Rooster Mating my Hens to death? Is something else going on?

[terrilee]

I have two Pioneer Dixie Rainbow roosters. I have just lost my second hen and it seems it is due to one of the roos aggressive mating. There were 12 hens for the 2 roosters and they seem to be okay except that Dufus keeps picking on one hen and mating over and over again and each time that one seems to go into some kind of shock and then dies. About 3 weeks ago i was doing my nightly count and one was missing. I found her under the coop alive but eyes closed and barely alive. We pulled her out and was checking her to see if any injuries etc, and there wasn't anything wrong with her and suddenly she twirled her head around a bit, her legs went straight out and she died right in my husbands arms. All of the others seemed to be fine.

Two days ago Dufus kept mounting Blossom over and over again and since I was doing decorations for a large party my husband was seeing what was going on with all of this and then started holding Blossom, which she seemed to wanted, in order to get away from Dufus. A little later I went outside and Blossom was sitting in my garden and when she tried to get up she kept staggering and one leg was not holding her up. When I felt in her upper leg she would lightly peck me, telling me that it hurt. So we are thinking that Dufus broke her leg up high. After looking in BYC about treatment, I just set up a bin to keep her in, in the house to keep her from walking on it, which she doesn't much anyways. So she is being cared for in the house, isolated from the rest.

Yesterday my husband was home from work in the afternoon and let the flock out of the run to free range, as usual. Dufus kept mounting Lucy and he said even afterward Dufus would keep pecking at her head. He doesn't have spurs (neither of my rooster's do). I didn't get home until late and didn't know about any of this but then found Lucy in one of the nesting box, her eyes closed, and mouth partially opened and panting. I put together another bin and put her in it this morning. I tried to get her to drink but she wouldn't open her eyes and was going fast. I left for work but I asked hubby to feed her a dropper of water when he got home to see if we could save her. By the time he got home Lucy was dead. I am totally freaking out!! All of the other girls seem to be doing fine and so before I left for work I coaxed Dufus out of the run on his own and left him outside of the run to roam. We plan to kill him and are making a homemade cone to do so. Lucy, my Araucana, and Hippo (grandson named) Golden Comet, were both born on April 2.

Another weird thing, that may have some bearing, Blossom who is in the house to mend her leg is acting weird when she eats and opens her beak too wide and not eating well. I'm starting to think there is something else going on although there is no similarity between her and the other two. She wobbles over to her food and seems to be getting worse on her feet and only wants to eat when I feed her out of my hand.

I'm soooo stressed out over this. Please someone help me to see what is going on? Thank you in advance.

 

[QueenMisha]

I haven't owned Dixie Rainbows, but from what I can tell they are similar to Red Rangers - which I have owned. I tried keeping a Ranger roo from my last batch of meaties. He was maybe 12 pounds full grown, and he mated 5-6 hens to death before I realized he was the one killing them.

Best option is definitely stew.

 

[Beer can]

Two options. Isolation for awhile, when you put him back he might not be so dominant, loose his ranking in the pecking order.
Or the above post, stew.

 

[terrilee]

Thank you so much for at least validating that this was possible. He is a very big boy for sure and I thought it feasible that all of this stemmed from him.

I'm hand feeding my little blossom, and I bought some nutri-drench as well. We also bought some dewormer, and lice spray.....we were freaking out. Sunday was also the first time we started getting eggs, including one from Blossom. The eggs are perfect, nice thick shell etc so i think they are getting well fed, with all the extra veggies I provide them. I just hope I can get Blossom back on her feet again.

It's really great to know that there is a place to get some support and again your responses were much appreciated.

 

[cmonkey]

We have experienced something similar in the past couple of weeks with our roosters. We had two large cuckoo marans that were getting very aggressive with their mating, often mounting the same hen at the same time and then fighting on top of here. We had 1 cuckoo maran female get VERY exhausted and was acting funny. We had to put the roosters in the coop and leave the hens out all evening alone. The one female was acting very lethargic and just stood at the feeder for long periods of time like she was starving. I think it comes down to exhaustion and not getting enough to eat/drink because they are always hiding or being chased or mated with.


They have been put down now so hoping it gets better.

 

[terrilee]

As a follow up. We took Blossom to the vet and her screaming pain was due to a broken back. We had her put to sleep and culled both roosters that same evening. A lot of first and a lot of emotions over this experience for us but we got thru it and I'm sure we have many more experiences to get through since we have plans of increasing our flock. We currently do not have plans for roosters but it is due to our being rookies so that may change in the future. I really appreciate the replies. They all helped in combination to make the choices we did. The same thing happened with my only layer @cmonkey , both roosters were mounting her at the same time. Thankfully we were right there and my hubby grabbed a stick and knocked them off. Even at that she was quite stressed from it. After that my roosters were sent outside of the coop and run to fend for themselves, which was for two days until we had the chance to take blossom to vet & cull them. My husband was worried the coyotes or raccoons would get them but I felt there was no other choice. I wasn't going to lose another hen! I am happy to say that all my girls are super happy & healthy as well as their owners.

Oh, and two large birds in the freezer!

 

[allpeepedout]

This is a sad story. Glad you have some resolution and took good care of your poor hen.

I wonder if the Rainbow breed emphasis on early weight gain is part of the problem? Sounds like these roosters are bred for meat, so the very fast weight gain might make them less suitable than other breeds for housing with pullets, especially as randy adolescents?

On dealing with mating, others have suggested separating roosters until they get through the teenage years and getting bantam roosters to spare hens. I provide lots of hideouts and getaway places for my hens, although it looks like you did have a really large area for yours.

 

[terrilee]

Sorry I'm just getting your message. I agree with the thought of the Rooster's being the wrong breed of rooster because of the fast weight gain, and i've also considered the bantam idea. Thank you for validating that thought and with your many ideas.

I guess this is part of the newbie learning curb. One of these days I may get another rooster but for now we are all a lot happier.

 

[Chicken lover❤️]

So I have a rooster with spurs but there still growing and he mates with chickens every morning like 4 times but it is mostly wendy he mates with and I think maybe your problem with the girls is that maybe they were threatened by the rooster because when my rooster try to mount the girls and the girls don't want him to they bite his back and he gets off.my point is that your rooster was a threat to the coop.and the girls were getting a tresses wich is bad for them.you did the right thing good job.

 

[KentuckyRooster]

Glad you figured out what was happening.

Bantam roos are a better choice. It sounds like these guys were so heavy your poor hens were unable to bear the weight of them.