Bonded roosters?

[Mississclucky]

I had 2 hens and 2 roosters in my flock. Got them at the same time 7 weeks old from different flocks. All the sources I've read said that roosters crow more frequently when there are competing roosters around, so last week we culled the non-dominant rooster thinking it would reduce the crowing. It totally backfired! Now our solo head rooster is crowing 3x more than before! He now DOES NOT STOP throughout the day. Has anyone experienced this with their rooster? Thinking back I'm wondering if this increased crowing is actually because he felt bonded with the other rooster, and crows just as he would crow when he is missing one of the hens. They only fought a tiny bit back when they were first going through puberty but for months I've never seen any hint of aggression between them.

 

[Chookchicken]

It sounds like he is just letting everyone and everything around him know that he is dominant.

One problem I see is that you said you only have 2 hens. You need at least 9 hens per rooster. If you don’t have enough hens for a rooster it can result in over mating. In some cases over mating has lead to death for a hen. If you can’t get more hens I’d look into re-homing him, or culling him.

 

[Faiyumi]

I doubt this is anything to do with being bonded. Bonding absolutely can happen, but realistically what you are seeing in this situation is that they were keeping each other from crowing. Very dominant roosters will not allow the other to crow and if they are both young and competitive then it's possible they were both fighting over who should crow. Now that he's alone he's got full range to crow without retaliation. It should calm down eventually but he may stay like this for awhile.

The second possibility is that when they were together he didn't feel as much competition. Now that he's alone, I'm sure he hears other roosters in the distance. Competition is now back on. Perhaps he thought he competition was weak seeing his rooster mate. Now he doesn't know if the other roosters are tougher.

In this situation you probably made his day by culling his friend. If he was sad or depressed he would actually stop crowing. Roosters don't crow when they miss hens. They actually whine about it a lot. Their combs will fade and turn purple when they are depressed, stressed or lonely. They mostly crow just to annoy others . Jokes aside they crow for many reasons. From territorial disputes, inserting dominance, attracting flock members and being proud. So crowing is a good sign you didn't hurt him emotionally.

I wouldn't worry too much about the flock ratio like the other person said (no offense at all other person). Some roosters do absolutely fine in very small flocks. Even one or more rooster with one hen. While others still mate to death in larger hen ratios. They have favorite hens and can absolutely tear them up and ignore all the other girls. For one, certain breeds are better than others in that aspect and no two roosters are alike and to judge him based off actions of other hypothetical roosters is not fair at all. If you do notice over mating, then I would add a few more hens. If the over mating continues after that, I'd consider culling or housing him separately near them until he is more mature. Mature roosters don't mate as aggressively. The more important reason you should add some more hens is because they are flock animals and 3 total is a little small and depressing to them. I'd shoot for 5-6 hens minimum myself. But I'm sure you're going to get more one day anyways because chickens are awesome and it's hard not too.

 

[Vicky Ann Painting]

I have an Ayam Cemani Rooster we have had since Thanksgiving of last year. He was the picked on Roo at his old homestead so as sweet as can be. We brought him home and introduced him to the six Silver Laced Wyandotte hens we got the same day from another bird farm. Amazing hens. They were all about the same age at 6-7 months. We gave them time inside the coop and run exclusively for the first few days and then now allow them into their outer range yard. We don't lock the coop and run now that the weather is nice. It is 20x20 square. We have had perfect harmony until the last couple of weeks. The Roo starts to crow at me when I enter with food. He stares, and follows. He jumped at the back of my boot once but cowered when I turned around. He gets up on the coop run and makes his wings big and grumbles watching me. I believe he is challenging me because his hens follow me more than him and thinks he can take me. If my husband goes in, he is just as docile as before. I stopped interacting with the hens, throw treats at him, and move through him when my husband is with me, but I don't trust going in alone anymore. This morning he rushed up on the run and flapped, grumbling and staring at me. I sure do not want to have to eat him for supper, but in reading many of the rooster Q & A it doesn't seem like seasoned chicken owners think there is too much hope for him. Some say he will calm down after his hormones settle. Should that have already happened at almost a year old? He has not attacked anyone, yet. But I believe he has his sights on me. Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Chookchicken]

