Extreamly agressive Roo

[Ace918]

I have an Ameraucanas Roo who is extreamly agressive he has cut the skin on 3 of my Ameraucanas hens. One to the point that the skin actually seperated from her along the whole side, and his leg was caught in her.
She is healing well, he is in isolation

. Should I keep the Roo in the same pen but separated from the Hens, or completely isolated in another room?
I believe AI is my only option.
The two healthy hens are very infrequent layers however the eggs are a very nice pale blue, how do I know when is the best time to try AI?
I do not know the age of the Hens or Roo, I got them off Craigs List. I do know they are NOT EE's. They are good looking Ameraucanas, I will post pics when I get my camera working.

With Respect....... Ace

Coming in second means you were the first to lose...

 

[speckledhen]

That isn't really aggression, just enthusiastic breeding. You can trim his spurs and blunt his nails and get saddles/aprons for the ladies. That should do the trick. Here are saddles.

 

[keesmom]

What color Ameraucanas?

Oh yes, I also had to recently buy some saddles for my hens. It's that time of year. They weren't bald yet but it was trending that way. I got my hen aprons from Hen Saver (a BYC sponsor!). Very fast shipping too.

 

[BarkerChickens]

Trimming nails and sanding the spurs help a lot! (from experience!). Also, the saddles that SpeckledHen mentioned help a ton! Not just in protecting from cuts, but also prevents further feather damage.

 

[Kev]

Saddles may work, there is a chance he may still "mess the hens up" somehow if he's so aggressive or just plain breeds way too much, especially if there are only two hens plus being infrequent layers. Some roosters do get frustrated with too few "actively breeding" hens and will force down unwilling hens just so he can get some breeding done. Hens that try resist often eventually get injuried if she is unable to escape the rooster. A rare rooster will become outright hostile to non-breeding hens.

If you are able to separate the rooster from the hens, that will also work perfectly fine. Either side by side or total separation, although side by side might be nice as they are social birds..

You don't need to AI, if you can keep the rooster separated.. just put him in with the hens for a hour or however long you can watch them(like after he breeds both hens) or feel comfortable with then take him out again. Do this once daily if you really want all eggs to be fertile, although just every other day should work okay for fertility. Hens can stay fertile for up to 2 weeks after a mating.. to be safe, have the hens bred at least twice or thrice each week, just to be sure..