For those of you Breeding- I have a question about rooster behavior....

[RememberTheWay]

So I have a rooster that is perfect in every way I look for EXCEPT for a new development. I have some chicks between 6-10 wks fully feathered just small still that could get into his run sometimes because they fit through the fencing. When they get in there he grabs them and attempts to mount them like he would a mature hen! I've saved them and made it where they can no longer get in there with him. He is about a yr old and was slow to mature. So my question is will this behavior go away as he matures And levels out or will this always be a thing? Or God forbid, get even worse? My other roosters do not do this. They leave the chicks alone, like they know they aren't mature and only mate the hens. I liked this roo until he began this behavior. Do I need to cull for this?


Was hoping maybe someone else had dealt with similar behavior and could expand on their experience with it...

Pic for attention

 

[talkinboutchickens]

When they get in there he grabs them and attempts to mount them like he would a mature hen!

How much smaller are they than the rooster?

 

[LaurenRitz]

I have a young cockerel that is doing something similar. The pullets are 13 weeks old. He tried to mate the smallest, she got scalped and I think was crushed.

This started only after the adult hens had rejected him and the adult roo started running him off. I am hoping also that it's just a phase, but I don't know.

In the interim he and his brothers are in the bachelor pad for another month before I try letting them out again.

 

[RememberTheWay]

I have a young cockerel that is doing something similar. The pullets are 13 weeks old. He tried to mate the smallest, she got scalped and I think was crushed.

This started only after the adult hens had rejected him and the adult roo started running him off. I am hoping also that it's just a phase, but I don't know.

In the interim he and his brothers are in the bachelor pad for another month before I try letting them out again.

Oh, man. That's what I'm scared of happening. But these chicks are even smaller then yours! And he has a few hens that like them. About a wk ago I found another chick in there screeching and he and a hen had it cornered and she was pulling feathers out the chick!

Not sure where to go from here. Was hoping someone with more experience would let me know if this behavior was something he would put grow or if it wasn't and I needed to cull him.....

 

[Ridgerunner]

attempts to mount them like he would a mature hen

How is he housed? Is he in a run by himself, in a bachelor pad with other males, in a mixed flock of males and females, with some females of some age? You say the other roosters don't bother the chicks. How do the other roosters have a chance to interact with the chicks?

What do you mean "slow to mature"? Can you please describe why you say that?

It's hard for me to have much faith in an opinion if I don't know what is going on. I have no ideas what your goals or plans are for him, why you might want to keep him.

The mating act is not always about fertilizing eggs. It is a way to establish dominance. If you introduce a mature rooster to a flock of hens he'll usually immediately mate one or two to show his dominance and he is the new flock master unless they fight him. Sometimes a hen will "mate" another hen to show she is the dominant chicken in the absence of a rooster. A rooster will mate a hen in front of another rooster to show that he is the boss. I suspect something like this is going on but I sure don't know for sure.

It is normal for young immature cockerels to behave like this, especially with young immature pullets. It is a dominance thing, not a "I know they are not laying yet but I have to fertilize the eggs anyway" thing. They should grow out of it eventually. As long as no one is getting hurt I don't worry about it. If it gets too rough I isolate the boys until they grow to butcher rage.

He is a year old. He would not meet my goals so I would get rid of him. I don't know what your goals are and I do not know your circumstances so I don't know how to advise you.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I don't know. I've never had a cockerel interested in the young pullets before. They pretty much ignore them until they're laying age.

If he's a year old he's fully mature, but I don't know why the behavior started.

In my cockerel's case he had full access to the hens (my rooster is a wimp) and then they started fighting him and the rooster drove him off. All dressed up and nowhere to go. I could see the frustration, but I didn’t realize how much of a problem it was.

As Ridgerunner said, it's hard to know what to advise without knowing your goals. It sounds like you're planning to breed him, and it might not even be an issue if he's never going to be around chicks. If he's ever intended to be part of a flock that includes chicks, I would think long and hard about whether he's safe.

If you want him to be part of an ongoing breeding project, I would cull. You don't want that behavior passed on.