Young Roo overly amorous with unwilling old hen

[ameracauna-momma]

Have a young roo enjoying the heck out of all his ladies, problem is with one old hen who refuses to succumb to his throes of love. She is terrified and has resorted to digging a hole and hiding under the coop all day. Her old lady sister does just fine. What do I do???

 

[Oblio13]

Reminds me of my college days.

 

[ameracauna-momma]

Yikes! So then you know from experience what I should do?

 

[dixiechick]

hmmm... she must be married to him!

I'd probably separate her from him....I'd rather her enjoy herself alone rather than hide all away all day...good luck!

 

[ZepChick]

We ended up making a little bachelor pad for our young roo. He was not very gentle with the ladies (who were losing a lot of saddle feathers and getting cuts), and we didn't really want fertilized eggs. He gets time in the run with the hens but then 'retires' to his own area. The only drawback...he is an excellent protector, and always on the watch for his ladies, but this works better for us as long as we take his place when he's not there.

 

[Oblio13]

Quote:
Do you have a bottle of good wine, a bottle of cheap wine, a Barry Manilow record, a bubble machine, some soft rope and a blind fold?

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Just wanted to say

to ya!

In between all the good-natured joking, there was some excellent advice. You need to separate the rooster from the ladies. You can either take the older hen and put her in a separate place with one or two of her sisters, or have the rooster hang out in his own "bachelor pad." If you do a search for "bachelor pad" on this forum, you'll find a thread with a lot of good ideas for how to set one up.

 

[PassthePeace1]

My DH was raised in the city, and never saw chickens mate until we moved out in the country a few years ago. The first time he witnessed the deed, he came in the house visable shaken....lol....he said he wasn't sure if he witnessed an act of nature or a crime.

 

[dixiechick]

My 10 year old saw this for the first time when we first got our flock and came in the same way....shocked and telling me the roo was wrestling with her....I explained (with God's help) that the roo was only kissing her on the head...."But WHY????" asked my son....and my quick, miraculous response was "because chickens don't have lips!"

--he no more questions!

 

[WriterofWords]

You got a 10 year old to fall for that??? I've got 11 year old 6th graders who can tell me more about the birds and the bees than I knew in college.