What to do about a bully rooster?

Ash00

In the Brooder
May 2, 2019
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We recently got a silkie rooster to add to our flock. The lady who we got him from didn't know how old he was as she got him from someone else (she got him in a random assortment of chickens and didn't need any more roosters), but he seems to be about 1 year old to me. He is our only rooster and we have 6 adult hens and 10 pullets.

He seems like he's still in his cockerel phase, though. He chases the hens down 24/7 and is pretty aggressive about it, but they're pretty good at evading his attempts. But one hen in particular (1 year old Buff Orpington) he bullies all the time. He doesn't seem to be doing it to mate with her because he doesn't get on top of her; he'll just come up to her, face-to-face and start biting and tearing her comb. Her comb is all bloody and her head is wounded. She is the only one he seems to be doing this to, and she doesn't fight back, she just squats down and lets him do it or she runs away. She is the largest hen in our flock and has a huge floppy comb. I think it's only been going on for maybe 4 days, and we've had him in the flock for about 3 weeks now.

Other than getting rid of him, what can I do about this? Is there a way to get him to stop attacking her? I just separated him from the flock today because her comb was so bloody and she was so terrified. Earlier today I put Theracyn on her comb to treat the wound and to maybe keep him from pecking her because of the taste, but that clearly didn't work. I'm going to look into pinless peepers to see if that stops him. Do you guys have any other solutions or ideas?
 
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If someone gets a rooster from someone else and then rehomes it 99% of the time it's because it's aggressive. I don't think whoever you got him from was being completely honest with their rehoming reasoning... As said above I wouldn't keep a rooster that's aggressive to hens. There's a good chance he's just going to pass that temperament onto his offspring.
 
A good rooster the hens adore, they pay attention to him, and he takes care of them, not attacking them.

Mrs K
That's my Goose to a T ♥️🐔♥️
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