time but I would be hesitant to put another docile rooster with them too. An older mature, larger rooster may fare better.

You mentioned that you lost a good breeding male, did you have specific hens you were going to put him with or just do a backyard mix?

He was the only rooster. Everyone else range 2-4 years old.
I planned on buying some pullets from a breeder that were of his breed and color. He originally came from a breeder.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

The thing I don't get, is they've never done this to our previous rooster. They've corrected them but never killed. They've also never attacked birds that returned from healing.
Why would they do this??

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well, that stinks.
Maybe you can replace him or just think things through. I understand it's a difficult loss, but sometimes things don't always work out for a reason. Take this as an opportunity to look at your plans/expectations and decide if you want to move forward or if you need to change things up a little bit.

While I do make some loose plans on what I'm doing, I've learned that things can happen and I sometimes need to go with the flow. While things don't always work out as "planned" in my head - I still work with what I've been given. I do understand. I had a rooster that I planned on having for years to come but that wasn't meant to be, it was a loss I felt for sure, but I changed gears/moved on and guess what - it's o.k.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Well, that stinks.
Maybe you can replace him or just think things through. I understand it's a difficult loss, but sometimes things don't always work out for a reason. Take this as an opportunity to look at your plans/expectations and decide if you want to move forward or if you need to change things up a little bit.

While I do make some loose plans on what I'm doing, I've learned that things can happen and I sometimes need to go with the flow. While things don't always work out as "planned" in my head - I still work with what I've been given. I do understand. I had a rooster that I planned on having for years to come but that wasn't meant to be, it was a loss I felt for sure, but I changed gears/moved on and guess what - it's o.k.

I won't be getting another rooster until we move onto a farm. I plan on keeping 2 flocks if these hens are still with us by then. Them without a rooster and a second flock with a rooster.

 

[bobbi-j]

I had to get the hens off him myself

I understand that. I was just wondering if there was any chance that something else had injured or killed him first, and then they attacked.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

I understand that. I was just wondering if there was any chance that something else had injured or killed him first, and then they attacked.

Our dogs were out there when it happened so it's not possible for a predator to get into our yard without getting eaten by our dogs

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I won't be getting another rooster until we move onto a farm. I plan on keeping 2 flocks if these hens are still with us by then. Them without a rooster and a second flock with a rooster.

There you go.
Roosters don't always have to live with hens full time.
I keep a cockerel by himself. 1 pair is housed separately. My layers have no rooster and I have a hen and several pullets with a cockerel at the moment, but once he's a bit older he will live by himself as well.
While my plans don't always work out...the hen(s) of my choosing can be put into the single rooster's pen for breeding, then taken back out.
Not everyone has time, room, etc. to do that, but I don't keep a large number of birds. That's "plans" so we'll have to see how it all works though

 

[KikiDeAnime]

There you go.
Roosters don't always have to live with hens full time.
I keep a cockerel by himself. 1 pair is housed separately. My layers have no rooster and I have a hen and several pullets with a cockerel at the moment, but once he's a bit older he will live by himself as well.
While my plans don't always work out...the hen(s) of my choosing can be put into the single rooster's pen for breeding, then taken back out.
Not everyone has time, room, etc. to do that, but I don't keep a large number of birds. That's "plans" so we'll have to see how it all works though

They've done excellent with previous cockerels so I'm not sure what set them off with this one since they finally accepted him weeks ago.
Another reason I'm heartbroken, is he never crowed so we didn't have any issues with our neighbors