10/11 week old cockerel mating?

[pinecone33]

I have this cockerel who is 10/11 weeks old now, he already is trying to mate one of the older hens (not the pullets his age but the proper old ones) is this normal at that age because apparently we have two other cockerels and they don’t mate with anyone or even crow like he does but he crows and has tried mating with one hen more than once now. The hen is not interested so she resists and he gets off and she pecks him and leaves. And no he doesn’t try again after she resists he just goes and does his own thing.

by the way the pecking has always been prominent with that hen she pecked all the cockerels and pullets when they were introduced to them for no reason ( I guess to show them she’s in charge ?) I don’t know why I added this part but I thought it could be important information.

Does anyone have any opinions on this?

 

[sourland]

In all species some just mature earlier than others. That boy is an early starter but not unusually so.

 

[Mrs. K]

Looks like you are just starting? IMO cockerels are a crap shoot. You really just don't know how they will turn out, and how they act today is no indicator for tomorrow. You need a plan for what to do when they don't work out.

I think you get slightly better odds if you have a cockerel raised up under older birds that can teach them some manners. That is what she is doing, teaching him some manners.

He is early maturing, cockerels often mature much earlier than the pullets. A cockerel can make a pullets life hell. MULTIPLE cockerels are worse.

The odds of 3 cockerels working out are very slim. A lot of things can go wrong. It is so hard to convince new people to chickens because the cockerels have such darling personalities, much more so than the pullets at this stage.

You need a plan B, and the plan needs to be ready to go. At the very least a dog crate and a fishnet to catch and separate the cockerels when:

• roosters fighting each other - being raised together has no influence on this, these can be a one time fight, or reoccurring and becoming more violent
• cockerels over mating and harassing pullets - the pullets are loosing feathers and hiding away from food and water to avoid the physical contact
• attacking humans - most inexperienced people vastly underestimate the violence of an aggressive rooster.
• I would not keep 3 roosters unless I had a flock of nearly 45 hens and free ranged on a prairie or forest conditions - not free ranging in a fenced back yard
• neighbors may not like the crowing contests

Mrs K