Rooster too rough on favorite girl?

[Kaford]

Hello all I'm wondering if someone can shed some light on this predicament.
I have a leg horn rooster and by most standards he's a good rooster, he alerts the flock to aerial predators, he feeds the girls treats he finds and seems to keep the peace with the ladies.. however this is the problem.. I have a Rhode island red hen.. im assuming she's his favorite but I feel like he is insanely rough with her. My poor girl has never recovered her feathers from him and his mating has gotten much more frequent with her to the point it was like 4 times in a 5 minute span as I was going to lock them in and the noises she made were horrendous. She runs to get aeay from him and has since become very skittish where she used to be a very social hen. i have since removed him and put him in his own pen so the ladies are on their own for now.

I'm curious if it's natural for them to act that way and I'm over reacting?
other than his treatment of her he has been a good rooster but now I'm not so sure he should be let out of bulky camp?

Thank you in advanced

 

[Ridgerunner]

How old are they and how long has this been going on? To me this kind of sounds like he is a relatively immature cockerel who has just matured enough to take over as flock master. That girl was the dominant flock master up to that point so he is trying to dethrone her. She could be his age or a mature hen. I'd expect this more from a mature hen but he may be extremely slow to mature. I could be totally wrong.

I've seen something somewhat similar. He was a slow-developing 11 month old cockerel and she was a 2 year old hen. That hen would knock him off if he tried to mate a willing hen in front of her to show she was the boss even if the other hen was willing. He's just run away when she did that. Most of my 7 month old cockerels can pretty peacefully become flock master even with mature hens. I think the personality of the hens has a lot to do with how peaceful that is. But in this one case I think he was weak in personality and she was strong. It took 11 months before he was willing to stand up to her. When he finally did it was pretty vicious for a couple of days. It wasn't so much he tried to mate her, he would attack her if she got close to the flock, usually going for her head. He never actually wounded her so I let it go but I did watch closely. After a couple of days they reached an accommodation. He became flock master and they became best buddies.

It was vicious. He could have seriously injured her or killed her. Since I did not see any blood I let the work it out. I don't know what will happen if you let yours go.

So what can you do? As long as there are no injuries you can let them go and see if they can kiss and make up. If it has been only a few days I'd think this is a fairly reasonable approach but it is not without its dangers. But if it has been going on for four or five days I'd be more concerned.

You can remove him from the flock, either temporarily or permanently. If he is a cockerel another month or so may give him time to mature to the point that she will accept him as flock master without a fight. Or it may not work. Why do you want a rooster, either him or another one? Can you do without a boy?

You can remove her from the flock, either temporarily or permanently. Separating her may change her position in the pecking order so they can get along. Or it may not. Which do you want more, him or her?

Other than permanently keeping them separated behind fences and in different coops I don't see any other realistic options. Good luck!

 

[Kaford]

How old are they and how long has this been going on? To me this kind of sounds like he is a relatively immature cockerel who has just matured enough to take over as flock master. That girl was the dominant flock master up to that point so he is trying to dethrone her. She could be his age or a mature hen. I'd expect this more from a mature hen but he may be extremely slow to mature. I could be totally wrong.

I've seen something somewhat similar. He was a slow-developing 11 month old cockerel and she was a 2 year old hen. That hen would knock him off if he tried to mate a willing hen in front of her to show she was the boss even if the other hen was willing. He's just run away when she did that. Most of my 7 month old cockerels can pretty peacefully become flock master even with mature hens. I think the personality of the hens has a lot to do with how peaceful that is. But in this one case I think he was weak in personality and she was strong. It took 11 months before he was willing to stand up to her. When he finally did it was pretty vicious for a couple of days. It wasn't so much he tried to mate her, he would attack her if she got close to the flock, usually going for her head. He never actually wounded her so I let it go but I did watch closely. After a couple of days they reached an accommodation. He became flock master and they became best buddies.

It was vicious. He could have seriously injured her or killed her. Since I did not see any blood I let the work it out. I don't know what will happen if you let yours go.

So what can you do? As long as there are no injuries you can let them go and see if they can kiss and make up. If it has been only a few days I'd think this is a fairly reasonable approach but it is not without its dangers. But if it has been going on for four or five days I'd be more concerned.

You can remove him from the flock, either temporarily or permanently. If he is a cockerel another month or so may give him time to mature to the point that she will accept him as flock master without a fight. Or it may not work. Why do you want a rooster, either him or another one? Can you do without a boy?

You can remove her from the flock, either temporarily or permanently. Separating her may change her position in the pecking order so they can get along. Or it may not. Which do you want more, him or her?

Other than permanently keeping them separated behind fences and in different coops I don't see any other realistic options. Good luck!

Theyre about 2 years old each and I've had them since they were about 4 months and it just recently started in the past 2 days I put an apron on her. I guess I should let it ride itself out.. but I if I remove him I would have 2 roosters free ranging and I feel like thats asking for them to fight?

 

[Ridgerunner]

If they are that old what you see is not what I'm talking about. I don't know what is going on with those two.

 

[Mrs J]

Theyre about 2 years old each and I've had them since they were about 4 months and it just recently started in the past 2 days I put an apron on her. I guess I should let it ride itself out.. but I if I remove him I would have 2 roosters free ranging and I feel like thats asking for them to fight?

I had this issue when I put an apron on one of my girls, my cockerel started attacking her. As soon as I took the apron off, he was as good as gold with her. I separated him from the girls on a see no touch, to give the girls a break. He seems to have matured since I would keep him in his own pen if that is an option.

 

[Kaford]

I had this issue when I put an apron on one of my girls, my cockerel started attacking her. As soon as I took the apron off, he was as good as gold with her. I separated him from the girls on a see no touch, to give the girls a break. He seems to have matured since I would keep him in his own pen if that is an option.

I put the apron on after he started going after her I could keep him separated

 

[Mrs J]

Theyre about 2 years old each and I've had them since they were about 4 months and it just recently started in the past 2 days I put an apron on her.

Oh, I took this as it started when you put an apron on her, if possible I would still separate him if he is stressing your hen out and she is suffering, reintroduce him after a few days and monitor the situation, this time of year is probably the worst because hormones are flying It won’t do any harm to keep him separated on a see no touch basis.

 

[Kaford]

Oh, I took this as it started when you put an apron on her, if possible I would still separate him if he is stressing your hen out and she is suffering, reintroduce him after a few days and monitor the situation, this time of year is probably the worst because hormones are flying It won’t do any harm to keep him separated on a see no touch basis.

Thank you! I really like him other than this situation.