Aggressive Rooster

[peasant_girl]

Hello all, we have 13 hens and mistakenly have two roosters. They're about 17-weeks-old. One of the roosters has suddenly become very aggressive. He bites and pulls the combs of the hens and the other rooster, or will grab their necks. He's not aggressive with people. How should we handle this?

 

[50-45-1]

If you did not want roosters, and do not need roosters for fertle eggs, i say get rid of them.
however you choose.
An aggresive and mean rooster does not last 5 minutes on my farm.
I dont tolerate my hens being abused, or definately never allow a rooster to intimidate myself or my family and friends.
Thats not what i have chickens for.

 

[LaFleche]

He bites and pulls the combs of the hens and the other rooster, or will grab their necks.

This seems to be the unfortunate mating attempts of an overenthusiastic hormonally stressed out youngster. I advise to separate the two roosters from the hens until you decide how you want to deal with them. Best to give them away or look up a nice recipe...

 

[thomkatflyer]

Those that cannot provide breakfast should provide dinner........ Lol!! We are in the same boat with having a cockerel in an order of 10 pullets. Bad part is, he is my wife's favorite of the 10. That's him strutting past the dogs in my Avatar. Good Luck.

 

[Folly's place]

It's not unusual to have cockerels turn up in pullet orders, and especially at feed stores!
Right now he's being an adolescent jerk, with less mature pullet flockmates, and this could possibly calm down, or escalate, either way. If you weren't planning on having roosters, he should move on, either to the freezer, or to someone else's flock or freezer.
I too will work for peace out there, and this isn't so nice right now.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

If that cockerel is a favorite because he's so 'friendly' and 'bold', just be ready for him to become 'bold' and aggressive! Hope not, but there it is.
Mary

 

[50-45-1]

d you get straight run if

They did not say they ordered straight run. I would think straight run would have resulted in 6 or 7 roosters.
I know you can end up with roosters out of the pullet only bin at the feed stores. Whether it is by accident at the hatchery or mis-labeling at the store, it happens alot.
Also that extra "free exotic chick" or extras included in your mail order of chicks is likely a rooster.

 

[peasant_girl]

Also one question, why did you get straight run if you knew you were going to get a couple roosters?

I didn't order a straight run. I specifically ordered one Buff Brahma rooster and 12 hens of different breeds from a hatchery. They gave us two free chicks. Unfortunately one of the Easter Egger hens turned out to be a rooster.

 

[Sea Wolf]

You don't need roosters to get eggs. Keep the nice one and appreciate him. Introduce the mean one to a pot before he gets tough. You probably won't be able to give them away. Most folks do not want roosters due to noise and aggression problems.

 

[Criticalicious]

Grabbing onto the hen's neck is part of how they mate. Usually it's over quickly with no harm done to the hen, or sometimes they'll snag a couple feathers if the hen doesn't submit quietly. Sometimes young cockerels especially, will miss the neck and hit the comb. Males will argue over dominance and spar when they grow up together but will usually settle down after a few months, faster if you separate them from the hens in a second coop/run with plenty of space to go sulk in their separate corners.

If you're allowed roosters and have the space, it doesn't hurt to have a spare in case something happens to the first one. If he's nice to people, it's possible that what you're classifying as aggression is actually normal young cockerel behavior. As a first time chicken owner, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between normal and not-normal.