Ahh... navigating Chicken life with Roosters. WARNING culling alert.

[JacinLarkwell]

That is true. It

Not always. Sometimes a younger cockerel will challenge and fight a mature rooster. But you never know until you try. Just make sure you have a separation plan ready before you need it, as things can turn ugly quite quickly.

It's mostly just been a personal observation with my groups.

 

[Folly's place]

My Chanteclers have been the mellowest birds ever, but aren't good in hot climates. I never had a nice hatchery RIR or New Hampshire, although there must be some out there.
Mary

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My Chanteclers have been the mellowest birds ever, but aren't good in hot climates. I never had a nice hatchery RIR or New Hampshire, although there must be some out there.
Mary

I had a friend who's son had a hatchery RIR. Decent bird for a state fair, absolutely gigantic bird. No joke was probably over 12-13 pounds.

 

[briteday]

There is hope and it may be just the breed or individual birds. I had an americauna rooster (chick days many years ago) and he was the sweetest rooster. I never had to worry about being chased or attacked while in the run doing chores. And he was wonderful at letting our flock know about predator danger or even just standing guard at the coop door when the hungry squirrel made his daily rounds for food. Ducky (as a chick he sat in our hand just like a duckling! we almost died when we determined he was a rooster but gave him a second chance as long as he behaved) was a great rooster and stayed with us until he died.
I'm not in the habit of keeping either hens or roosters who can't get along. People in our area have always been interested in a few chickens for their backyard coops but don't want the mess and trouble of raising chicks. So I never have a problem selling a young bird that is not working out in my flock. For that reason I get rid of the bad actors while they are still quite young.

 

[Folly's place]

There are polite roosters, and idiots, in every breed. Odds of getting one or the other vary a bit by breed and bloodlines, but it's still an individual thing with each bird. Both genetics and management matter, although good management can't replace good genetics.
Mary

 

[JacinLarkwell]

There are polite roosters, and idiots, in every breed. Odds of getting one or the other vary a bit by breed and bloodlines, but it's still an individual thing with each bird. Both genetics and management matter, although good management can't replace good genetics.
Mary

I'm sorry, I love the idiot part

 

[Folly's place]

A bird who's busy stalking and attacking the giants who bring food every day is an idiot! And he's not doing his job, which is taking care of his flock, and looking out for actual dangers out there. Useless and dangerous both.
Mary

 

[NatJ]

Much of the behavior they exhibit is something people take real personal and I did too. Now I am beginning to think I need to ignore most of it. Like when a cockerel jumps on my leg, calmly ignore him and just keep walking through his space to fill the feeder. He's not hurting me. I am bigger than him and he needs to know I am not a threat. I've noticed it is helping. He just looks kinda surprised and walks away. I think I was too heavy handed with the others and it really triggered their latent (?) aggressiveness.

That's an interesting idea.
I've noticed that cockerels don't go around attacking fenceposts and feeders and things like that--maybe that's partly because they don't react? (I don't know for sure, just speculating.)

I'll be curious to know how this works out over the next few months.

You say the cockerel isn't hurting you--are you wearing anything special for protection? (Boots or thick pants or anything like that?)

 

[Cee]

Both genetics and management matter, although good management can't replace good genetics.
Mary
[/QUOTE]
Boy I love this. I am learning so much here from everyone. I won't be foolish and keep a problem cockerel that is dangerous. I will keep an eye on Hazel to see if ignoring his antics while moving my body thru his space to force him out of my way makes any difference. I never turn my back on him and wear thick jeans, long sleeves and boots. If I don't see any change in him, he'll just have to go. Cha Cha is respectful, stays out of my way, makes sure all the girls are inside at night before he goes in and isn't mean to any of them. He also is cute as he sometimes gets really excited about what a nice nestbox he's picked out for somebody to lay an egg in. He actually gets in there and fluffs up the straw. He gets really anxious and paces while making this cluck sound when I pick up a girl who squawks. Sometimes I get the feeling he's biding his time before he's gonna try something. And then he's mellow and happy to have his back to me. I guess time will tell.
I'm not married to the New Hampshires. I got them because I read that if they mate with my Barred Rocks, they'll have Black Sex Links, mate with my White Rocks, Golden Comets. I like the idea of getting rid of male chicks and having good layers. Although now I've realized there are health issues that come with these hybrids.
It gets real hot here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Big heavy feathered birds don't do great here. Seemed like all my birds panted steadily in the heat. So I'm not married to any particular breed right now. Just looking for dual purposed birds that are good layers with nice temperaments. I'm a pretty practical person.
Although, I confess I like all the pretty colored eggs. I see the pictures others post here. I sell a lot of my eggs and I think my buyers would love them. But I kinda jumped in with both feet and a bunch of chicks back in April and don't have room for more now. My current girls are in their prime laying years. That'll give me about a year to try and figure out what kind of birds to get in the future.
Seems like lots of folks don't think hatchery birds are all that great. I'm really open to suggestions.

 

[aart]

Not always. Sometimes a younger cockerel will challenge and fight a mature rooster. But you never know until you try. Just make sure you have a separation plan ready before you need it, as things can turn ugly quite quickly.

...or the mature cock won't school the nasty cockerel.

That was my first experience with multiple males.
When starting I wanted a flock of 6 hens, if I took the rooster I could have 4 pullets too.
Rooster seemed cool, she caught him and held him, so I took the deal.
I learned a lot from that rooster, he was indeed cool.
One of those 4 pullets was a male, he was a PITA and spent the winter coop partition until I got up the nerve and equipment to slaughter him.