I have an Ayam Cemani Rooster we have had since Thanksgiving of last year. He was the picked on Roo at his old homestead so as sweet as can be. We brought him home and introduced him to the six Silver Laced Wyandotte hens we got the same day from another bird farm. Amazing hens. They were all about the same age at 6-7 months. We gave them time inside the coop and run exclusively for the first few days and then now allow them into their outer range yard. We don't lock the coop and run now that the weather is nice. It is 20x20 square. We have had perfect harmony until the last couple of weeks. The Roo starts to crow at me when I enter with food. He stares, and follows. He jumped at the back of my boot once but cowered when I turned around. He gets up on the coop run and makes his wings big and grumbles watching me. I believe he is challenging me because his hens follow me more than him and thinks he can take me. If my husband goes in, he is just as docile as before. I stopped interacting with the hens, throw treats at him, and move through him when my husband is with me, but I don't trust going in alone anymore. This morning he rushed up on the run and flapped, grumbling and staring at me. I sure do not want to have to eat him for supper, but in reading many of the rooster Q & A it doesn't seem like seasoned chicken owners think there is too much hope for him. Some say he will calm down after his hormones settle. Should that have already happened at almost a year old? He has not attacked anyone, yet. But I believe he has his sights on me. Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

You can leave him for now. It should show in the next few months if he’s going to be aggressive or not. You don’t have to kill him if he gets aggressive, it’s purely your choice. Most people just don’t want to deal with an aggressive rooster that tries to hurt them. It is advised that if your rooster is aggressive not to breed him since he’ll likely pass those aggressive genes down to the next generation. You can wait and see what happens.

I’m not sure if there is anything you can do to stop him from becoming aggressive, from my knowledge there isn’t any proven ways. People have claimed to find ways (including spraying water, pushing them with something like a flat tray, picking them up). It depends on the rooster, some will get the point, others will get more aggressive with you. You want to be sure that if you try you don’t hurt your rooster.

I’m not an expert. I would recommend making your own thread about this.

 

[Vicky Ann Painting]

Thank you for your input. I appreciate you taking the time. I am new to this site and posted it before I knew where to do so. haha. I will try making my own thread. Thanks again, and have an amazing day

 

[Chookchicken]

Thank you for your input. I appreciate you taking the time. I am new to this site and posted it before I knew where to do so. haha. I will try making my own thread. Thanks again, and have an amazing day

If you need any help with it I’m here

 

[Tonyroo]

When you interact with the chickens be predictable. Do the samething everyday, like a chore. It helps to where wear similar colored clothes in front of the chickens also.

Chickens are creatures of habit, they like familiarity and routines. Knowing this is something to help the rooster to feel less threatened. He will calm down over time.

 

[Vicky Ann Painting]

When you interact with the chickens be predictable. Do the samething everyday, like a chore. It helps to where wear similar colored clothes in front of the chickens also.

Chickens are creatures of habit, they like familiarity and routines. Knowing this is something to help the rooster to feel less threatened. He will calm down over time.

I was doing exactly that, but my husband stood in for me for a couple of days while I was busy away, and now that you mention it, his mistrust may have started then. I tried to go back to the routine, until he started making me nervous. He seemed to start reacting to the pink trim around the top of my muck boots, and my pink lunch box I carried the food in. So now I wear overalls that cover the boots, gloves, cover my skin and still try to do the same routine without the pink lunchbox. But he zones in on me and darts towards me zigging and zagging, grumbling and sometimes crowing loudly. When he flies to the top of the coop staring at me crowing it scares me and I leave. So I have resorted to tossing in food in the am, and when my husband comes home we go in together and collect eggs, clean the coop, and give fresh water. Do you think I am making it worse by changing more things? Last night when we were lighting the burn barrels and the sun was going down, I saw them all perching on the top of the coop (which they never do) instead of inside. I didn't think anything of it until my head flew off the pillow at 0130 and I searched reasons for the perching change. We immediately went in and clean out the coop in the the dark, and a mouse jumped out, there was what looked and smelled like saturated mouse pee in one of the corners of the floor tray. So we threw out all the bedding, and I wiped everything down with vinegar water. There are also, holes in the ground around the outside of the coop run. I am now concerned if they have experienced a predator attack at night. Is it possible this is why Gideon is on heightened alert protecting his flock? The whole thing saddens me. We had such a happy flock for months now. Thank you for your input. I really need it.

 

[Tonyroo]

I have experienced predators stalking and taking some chickens. So yes, he is threatened and on high alert which creates eradict behavior.

He also young so making sense of things is still difficult and confusing for him. And it is spring so the hormones are active.

Knowing what you know with the mouse in the coop you should keep tabs and make adjustments to keep them out. They will eventually feel safe roosting inside.