9 week old pullets

[enoryz]

Some dogs in the neighborhood demolished my flock and left me with just the rooster. I found someone who sold me 2 9 week old pullets. When I leave them together the rooster sneaks up and bites them on the back of the neck. Is he establishing dominance? Is he smart enough to know not to get on top yet? At night I leave him out in the run and the 2 little ones in the coop locked up. Any suggestions?

 

[Poultrybreeder]

He's probably trying to mate them, but since they are smaller, he just pecks, instead of actually getting on top of the pullet yet

 

[lazy gardener]

He's not a good roo. He's a pedophile. I'd keep him separated from the pullets until they are of laying age. You might consider getting some older hens. How old is the roo?

 

[enoryz]

The roo is about 9 1/2 months now. He is kin of aggressive towards my wife and some of my kids. At times I would want to get rid of him but sometimes no. Here is a picture before the dogs came.

 

[lazy gardener]

If that cockerel were in my flock, he'd be the guest of honor for Sunday dinner. Human aggressive, chick aggressive. Nuff said.

 

[enoryz]

We've had him since he was 2 days old. This was our first time having chickens. I guess he holds a special place in my heart. But some days when I'm grouchy it gets very close. I guess he senses it and stays away from me.

 

[Mrs. K]

They almost always attack children and women first. A bad rooster can ruin the whole chicken experience for kids. If you get rid of the rooster, you can get another or two more hens... more eggs, same feed bill. One rooster for 2 pullets is way too much rooster.

 

[lazy gardener]

You are placing your affection for a human and chick aggressive cockerel above the safety of your chicks and your wife and your children.

 

[azygous]

An aggressive cockerel is serious. You need to make a decision about what you want to do with him. He's only going to get worse from here unless you intervene. There's a very real danger of someone ending up with a serious injury involving a trip to the ER and stitches. I've seen a neighbor with a six inch scar from being spurred by his rooster.

You have three options, two of which involve being responsible, the third is to do nothing and be irresponsible and suffer the consequences.

You have the option of getting rid of the cockerel, either butchering him or giving him away.

Or you can keep him and discipline and train him. This involves commitment and work. It will require you to segregate the cockerel so the pullets will be safe as well as any humans that might come near him.

This training sometimes takes months before you see results, and there's always a chance the training won't take, that the cockerel has genetics to be bad. There are lots of great tutorials on BYC on how to discipline a rooster if you decide you wish to keep him and try this route.

 

[enoryz]

We already started to segregate him. He is a buff brahma. Everything I read says they are gentle giants. Not mine. Maybe before he figured out he was a rooster. We have 10 more baby chicks we got 2 weeks ago. I was hoping to wait until they are big enough and see how he was with more hens. I've put the word out already to see if anyone wanted him but no takers yet.