Aggressive cockerel

[Fraoch21]

I have a cockerel and 3 (suspected) hens that i raised that are now 13 weeks old. This cockerel has been top of the pecking order from day 1 and he only seems to have become worse as he gets older. He started trying to crow at 5 weeks old and he constantly picks a fight with the other hens or anything else he can find. Yesterday one of my poor hens had a chunk out the back of her head and was bleeding. Now im worried that its gone to far and this cockerel cannot be sold with such aggressive behaviour since i dont plan on keeping him myself. Is there any chance he will become less aggressive as he grows older?

 

[arnr1530]

i have a semi- aggressive cockerel but he hsa only showed aggression 2 times and he seemed to calm down only problem is mine is much older and from my experience and from things i have read from here if it is that early he is to far gone to not be aggressive!! he seems to have started it early and if they start that early they usually dont calm down it can get much worse i know this is a bad thought but if he is already taking chunks out of your hen next time he may not it could be worse!! im sorry... but since you didnt plan to keep him you can separate him from them for a little bit put him on his own and see after a couple days if he gets any better but it may also make him worse!!

 

[arnr1530]

im sorry i hope this helps

 

[A Chicken Owner]

I wouldn't risk it. If I had an aggressive roo who attacked me to defend the girls I'd tolerate it but a roo attacking other hens must not be tolerated and you should seperate him from the flock immediately for now. What breed is he? I hope your hen recovers

 

[salt and pepper]

I have a cockerel and 3 (suspected) hens that i raised that are now 13 weeks old. This cockerel has been top of the pecking order from day 1 and he only seems to have become worse as he gets older. He started trying to crow at 5 weeks old and he constantly picks a fight with the other hens or anything else he can find. Yesterday one of my poor hens had a chunk out the back of her head and was bleeding. Now im worried that its gone to far and this cockerel cannot be sold with such aggressive behaviour since i dont plan on keeping him myself. Is there any chance he will become less aggressive as he grows older?

It's quite normal for a cockerel of that age to be "cocky" but to draw blood on PULLETS? that's not. Are you sure the pullet he attacked isn't a rooster? All my roosters who have picked a fight with a hen get's beaten up by her, haha. VERY rarely will a cockerel purposely fight a pullet. Is he... ahem.... mature enough to mate? If so, he was probably trying to mate her, and she fought back, and accidentally got hurt. Hope this helps.

 

[Fraoch21]

Thank you for the replies. For the future is there something I can do to prevent a cockerel becoming this aggressive again? He is a cream legbar hybrid- skyline maybe? And im not sure what gender the 'pullet' is but I think she looks more llike a she so far than a he. Thing is, its not even a bit of a scrap, theres no skin left on the back of her head, I can see her skull

After what he has done, I wouldn't feel horribly bad if i had to put him down but i would rather try a few different things to try and calm him down first! I dont think hes old enough to mate yet, hes very mature looking for his age but I havent seen him try to mount any of the others! I dont know why he attacks his hens since he is too scared to try and attack me, hes not aggressive in the slightest towards me.

 

[salt and pepper]

Thank you for the replies. For the future is there something I can do to prevent a cockerel becoming this aggressive again? He is a cream legbar hybrid- skyline maybe? And im not sure what gender the 'pullet' is but I think she looks more llike a she so far than a he. Thing is, its not even a bit of a scrap, theres no skin left on the back of her head, I can see her skull

After what he has done, I wouldn't feel horribly bad if i had to put him down but i would rather try a few different things to try and calm him down first! I dont think hes old enough to mate yet, hes very mature looking for his age but I havent seen him try to mount any of the others! I dont know why he attacks his hens since he is too scared to try and attack me, hes not aggressive in the slightest towards me.

Some roosters just make better flock animals. While you can help a cockerel that's aggressive towards people, there really isn't much you can do for one that's aggressive towards other chickens. I hope your pullet heals, and I'm sorry you're going this.

 

[Fraoch21]

Well I guess I'll get rid of him then! Theres no way I'll be risking any more pullets with him! Ive asked in the emergencies to see what else i can do for her