9 week old Cockerel tried to mate with a 9 week old pullet -- too aggressive/too soon?

[thistlewick]

Just wondering -- my younger Cockerel George crowed for the first time 2 days ago and now I witnessed him hold down and mount a pullet this evening right before roosting time. He did the exact thing of mounting, he got on her and held her down. She was squawking but didn't fight back. He got off her and did the little dance at her, and she ran away.


He is all of 9 weeks old... is this aggressive behavior too soon? Should I get rid of him? We need 2 roosters but I think I have a third, who isn't 'showing' yet because of this aggressive bossier one. He's an EE. He is gorgeous but I worry about him.

We have a 14 week old Cockerel who is just the loveliest gentleman alive, we LOVE him. He is stern, and has a steady hand and he isn't *sweet* to us but he knows his place. We LOVE him. He at 14 weeks does not really try to mount any of the 15/14/13 week old ladies that he is the boss of. Only a little -- he's tentative. lol Not a single crow out of him yet, either.

So is the 9 week old normal? Is it a bad sign?

 

[thistlewick]

I read around a bit and I guess it's normal.. should have googled before making a post I guess. I can't delete it.

 

[aart]

I read around a bit and I guess it's normal.. should have googled before making a post I guess. I can't delete it.

Click 'report' on your first post in this thread and ask to have the thread deleted.

 

[Mrs. K]

However, before you do ^^ that. Cockerels are young males, less than a year old. And you have several. I would recommend pulling the cockerels away from the pullets if you do not have older hens in the flock.

He might be ready, but 9-15 week old pullets are not. Several cockerels in a flock of just pullets can get rather wild, and often times they will breed and breed anything they can catch. It can get very rough.

When the pullets start to lay, then they are ready for a cockerel.

Also note: darling cockerels can turn to nightmares in a moment. The one thing I know about roosters is, how they are behaving today, is no indicator how they will behave later... unless it is bad behavior, that almost always gets worse.

If you do cull cockerels, and have three - I would cull one, and wait and see. Taking a cock out, will change the behavior of the remaining. Wait a bit and then make your finale decision. I would not want 2 cockerels unless I had a flock over 20. And do know, there is a reasonable possibility that none of these will work.

Mrs K

 

[thistlewick]

However, before you do ^^ that. Cockerels are young males, less than a year old. And you have several. I would recommend pulling the cockerels away from the pullets if you do not have older hens in the flock.

He might be ready, but 9-15 week old pullets are not. Several cockerels in a flock of just pullets can get rather wild, and often times they will breed and breed anything they can catch. It can get very rough.

When the pullets start to lay, then they are ready for a cockerel.

Also note: darling cockerels can turn to nightmares in a moment. The one positive thing about roosters is, how they are behaving today, is no indicator how they will behave later... unless it is bad behavior, that almost always gets worse.

If you do cull cockerels, and have three - I would cull one, and wait and see. I would not want 2 cockerels unless I had a flock over 20.

Mrs K

Oooh thank you so much!!

I have 18 pullets total, and 3 Cockerels (I believe the other EE I have is a Cockerel as well, just not as advanced as George)

I have 12 pullets from an older starter flock - 15/14/13 weeks old -- those 12 girls have had Sarge, a Cockerel, with them from the start. He seems to manage them well - and he looks after them. He doesn't challenge us, he steers clear. We've always walked with a purpose around them, they aren't skitty from us but they aren't pecking us either. We've never held them or petted them or done any holding. Just soft/calm voices and I do tell them how pretty they are.

So you're saying I should remove Sarge too? He does not mount those girls. He seems to be a late bloomer. He doesn't crow and hasn't tried.

I don't mind removing the 2 younger Cockerels, as they just seem to be causing drama all the time. We have a smaller tractor we can keep them in.

With 18 pullets in total, is 2 still too many? Can Sarge manage all 18?

 

[Mrs. K]

Generally speaking, less is more. The more cockerels you have, the more problems you get. I would definitely pull the jerk, but the thing is, when you take out the jerk, that will often times change the behavior of the remaining. You just have to try it and see.

If this is your first year with chickens, just keep Sarge...as long as he keeps working out.

Do you have young children? If so, you need to be very aware as they come into their hormones. Sometimes that can make cockerels very aggressive and they tend to attack children first. Under the age of 6, a kid can take it in the face. Roosters have ruined chickens for a lot of people.

