will my rooster kill the chicks?

[ChickyChickens]

I have never had a mature rooster try to kill chicks. I have had a very large number of roosters. Very definitely reconsider your husbandry techniques and adjust those if a rooster or especially roosters are even aggressive towards chicks.

I live on a huge farm. My chickens free range around and they definitely have enough space so that is not the reason why that rooster killed the chick. He tried to mate the hen hen then stepped on the chick and killed it! But I anyway sold him because he was harassing the hens and they lost all their feathers on their backs!

 

[Ridgerunner]

So you are saying the rooster raped the hen as an excuse to stomp the chick?

I've had a two week old chick kill its hatchmate with the broody hen watching. That has not stopped me from letting a broody hen raise more than one chick at a time.

Several times I've seen a chick walk behind the broody just as she was scratching for some food. She caught the chick and sent it flying a few feet. So far I haven't seen any chicks get hurt like that, but it could easily happen as hard as they scratch. I'm not going to stop letting a broody raise chicks because of that.

\We are talking about a rooster going out of its way to harm a chick, not a freak accident.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

It doesn’t matter who laid the egg. Those hens are not going to be protective at all since they were not broody and did not hatch them. I’d think they would be even more danger than the rooster.

I agree with Ridgerunner. Your broody hens who have no attachment to the new chicks constitute a much greater danger to your chicks than any rooster ever will.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have never had a mature rooster try to kill chicks. I have had a very large number of roosters. Very definitely reconsider your husbandry techniques and adjust those if a rooster or especially roosters are even aggressive towards chicks.

I fully agree with centrachid. I have in almost 60 years of chicken husbandry never seen an adult rooster even peck at a chick.
Now if you go into a pen or do something crazy or stupid and cause chicken drama or panic anything can and will happen, like a rooster or more likely the chicks' own mother killing one or more of her own chicks from collateral damage. She will do this by hitting you, hitting at you, or fighting with another hen, usually in a misguided attempt to protect her brood.

I have seen this happen more times than I can count and it was always my fault, but the crazy hen involved was never allowed to brood another clutch of eggs. Folks, you got to stop and remember that chickens aren't brain surgeons, they're totally controlled by their instincts and that no chicken can comprehend the results of its own actions. When the eggs hatch some hens undergo a complete personally reversal, be ready for it when she comes off the nest, and don't say that I didn't warn you.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

When I want a rooster to be friendly to young chicks, I pick a rooster that is fully adult and by himself. I keep a lot of roosters, most penned and most of those without female companions. Such roosters readily adopt chicks as it can be a mechanism to start a harem if adult females are not present. When I say chicks, they are usually at least 3 weeks old. I have had some older cocks adopt chicks only a week old but that only works in very warm weather as during first few days and night the chicks need brooding the cock is slow to provide. This behavior is outside what most think possible with roosters but can be promoted relatively easily. I have even had cockerels do same but results much less consistent.

Where did you get that colorful baby chick walker? Isn't it to tall for their 'widdle' feet to reach the ground?

 

[aoxa]

So you are saying the rooster raped the hen as an excuse to stomp the chick?

I've had a two week old chick kill its hatchmate with the broody hen watching. That has not stopped me from letting a broody hen raise more than one chick at a time.

Several times I've seen a chick walk behind the broody just as she was scratching for some food. She caught the chick and sent it flying a few feet. So far I haven't seen any chicks get hurt like that, but it could easily happen as hard as they scratch. I'm not going to stop letting a broody raise chicks because of that.

\We are talking about a rooster going out of its way to harm a chick, not a freak accident.

I have had a hen accidentally get a chick caught under her and break it's neck. Right in front of me. She finished raising her brood without another issue, and I haven't stopped any other hens from raising chicks because of it either, but I do get a pang of panic when they get so close to stepping on them now.

 

[centrarchid]

Where did you get that colorful baby chick walker?  Isn't it to tall for their 'widdle' feet to reach the ground?

Church sale. We are already to point its primary use is to callobrate camera colors. Youngest started walking in last week. She is a threat to chicks and if she is like her brother a flogging hen will not make her back down.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

..... Youngest started walking in last week. She is a threat to chicks and if she is like her brother a flogging hen will not make her back down.

They grow up too quick don't they?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

....either, but I do get a pang of panic when they get so close to stepping on them now.

I dare say that there isn't a naturally hatched baby chick that has never been stepped on by its mama. It happens all day every day.

 

[ChickyChickens]

So you are saying the rooster raped the hen as an excuse to stomp the chick?

I've had a two week old chick kill its hatchmate with the broody hen watching. That has not stopped me from letting a broody hen raise more than one chick at a time.

Several times I've seen a chick walk behind the broody just as she was scratching for some food. She caught the chick and sent it flying a few feet. So far I haven't seen any chicks get hurt like that, but it could easily happen as hard as they scratch. I'm not going to stop letting a broody raise chicks because of that.

\We are talking about a rooster going out of its way to harm a chick, not a freak accident.

No, I am saying that the rooster killed the chick when he tried to mate the hen! And I sold him because somebody else wanted him and I had noneed for him as I had other rooters!

Ja it has also happened to me that a chick has killed its hatchmate!

I never said that I am going to stop letting my broodies raise their chicks! I like it much better hen the hens do it!!!