Hens doing rooster mating to the flock - What should I do to stop this?

[SkyAJK]

I have 3 hens are now chasing the rest of the flock of hens to mate them. I need this to stop because it is causing distress in the flock.

3 hens are housing together in a big run, the big hen doing rooster mating to the 2 smaller hens. These 2 hens are having mating damage on their feathers.

I separated the big hen from the 2 hens.

The flock of 6 other hens house together in another run and they are happy with each other, no issue.

Whenever the 2 hens mingle with the rest of the flock in the garden in the afternoon, they themselves chases other hens to do the rooster mating behaviour. The flock is not happy so they run everywhere to avoid these 2 hens.

I don't know what to do to stop this hen rooster mating behaviour.

I want my flock to be together, this is also good for me to not having to do more work like more feed, water and cleaning coops and runs.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[aart]

Probably just dominance, rather then "mating", behaviors.
How old are all these birds?
How long since you put them all together?
How big, in feet by feet(or meters by meters), is the current run and coop?

 

[SkyAJK]

@aart
We used to have a rooster until late last year. We do not have a rooster in the flock now.

Their action is exact action of the rooster doing the mating, the pulling head feather, tail..etc..

The 3 hens that are doing the rooster behaviour were housed together around 2 months.

Initially there were only 2 standard size hens, they were peaceful with each other in a big run just the 2 of them. Their run approx 6m length x 4m width.

Just 2 months ago, I added in a big bully hen into this run so they are 3 together. There was no issue at first, but recently I found that the 2 hens are being mated by the big bully hen to the point they are losing their back feather.

Additional problem is that - Now these 2 hens also jump on the rest of the flock when they all get to mingle in the afternoon.
This flock is living in a separate area to these 2.

Issue are:
1. the 2 hens that are being mate have damage feather to the point only skin on their back half way to their tails.

2. they are doing it to the rest of the flock
3. when will this dominance issue ever end?

That big bully hen is now living by herself during the day, but she had train the other 2 hens to behave badly.

 

[Toothpick]

Are you sure they are not actually roosters?
I've never seen that sort of behavior from hens. Might be time for some new hens.

 

[SkyAJK]

Are you sure they are not actually roosters?
I've never seen that sort of behavior from hens. Might be time for some new hens.

As you can see I do have a big problem there. 2 hens lay eggs and non of them crow.
Their behaviours are exactly of rooster mating gestures.

Rehome is not an option, chicken soup is also not an option so only what solution to ease this?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Pinless peepers?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Learn about Pinless Peepers here, they might solve your oroblem.

https://www.chickenfans.com/pinless-peepers/#:~:text=Pinless peepers are tiny plastic chicken

 

[500Chickens]

usually when I have an unwanted trait/behavior the animal just gets culled

 

[BigBlueHen53]

She said she does not want to rehome or kill her birds.

 

[500Chickens]

you could just separate them