7 week old Ameraucana...boy or girl?

[Nagi]

He/she crowed for the first time last week...do i have a boy? :-S
thank you so much!
In the last pic, he/she is chilling with the Cornish Crosses....

 

[donrae]

Yep, that's a male.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Yep, that's a male.

x2

 

[Nagi]

awww poop...I thought so for the longest time but I was holding out hope....
thanks so much--though the answer is not what I wanted to hear, I am very grateful for your responses! Thank you!
If he had a better personality I would consider decrowing him--he's incredibly intelligent,beautiful and very alert to danger but he just loves to attack everyone in the flock and be top dog. Last week I caught him biting and trying to drag one of the Cornish Cross females away from the food. He pecked her head and bit her neck repeatedly and I had to separate them. I'm not sure if it is pecking order behavior or just meanness, but it was so violent...

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

awww poop...I thought so for the longest time but I was holding out hope....
thanks so much--though the answer is not what I wanted to hear, I am very grateful for your responses! Thank you!
If he had a better personality I would consider decrowing him--he's incredibly intelligent,beautiful and very alert to danger but he just loves to attack everyone in the flock and be top dog. Last week I caught him biting and trying to drag one of the Cornish Cross females away from the food. He pecked her head and bit her neck repeatedly and I had to separate them. I'm not sure if it is pecking order behavior or just meanness, but it was so violent...

Holy crap! That's terrible, awful behavior and in no way is it normal. Harming females is pathological behavior. This boy needs to be culled ASAP. He absolutely should not ever be used for breeding and should be taken out of the flock right away.

 

[Nagi]

Thank you SO much for letting me know! This is my first time raising chickens and I don't know what is normal and what isn't. I will take care of things then.....I'm glad to know this is not normal behavior. The other males are very relaxed but I thought it was because of their lower status.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Thank you SO much for letting me know! This is my first time raising chickens and I don't know what is normal and what isn't. I will take care of things then.....I'm glad to know this is not normal behavior. The other males are very relaxed but I thought it was because of their lower status.

No, that's not normal behavior in any way. In fact, my alpha roo is probably the most relaxed guy I've got. He just surveys his kingdom, most of the time. The other roosters know better than to challenge him, and he mostly ignores them.

A good rooster will be good to his hens. He will dance for them before mating, show them good nesting sites, break up some hen fights, and will call the girls over and show them goodies by clucking in a certain way and picking up the food and dropping it for them. He may chase them around every once in a while, or peck one to enforce discipline, but never enough to pull out feathers or draw blood or pull them away from their food.

I also think that a rooster that shows aggression towards people should be culled, too. Roosters that attack and spur people should not be bred from--or tolerated, IMO. Aggression and violence in chickens is hereditary, so if you breed from an aggressive rooster you are breeding more aggressive birds.

Once you get rid of this guy, your flock will be more relaxed and the hens will feel safer (and may lay better). One of the other boys will step up as the flock alpha. There may be some scrapping for a few days to a week while the pecking order is re-established, but it will eventually settle down. Good luck.

 

[donrae]

I agree, that's not normal, especially for such a young bird. He needs to be invited to dinner

 

[Nagi]

thank you so much for the info--I really appreciate it. He will be a mini meal, but yes, I am going to do my first processing this weekend so he will be included.

Yes, I think the other birds will be relieved. No more getting jumped on unprovoked(he will jump up and land on heads then peck them).

I don't know if chickens poop on someone as a statement or if this is just coincidence but this morning I was holding him(I let the others out first because morning is when the fighting is most intense) and my Rhode Island Red female jumped up on my arm, turned around,pooped on him and then jumped off.