Ridge runner frequently asks "why are you keeping roosters, and recommends keeping the least needed. If you plan to hatch is really the only reason to keep them. And an only hen flock is a nice flock to start with. However, you can get to that whenever you want.

Your birds are still pretty young, and not full grown. Measure your coop and run, as overcrowding also cause problems, and adding a lot of stuff or clutter in the run, can help birds get up on, or underneath out of sight and out of mind, giving a more peaceful flock.

Mrs k

 

[thistlewick]

Generally speaking, less is more. The more cockerels you have, the more problems you get. I would definitely pull the jerk, but the thing is, when you take out the jerk, that will often times change the behavior of the remaining. You just have to try it and see.

If this is your first year with chickens, just keep Sarge...as long as he keeps working out.

Do you have young children? If so, you need to be very aware as they come into their hormones. Sometimes that can make cockerels very aggressive and they tend to attack children first. Under the age of 6, a kid can take it in the face. Roosters have ruined chickens for a lot of people.

Ridge runner frequently asks "why are you keeping roosters, and recommends keeping the least needed. If you plan to hatch is really the only reason to keep them. And an only hen flock is a nice flock to start with. However, you can get to that whenever you want.

Your birds are still pretty young, and not full grown. Measure your coop and run, as overcrowding also cause problems, and adding a lot of stuff or clutter in the run, can help birds get up on, or underneath out of sight and out of mind, giving a more peaceful flock.

Mrs k

They free range all day -- and the coop is big enough for the 13 birds that are in there - 14 feet of roosting space and before I let them out, 70 square feet of coop/run -- which is HALF of what they need but enough of the 4 square feet they need for sleepytime.

The free range area is massive, and they go all over, to my house, around the barn, under the ATV and tractor and fences and coops, loads of stuff to hide around. Never a peep of a fuss when they are out and about all day. The most time I hear any scuffle is in the coop settling down for the night.

In the mornings they are all happy and excited when I go out to open the run for them to get out haha!

I will take out the 2 smaller cockerels, we have a tractor that isn't in use that is perfect for that. Will keep an eye on the pullets and see how they are chill.

Sarge does seem to think the smaller pullets are his, too. I've observed him keeping the older pullets from bothering the younger ones too much.

I HOPE Sarge stays a decent fellow. Thank you so much for your sage and wonderful advice!!

 

[thistlewick]

Okay got the tractor all set up this morning and whilst we were doing this, George crowed and crowed and crowed! Wow!

Sarge doesn't even BOTHER yet, I love the interesting differences so much!!!

So we took George out, and the other EE who we think is also a Cockerel (we called it Amelia bc it was the first to fly out of the brooder but then, since we think it's a possible Cockerel we are now calling it Chuck. If anyone gets the references, <3 )

We put them in the tractor WAY far away from the other two coops, in a shady spot in our backyard. It's big enough for 2 chickens to grow up and just live in happily and we can move it easily so regular access to fresh grass on top of food/water. So we will see how that goes.

The pullets didn't seem to care at all that we removed them.

George didn't seem to care, but Amelia/Chuck cried and cried and cried. It's calmed down now.

This is Amelia/Chuck, photo taken last night.

I posted about if its a cockerel in the EE thread but so far no responses if its a cockerel or not.

Anyway, we will see how it goes! Late afternoon and evening is when most of the drama happens.

 

[WingItRanch]

I have a late blooming cockerel that still hasn't crowed at 5 months old but last night for the first time he grabbed the back of the neck of one of my EEs. She screamed and he immediately let go and ran away and hid behind a larger Barred Rock. They're all the same age. It was pretty funny but I'm keeping a close eye to make sure he doesn't harm any ladies.

As for Amelia/Chuck.. I'm actually leaning more towards pullet. Her comb is still lighter pink and I don't see any male specific feathering. EEs are tricky. You might have more luck posting up multiple pics in a separate thread asking for sexing help. I would hate for Amelia to actually be a female and stuck alone with George if he becomes a problem.

 

[SourRoses]

I tend towards pullet for Amelia too. It would help to see clearer pictures of her neck feathers, like with your hand under them, because the white on white is just blending away the feather shape.
If Amelia is a pullet, you'll want to put her back with the others as soon as you can, so she doesn't have to reintegrate and because the cockerel will start to really torment her if she's the only pullet he can access.

There's no reason you shouldn't keep this thread up. It's relevant.
I was recently so surprised to have a 10 week old mounting hens, because he was completely successful at it, like fertilize eggs successful, lol. I've never seen that so early before and from a cockerel still so much smaller than the adult hens.