Help! Neighbor's rooster tormenting my girls.

[sjane74]

I am hoping to get some objective advice on this situation. We moved into our home last year. Now we have 7 young hens. We have a coop and enclosed run for them, but for a few hours a day we let them free-range around the backyard; they don't stray too far from the coop. I am home all day and check on them constantly.

Our next-door neighbors, who we are basically friendly with, have 3 roosters and 7 hens. Yes, too many roosters! The birds are "owned" by the 15-year-old who lives there. He no longer wants the roosters and has tried to sell them and give them away - no takers. He was advised they aren't worth butchering because they are too old.

As of about a month ago, one of those roosters has assumed ownership of my flock. He is not a nice rooster. He has chased me a couple of times (I put an end to that) and has chased down the 15-year-old's younger sister. Each morning, this rooster struts - and I do mean struts! - over to our yard and hangs out in front of the coop, crowing loudly. My girls seem intimidated by him and give him a wide berth, but since he was not showing any overt aggression to them, I figured it was ok if he hung around.

A couple of days ago, though, he starting showing more aggression. I tried to give the girls treats and he ran over, scared them off, and tried to eat the treats himself. A couple of times he tried to block me from putting the girls back in the coop so he can go in and eat their food. Then one afternoon he chased down my smallest girl and pecked at her a few times until she got under the bushes.

I chase him away repeatedly and so does my husband, but he just comes back 10 minutes later.

We talked with the teen who owns the roosters, and he was very apologetic. He claims the roo keeps breaking out of the run and taking off. Told us outright that if he came into our yard again, we had full permission to shoot the roo (we have a pellet gun for predators). For two days, the roo stayed in his coop next door. It was very peaceful, my girls were so happy!

But now he's back. In fact, he's standing at the coop door crowing as I write this! I am at the end of my rope.

Maybe I am a wimp, and I feel silly for being intimidated by a rooster on my own property - and it's not even my animal! But the idea of taking its life gives me serious pause. At the same time, the neighbor doesn't seem to care enough to keep the animal on his property, and I don't see any other resolution, really. How would you handle this?

Thank you in advance.

 

[dermerchickens]

Shoot him... You could eat him.. It may not be as good or something.. but you could stew him to soften the meat. I think, if you don't shoot him, he could take one of YOUR chickens lifes..

 

[Sjisty]

How about animal control? They should be able to come out and pick him up for you. If the young man doesn't want them, he could list them for free on Craig's List, or maybe you could with his permission.

Personally, I wouldn't have any trouble shooting him. Even old roosters taste good in a stew!

Good luck!

 

[BigRedRoo]

I have a groop of people who feed "Raw" to their dogs who love when I cull off the extra roosters. Try posting live chickens for dog food, just a thought. I know my guy comes and helps with the culling in exchange for cheep dog meat.

 

[sjane74]

Thank you for the responses. I figure animal control, if they take him at all, would just euthanize him. So we could spare him the terror of being hauled off by just offing him quickly. My husband was ready to shoot it three days ago! I keep telling myself it's the most practical solution and God forbid he hurts one of my ladies. My friend sent me a recipe for coq au vin, lol.

He already posted ads on Craigslist for the roos and got no interest.

To be honest, I think I just needed to hear from other chicken owners that it's acceptable to kill a mean rooster.

 

[sjane74]

Thanks, BigRedRoo, that might be an option.

 

[centrarchid]

I am going to be critical, based in part because I had difficulty understanding your situation. Making an educated guess you do not currently have hens, rather you have pullets and they have not yet reached the point-of-lay. Once that point is realized there will be big change in the dynamic between rooster and your "hens" that will like be approved of.

If you cannot handle him then kill him with whatever means you have at your disposal. I kill lots of roosters and "hens" every year but it is out of necessity rather than as a means to resolve conflicts that would otherwise resolve themselves.


If you are more interested in turning a lemon into lemonade then I suggest you commandeer him and pen him up in a small coop. Get him to imprint on your place. When he is released he will stay to roost. At that point he will provide at least marginal protection from hawks assuming he is not some sort of bantam. As your females mature into hens he will give them first dibs on eats and may keep the balance of the neighbor's flock off your property. It would be a cheap way to get a rooster.



Currently your flock stays on your yard. I will place money on that your flock will go to your neighbors as yours mature and it is at least in part because your neighbor has at least one rooster. You see you have too few roosters. Then you will be the problem rather than the kid.

The too many versus too few when it comes to roosters is not something all parties will agree on, especially the chickens but their keepers as well.

 

[sjane74]

Thank you, centrarchid. I do appreciate the information and different perspective, because as you can see I am new to chicken-keeping. Yes, sorry for not using the correct terminology. They are pullets, not yet laying eggs.

My initial thought when he started coming around was, "Great! This roo will help protect our flock from predators!"

But then he went after my littlest. So seeing as they are not yet mature hens, is he a physical threat to them? It's hard not to think so, after seeing him pluck a few feathers out of her back.

 

[centrarchid]

The feathers will be replaced quickly.

It is not in the roosters interest to cause your pullets lasting harm to your pullets. In all likelihood he sees them as a potential harem and will adjust his behavior accordingly but it takes a little time, especially if the rooster is not fully mature. How old is he? Being too old for some folks to cook just means it can crow. Even if a couple years old he is having to switch mental gears from being territorial to being cock-of-the-walk.

Show a picture of him and your pullets.

 

[sjane74]

Thanks. I don't have a pic of them all together, but here is the rooster and my girls. Not sure how old he is, I can ask. I'm guessing 2 or 3 years old.