WHY?? Hen being Pecked to Death by Bantie Roo

[CK Chickadilly]

I have a very nice docile OEG bantam roo that is trying to kill an ISA brown hen. I put her in the barn away from all the others to heal & I just finally put her back outside today (after a couple of weeks) since she was all healed. He found her already & has pecked her eyes so bad she can't open them again & she is all bloody.

Is there something wrong with her? Can they tell that maybe something isn't right about her & she needs to be put down? I am just trying to understand why he would do this? He is a very nice roo.

Any ideas? Should I just put her down myself?
Thanks!

 

[RendonRoo]

I think like ppl some just don't like each other. I would try to heal her up and see if you can introduce her back slowly. Put her in a pen inside with the others so they can see and hear each other. After about a week let her out with the others for short periods of time when you can watch them. Good Luck

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Maybe it's time to fit him with a pair of peepers. Bad boy.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Isolate the roo for a few days and watch to make sure its not other hens picking on her as well. When the roo enters the flock again she will have already found a place in the pecking order and hopefully he will have settled down. I have never tried this with a rooster personally just with agro hens and it worked great.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

Yeah, every time that you take her away then reintroduce her, it's like putting a brand new hen in there. The flock may not remember her, and she will have to regain a place in the pecking order.
BTW--when I introduced some standard reds to my banties, one of the big hens almost killed my banty roo. That one was culled immediately. It is possible that they just don't like that hen. You should reintroduce gradually though.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Even when she was with the flock they hated her for some reason. ???? Now she is a mess again & it will take about 2 weeks again to get her back to feeling better, she can't even see now. I think I will put her in a wire dog cage now & just leave her by the others. When she was in the barn they would come in & never bothered her but out in the yard they don't like her.

 

[wxdude99]

I only have four chickens, but when one of my hens started pecking my smallest one, I separated the one doing the pecking for a week. I kept her in my garage in a brooder. When I put her back with the others, she still pecked the small one occasionally, but it wasn't as bad. I think separating the agressor gave the small one time to recover and adapt. She was much better at fending for herself and able to dodge the pecking where before she was just being overwhelmed. That was a couple of months ago, and since then, I've noticed that almost all of my chickens peck the each other. Funny thing is, my small one (campine), now pecks my biggest one (austrolorp), which is twice her size!

 

[Judy]

When the hen is healed and you try to reintroduce, I'd sure isolate the roo at the same time. Hopefully after a week or two in prison, he will come back at the bottom of the pecking order.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

I think I will put her in a metal dog crate in the chicken coop so that they can all see her & get used to her again. It is only the "docile" roo that is doing this to her.

I wonder why they have never liked her. Must be something wrong with her????

 

[sadie423]

I have an EE roo who is about 6 months younger than the rest of my flock....I have 2 silver laced wyandottes and he attacks them if they come inside the coop or come outside. They spend their inside days in the small people-section of the coop or roosting on the partition wall between the 2 areas and we let them out in our yard for a large portion of the day. I noticed the other hens are meaner to them now too. I just figured he didn't like their coloring or something. He is calm- well he isn't mean and doesn't attack us at least- but we have 2 4 week chicks that are male and will probably replace him with the nicer of those 2....I like the hens and want their quality of life better....

I wouldn't think it means something is wrong with her....she's just at the bottom of the pecking order...

Sarah