16 week cockerel behavior questions

[ChickenChick46]

Oh, it is hilarious, and it is just my Hey Dudes.

Thank you for your input and understanding. I have tried pinless peepers, separation, and pinning them down to lower their standing, but they are still horrible and have earned a spot in freezer camp.

I was hoping he would eventually help, which is why I decided to keep him when he turned out to be a roo.

I watched my neighbor's flock over the holidays while she went on vacation, and the boots I wore over there were these cheap rain boots from Rural King. They had watermelons on them. One of her turkeys would follow me around and peck at those watermelons relentlessly. It would crack me up.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

My post may have been confusing. I will edit it. I only have the one Cockerel/Roo.

Oh sorry, I meant that the impact of the dominant hens could be the equivalent of a dominant roo.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Your cockerel is too young yet at 16 weeks. Give him time, right now he's deathly afraid of the older girls as they're teaching him how to be nice. Once he matures he'll earn his place as flock leader.

As for the Marans, if plenty of space and hideaway things blocking line of sight and multiple feeders/waterers isn't the issue you may just have another issue going on as I don't tend to see this as a breed trait. Marans in my experience can tend to be on the top of the pecking order, but I would lean towards something is aggravating them for all to be bullying.

Best of luck with your situation.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have to agree with @wrathsfarm in that my marans have never been bullies. I have raised quite a few and never had even one be a bully. They have held their own but five bullies sounds like an issue unrelated to their breed. I know that’s not your question but I would lean toward keeping the cockerel and seeing if he can help with them in addition to trying to figure out why they are being so aggressive in general.

 

[wrathsfarm]

How old are the girls? Did you raise this cockerel with them or is he new?

How long has the bullying been going on?
If this is all fairly recent and your cockerel is new, this could be your cause. He could be causing stress in the pecking order.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I have to agree with @wrathsfarm in that my marans have never been bullies. I have raised quite a few and never had even one be a bully. They have held their own but five bullies sounds like an issue unrelated to their breed. I know that’s not your question but I would lean toward keeping the cockerel and seeing if he can help with them in addition to trying to figure out why they are being so aggressive in general.

I'm beyond maxed out on coop space with close to 80 BCMs and don't see bullying. The typical chasing of the youngsters and occasional fight with a broody that's been separated for 3 weeks but those end quick when my main roo steps in.

OP needs a BCM rooster, maybe they don't like his color? Birds of a feather....

 

[ChickenB12]

As for the Marans, if plenty of space and hideaway things blocking line of sight and multiple feeders/waterers isn't the issue you may just have another issue going on as I don't tend to see this as a breed trait. Marans in my experience can tend to be on the top of the pecking order, but I would lean towards something is aggravating them for all to be bullying.

Best of luck with your situation.

Thank you for that input, I do appreciate it. They have a massive yard, around 800sqft, a 100sqft coop, lots of enrichment, fresh treats and greens daily, 4 feed buckets with 4 ports each, a waterer with 12 nipples, and I only have 16 chickens. They have free choice of oyster shell, lots of dust baths, and their yard is made of different types of material, so they get dirt, river sand, and squege.

I don't know what else it could be besides the fact that my other breeds are perfectly fine and don't exhibit any of the behaviors these 5 do. They have been like this since they were chicks; they are all about 18 months old.

OP needs a BCM rooster, maybe they don't like his color? Birds of a feather....

Um, they do actually go after my girls who are lighter in color. They are worse toward my orange easter egger, my yellow easter egger, and are starting to peck at my 16-week-old Barred Rocks

 

[ChickenB12]

I'm beyond maxed out on coop space with close to 80 BCMs and don't see bullying. The typical chasing of the youngsters and occasional fight with a broody that's been separated for 3 weeks but those end quick when my main roo steps in.

OP needs a BCM rooster, maybe they don't like his color? Birds of a feather....

They may not be black copper marans, they could be midnight majesty marans. I bought a mystery pack of chicks as my first chicks from Hoovers in February 2024. Idk if that makes a difference, but they are marans.

 

[wrathsfarm]

They may not be black copper marans, they could be midnight majesty marans. I bought a mystery pack of chicks as my first chicks from Hoovers in February 2024. Idk if that makes a difference, but they are marans.

Not really to each other. I've got MMMs also and they're a hybrid sex link...BCM x Barred Rock with the Barred Rock being a docile breed in and of itself.

With your description I don't understand what the cause is but it's sad to hear your having such troubles with the Marans or hybrid MMMs you have. I can't say enough about how I enjoy my Marans and hope you come to a solution that fixes your issues. I can only hope you don't dismiss the breed in general but I realize how this would put you off, I have a Silver Laced Wyandotte in my mixed flock that used to be an absolute bully to the point I was going to sharpen the axe but the victim has now stepped up from being broody last year and has now become head hen. But she really left a bad taste towards Wyandottes as a breed whole, so I get it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

currently he’s terrified of all my older girls, my question is will he grow out of it?

My experiences raising cockerels with a mature flock where he will eventually take over as flockmaster is that several different things can happen.

The whole process can be fairly peaceful. No bullying or vicious attacks. One of the hens is dominant until one day he peacefully takes over.

Sometimes the more mature hens seek him out to do him damage, especially the dominant hen. Some people consider this to be schooling him or teaching him manners. I consider it to be brutal bullying but totally in character with some chickens. They can be bullies if they perceive another chicken to be weak. If he survives he will eventually take over. With the room you have I'd expect him to survive. The actual takeover may be brutal.

Fairly often he starts out forcing the pullets his age to mate. Sometimes the head hen ignores this, sometimes she knocks him off if he tries where she can see him. There is usually little fighting when this happens, he just runs off and she lets him.

At some point he will want to mate with the other mature hens. Some of the lower ranking ones may mate with him willingly (depends on his maturity and their personality) but the head hen and maybe other higher ranking hens may fight him off or just run away from him. Again the head hen may knock him off, even if the other mature hen is willing. Usually knocking him off is enough for her as long as he runs away.

Eventually the cockerel will mature enough to try to take over the flock from the head hen. In many of these scenarios that actual takeover can be pretty peaceful but it can also be pretty brutal. It depends a lot on the personality of the head hen and the cockerel.

Most of my cockerels take over as flock master at around 7 months age. Often it is pretty rough as they go through puberty but once they take over it is pretty calm. The earliest I had a cockerel take over was five months, he was pretty dominant and the hens were more submissive. I had a cockerel not move to take over until he was 11 months old. The head hen was pretty dominant and he had a fairly weak personality, I chose wrong with him. That was my bloodiest takeover. For two days he attacked her every time she approached the flock. They finally worked it out without either getting seriously injured. It could have ended differently.

I don't know what will finally happen with your flock, it could go many different ways. It is up to you to decide if you want a rooster and why. I think he has a decent chance to make a flock master but he may be totally unsuitable for that. Some just don't have the personality. Another option is that you decide you don't want to be bothered and eliminate him now and skip the drama.

Good luck!