My name is Kelly. I am a first time chicken owner. I’m excited to be a part of a community that can teach me a thing or two.
We have 17 chickens (15 hens and 2 Roos). They are all 5 months old. My two Roos are aggressively mating ALL of the hens (no courting whatsoever…even chasing the hens down) and many times “tag teaming” the hens. It seems that every 5 minutes there is a hen screaming and trying to get away. I feel like this is not normal at all and my hens seem to be very stressed and scared. Some have injury to their combs.
Today I resorted to getting the two Roos out of the run in the morning, and letting them free range all day and away from the hens, whom I left inside the run. When the hens went into the coop for the night I let the Roos back in for bed.
The two Roos aggressively fought all day, perhaps they were stressed about being banished from the flock. My Roos are a Silkie and a Brahma. The Brahma is a beast and is clearly the head rooster.
My questions are:
Is this normal behavior?
Will it subside over time?
Is re-homing the best option for my Roos?
We did not want roosters to begin with. We do not want babies. We had some straight runs that we took a chance with. We have tried our best but I feel like it just isn’t working out.
We have 17 chickens (15 hens and 2 Roos). They are all 5 months old. My two Roos are aggressively mating ALL of the hens (no courting whatsoever…even chasing the hens down) and many times “tag teaming” the hens. It seems that every 5 minutes there is a hen screaming and trying to get away. I feel like this is not normal at all and my hens seem to be very stressed and scared. Some have injury to their combs.
Today I resorted to getting the two Roos out of the run in the morning, and letting them free range all day and away from the hens, whom I left inside the run. When the hens went into the coop for the night I let the Roos back in for bed.
The two Roos aggressively fought all day, perhaps they were stressed about being banished from the flock. My Roos are a Silkie and a Brahma. The Brahma is a beast and is clearly the head rooster.
My questions are:
Is this normal behavior?
Will it subside over time?
Is re-homing the best option for my Roos?
We did not want roosters to begin with. We do not want babies. We had some straight runs that we took a chance with. We have tried our best but I feel like it just isn’t working out.