What to do - Biting, bullying and aggressiveness

[curlyp]

Hello BYC,

I’m new to chickens and still learning! My chickens are 17 weeks old now.

Quick background - I purchased 12 hens from the hatchery when they were born. Somewhere there was a mix up and I have one rooster!

I have two issues going on.

1. The rooster has been aggressive towards me and biting anytime my hands move the around the bedding on the floor. This just started about a week or so ago.

This morning I went in to fill their water and saw a hen in the roost bar. I picked her up and put her on the hood and the rooster came running and bit my knuckle!

This is the third time he’s bit me! Why is this happening?


2. The same chicken that was on the roost bar seems to be bullied by another hen. When I put her on the floor, this other hen chases her around and she will jump up on the bar. I’m assuming she’s not even eating as she is on the bar all day.

Now that I think about it, both behaviors, the rooster and the hen chasing the other hen started after I put them in their new coop.

What’s going on with the hen situation? Why is she chasing the other hen?

 

[azygous]

Soup. Aggressive cockerels make very tasty soup.

The hen is a bully, and the victim has learned to let her bully her, a combination of temperaments and conditioned behavior.

Two different issues and they require two different approaches. You're in luck. I wrote articles addressing both of these issues.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/i-think-i-have-a-cockerel-now-what-do-i-do.76274/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/ The bullying issue can be life threatening when the victim doesn't get access to food and starves.

As an aside, your roosting perch should be turned so the 4" side is facing up. The 2" side is too narrow and can affect posture of the chickens, causing deformity of bone structure as well as breast blisters.