# My roo is getting picked on



## tbroui (Sep 18, 2013)

I bought 6 chicks in the spring from the local feed store. Ended up with 5 RIR hens and a standard blue Cochin roo by accident. I also inherited a white rock hen and a black sex roo from my dad. All the same age. My Cochin is the cutest and sweetest ever. I noticed today he did not get off his perch. At noon, he was still inside the coop. When I got back from work at 6:30, he was still roosting in coop. I'm really not sure if he ever got down. I picked him up and put him in the run with the others and they all starting pecking at him until he ran off under the coop. What should I do???? I'm heart broken for my little outcast!


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

Have you checked him out thoroughly for something else wrong? If this is the first time this has happened, it makes me wonder if he's ill. Chickens will instinctively pick on weak members of the group. His behavior seems like a sick chicken.


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## tbroui (Sep 18, 2013)

What exactly should I be looking for? They all just got over fowl pox.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

Separate him . There is obviously something wrong. Check his body for injuries and if you see none it could be an internal issue. With him being seperated you can monitor his feed and water intake and watch for anything unusual.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Leave him be and let him get established in the pecking order. It seems your other rooster is going to be the dominant one and with no more hens than you have, your cochin will not have hens of his own. When the other rooster chases him and pecks him, the other birds are just joining in as will often happen if the bird doesn't have room to maneuver. 

You need to choose which rooster you want and commit to one, but you will not be able to keep both without the weaker rooster getting his butt kicked every day~particularly in a coop/run situation. He's staying on the roost because it's where he can't get trounced by the top roo. 

Since you have them in a pen/run situation and you don't need a rooster for flock protection and a sex link rooster won't breed true, you might want to get rid of your dominant rooster and keep your wimpy cochin. He will eventually move up in the pecking order amongst the hens as he takes breeding control. 

Or..you can build a whole separate coop and run and give this rooster his own set of girls(not recommended due to inconvenience, expense and this is just going to happen when you have flocks with multiple roosters). 

End advice is lose the sex link rooster...you don't need two roosters with no more hens than you have. If you are going to separate a rooster, make it that one.


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## tbroui (Sep 18, 2013)

Would it help if I got more hens, maybe even a Cochin or 2, but kept them all together. Their coop and pen are both large plus they do free range every afternoon and at least 3 full days when I'm off.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

You'll still want a ratio of 1:10 on the flock for roosters and hens, especially young, vigorous roosters. If you can provide each rooster an adequate number of hens, there will be less infighting over mating rights and less stress on the hens due to over mating by two young males.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

I had two roosters with 12 hens all this past year until I added more birds to my flock. Never had an issue with that ratio or the roosters fighting.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

No loss of feathers on the hens? You must have breeds or roosters with very low testosterone levels to co-exist well and not over breed the hens or fight. 

This doesn't seem to be the case for the OP...she has a very low testosterone male and one with a higher, more aggressive level who is guarding his hens from an extra male...which is pretty natural when the ratio is small and he can cover all the hens easily. If she just gets a few more hens, he'll likely commandeer those also and the cochin will most likely still be getting his butt kicked. 

I've had two roosters exist well together and no fighting or overuse of the hens, but that was 2 roosters with 28 hens, so plenty of space and hens to co-exist peacefully. I've even had a third, young and vigorous rooster in that ratio without fighting...but I'd say that would change if I had had less hens and had them in a coop/run situation.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

Nope no issues. Call it what you want "low testosterone" but all it does is show there is more than one way to raise chicken harmoniously.


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## tbroui (Sep 18, 2013)

I still don't really understand why the hens would be pecking at him. I have never seen the 2 roosters fight. The bigger rooster just flaps his wings and sticks his chest out and the Cochin runs the other way. That's why it's never really been a problem until now. The hens are the ones that are physically attacking him. But at dark, they have no problem snuggling up to him.


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## juiceasorus (Aug 14, 2013)

I had only 7 hens and two roos at one time in a coop/ run situation . But they have a decent amount of land fenced in that they roam. I got both roos and one hen on the second batch of chicks i got (straight run bantams, shoulda known better  ) but they worked it out and i never ever saw the roos mating with hens, or the hens picking on them. And the ros were half the hens sizes! P.S. just got my old roos wings clipped today, hehe little stinker wont be flyin in my hard to get munched by my mutt.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

If you never saw a rooster mating one of the hens, I would think that is another case of low testosterone. Even an old, gimpy rooster will breed a hen and often enough for you to see it happening now and again.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

tbroui said:


> I still don't really understand why the hens would be pecking at him. I have never seen the 2 roosters fight. The bigger rooster just flaps his wings and sticks his chest out and the Cochin runs the other way. That's why it's never really been a problem until now. The hens are the ones that are physically attacking him. But at dark, they have no problem snuggling up to him.


Sometimes the hens choose the flock master...if they don't pick on the sex link rooster but they do the cochin, could be the natural selection of driving off a male that is weaker and less able to be a strong breeder and less able to protect the flock.


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## juiceasorus (Aug 14, 2013)

Bee said:


> If you never saw a rooster mating one of the hens, I would think that is another case of low testosterone. Even an old, gimpy rooster will breed a hen and often enough for you to see it happening now and again.


Yes, probably. But now with my roo he seems to be ... "favoring"  this new chicken i git recently.mon another thread i think we decided it was a leghorn? And he is a bantam roo. Can they have chicks together? I thought that they had to be

1.) same or almost same size/breed

2.) in the spring time

He does his little dance around her but never mounts usually. We have rough and cold winters here and its already getting pretty chilly. I would rather not raise chicks in that weather. Haha, its very funny to watch him do his mating dance around her now because of his very recently clipped wings they no longer drag so he falls and topples over.

Also, ALL of my chicks and ducks are DEATHLY afraid of the rake i use  if i am mad at the roo cause he hit me i just take it out and he crows and whines like crazy!


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

They don't have to be the same breed or size and you can always prevent them from having chicks...just don't let a hen sit on the eggs if one goes broody.


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## juiceasorus (Aug 14, 2013)

Yes, i collect their eggs daily, but i would love to have some of their babies in the springtime


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

hhhmm Mine definitely don't have low testosterone then lol. Both roos mate like crazy. Each has their own set of hens that are their favorites.


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## juiceasorus (Aug 14, 2013)

Haha, yeah it might be cause you have more hens and give them a more "wild life' ?


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