11 week old roo mounting my girls..already?

[TammyTX]

Last week my husband told me he heard one of the roo's trying to crow. This morning I went out and my alpha roo "Keeper" (11 wk old Cuckoo Maran) was making a YEE-HAW sound trying to crow. Well, this evening, much to my surprise, I see him dancing around one of the Jersey Giant hens and then he tried to mount her! The roo is big, I measured him against the fence and he stands 16 inches w/o stretching his neck.

....aren't they a little young? I don't remember when the roo's started pouncing on my hens w/my last flock but it seemed to happen just before the hens began laying. But the hens are too young...?!

Is this normal? Does this mean the hens are getting ready to lay??

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I've got serama that are even younger doing that, I can tell the girl from the boys a little earlier, but you might want to put him in a different place he can injure your girls. if he's to rambunctious the young ones don't seem to now the girls are saying no.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Seems like the roos are usually ready for action long before their female flockmates are ready to comply & to lay. I don't know why Nature makes them this way, but I'll often hear the young pullets yelling "Yike! Yike! YIKE!" and come out to see the cockerels standing on their backs & pulling their hair. You'll know the pullets are ready to lay when their combs get red & they get more agreeable to the cockerels' ideas.

 

[TammyTX]

The girls aren't ready. Some of their faces/ears/wattles are getting pretty red but not so much their combs. I wasn't expecting any eggs until August, they were born on Feb 14th.

Great. I have no other place to put the birds until then. I have 10 roo's and 40 pullets. We were going to take all but 4 of the roos in for processing in a couple of weeks. I hope the girls are okay until then.

Thank you so much for the advice.

 

[Mahonri]

11 weeks... testosterone overload!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

With that ratio your pullets *should* be all right, but just keep a watch on things & have a Plan B if you need to intervene. I had a little bantam pullet get her sides torn open by ambitious young cockerels who didn't even yet have their spurs. If you must, you can house your 6 eating cockerels in something like rabbit cages for a few weeks, the confinement will only help keep them tender.

 

[speckledhen]

I have had younger ones than that..in fact, right now, I have some 9 week old Delawares who are already grabbing the girls.

 

[TammyTX]

Quote:
Out of the four we keep I think only three will be able to breed. The forth is Tiny Tim, the short legged, deform footed(?) roo that my husband won't let me process. I think with his foot it would be impossible for him to balance on the girls backs....and least that's what I'm telling myself.

He might just have to get "accidently" mixed up with the eatin roos!!

I do have an empty rabbit cage (good idea) but maybe I can talk the DH into a temp cage....

I guess chickens are like kids nowadays, growing up FAST!

 

[laurenlulu]

These are my first chicks, so I'm a little green- but there is no denying what my 9 week old BC Marans roo is trying to do to his 9 week old Buff Orpington pullet mates. It will be pretty funny when he tries it with the big girls