Rooster aggressive towards certain hens.

[Courtney's_chickens]

Have a (newer) rooster--I have had roosters for years, but this is the first one that is mean to some of the girls. UGH. He likes a certain amount of hens, but to the rest is very aggressive towards. Some of the hens can't even come out of the hen house without being chased and attacked. Any advice? I know there is no way to fully get him to be nice, but just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and if any tactics have worked...? They are being free ranged currently, but I just worry about winter when they are going to be in the coop, a lot confined smaller area...If things do not improve, I'm sorry, but my hens come first, and I will have to re-home him, even though I don't want to, but I will NOT let my hens be miserable and live in fear..

Thanks!

-Courtney

 

[ValerieJ]

Have a (newer) rooster--I have had roosters for years, but this is the first one that is mean to some of the girls. UGH. He likes a certain amount of hens, but to the rest is very aggressive towards. Some of the hens can't even come out of the hen house without being chased and attacked. Any advice? I know there is no way to fully get him to be nice, but just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and if any tactics have worked...? They are being free ranged currently, but I just worry about winter when they are going to be in the coop, a lot confined smaller area...If things do not improve, I'm sorry, but my hens come first, and I will have to re-home him, even though I don't want to, but I will NOT let my hens be miserable and live in fear..

Thanks!

-Courtney

Yes. Get rid of that rooster.

 

[ashlierami]

Have a (newer) rooster--I have had roosters for years, but this is the first one that is mean to some of the girls. UGH. He likes a certain amount of hens, but to the rest is very aggressive towards. Some of the hens can't even come out of the hen house without being chased and attacked. Any advice? I know there is no way to fully get him to be nice, but just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and if any tactics have worked...? They are being free ranged currently, but I just worry about winter when they are going to be in the coop, a lot confined smaller area...If things do not improve, I'm sorry, but my hens come first, and I will have to re-home him, even though I don't want to, but I will NOT let my hens be miserable and live in fear..

Thanks!

-Courtney

For me this is typically seen in hens who aren't submissive to him or aren't his "girls". If they are elder hens or those who resist then I notice they are the ones that get picked on. My roo has a favorite hen and a few he doesn't particularly care for and the ones he doesn't care for usuallly avoid him and prefer to stay in their hen flock and don't submit to him. They don't come when he finds food and they dont follow him in the yard. It could get better if the hens warm up to him and decide they want to be with him or they could resist and the picking will continue.

 

[Acre4Me]

Yes, we had three pullets that just never integrated well despite being raised together. Cockerel (11 months when we sold him) did NOT like these three pullets, and was very mean to them in particular, including guarding one feed bowl to keep them away. We put food and water in the coop for them during the worst of it. In the end, we sold the pullets bc they were very slow to lay. In fact, their lack of laying may have been part of the problem. It seems that before POL, many females can be somewhat ostracized by the laying ones, and usually just ignored by the rooster. We sold the male bc he kept trying to attack the kid.

If your male is not fully mature than maybe separate him for awhile. If all girls are not yet laying, then you might want him to be separated until they lay. If he’s just a mature jerk, then get rid of him.