Bad rooster ????To Cull or not to Cull????

[RoosterML]

First let me start by saying that i am well aware it’s my fault and I feel bad as it is. So I let out the roughly 6 week olds with the flock today. I left the door open I should say. They were in the main coop with everyone else but separated by wire with small openings to go in and out. I watched at first and while the rooster has been chasing the chicks down it was mostly grab and let go. I also grabbed him one time to try and show him that what he was doing was not so nice. The hens were overall pretty good with the chicks. So I went to the in-laws for dinner and came home to find a male Delaware missing. He was hidden under the nesting boxes so I grabbed him to take him out. The back of his neck had been basically skinned . I ended up culling the chick. I nearly grabbed the rooster and snapped his neck right then and there. So now I am here writing to you all for your input and experiences. I suspect it is the rooster but I did not see it happen.
So is he a bad rooster and should be culled? Or is he just doing his job as a rooster? I would hope in the future to be able to let broody hens raise chicks with the flock but now I am not sure that will work out. Advice advice advice please. The rooster may be on the dinner table come the weekend pending responses. By the way a few weeks ago I sold my black orp roo and kept the lavender roo that are shown in my avatar maybe I got rid of the wrong one.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Has this rooster seen chicks before? Without actually seeing what happened you can't assume it was just the rooster. Some roosters will chase and peck chicks. Hens can be even worse. I wouldn't necessarily jump to any conclusions yet. Observe the birds when the chicks are out. It generally takes me a week or two before I feel comfortable leaving newly integrating chicks alone loose in the flock.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have multiple roosters. When I integrate chicks some rooster are curious, some indifferent, and others will chase them.

Generally after a week or two it's mostly just get out of my way pecks.

Your rooster may have gone into intruder mode. He may be totally different when a hen hatched and than protects her chicks. I personally wouldn't cull if otherwise he's a good rooster without actual proof, and that it's done repeatedly.

It's best to back off and integrate more slowly and observe all interactions. Lock chicks back up when you can't watch them to prevent this from happening again until you feel more comfortable and chicks know where to go to escape adults.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll also ask how old is he? There is a difference in expected behaviors between an immature cockerel and a mature rooster.

I'll also ask how much room do you have, in the coop and in the run? Was the run accessible? Often behavioral problems are due to lack of space.

Was he only chasing one chick (the Delaware) or was it pretty much all of them at random? Sometimes a chicken will take an instant dislike to one specific chicken and be fine with all the others.

What you did isn't that far off from the way I do it. My brooder is in the coop so the chicks basically grow up with the flock from Day 1, not starting at 4 weeks. I generally leave the brooder door open at five weeks, not six. I would have expected two weeks to be enough for you. I've never had a mature flock master rooster bother a chick, but others say they have. Maybe I've just been lucky. Occasionally a hen will be a bit of a problem, a juvenile cockerel can also be, but it's never been the adult rooster. I've never lost a chick doing it my way to another adult. I've lost them to siblings, once when they were two weeks old, the other when cockerels were about 15 weeks old, but never to an adult. Both times pecking to the head and neck areas.

I have the climate and enough room that the adults pretty much stay out of the coop all day, except when hens come to the coop to lay eggs or when they are going to bed. Usually when I open that brooder door the chicks stay in the coop for the next couple of days before they venture outside. After they start going outside they pretty much spend all day every day outside themselves, but usually far away from the adults. By far away I mean thirty or forty feet, not five or ten.

I'm going through all this to say I don't see that you did anything that different to what I would have done. I don't know how mature he is or how much room you have, that may make a difference. I wasn't there watching so I don't know which chicken it was, assuming it was a chicken and not a rat or something like that. To me it sounds like it probably was another chicken.

If it was a mature rooster I did the wring the neck thing when I was a kid on the farm. I'd heard about it so I tried it. I swung the chicken in about two full circles to get the speed up and then snapped my wrist. The head came off in my hand, I didn't expect that. After that I went back to the ax and stump method. My curiosity was satisfied.

 

[aart]

2 weeks isn't too long...might take longer.
I wouldn't wring the big guys neck yet.
Hang in there.

When I put chicks in the coop, before tiny doors are opened, all the flock comes and peeks thru the wire wall to see who's over there. I usually wait for 3 weeks before opening doors.

 

[llombardo]

How old is the rooster?

I know when I integrated 4 females to the group of three with one boy, the girls were and still are the issue. The boy was running ragged breaking up fights. One day he just plopped down and looked at me like you take over...lol

 

[Acre4Me]

Good Luck, and I would give him another chance.

as far as letting a broody raise chicks - it should work out better, assuming momma hen is a good momma hen. We have a momma hen who has done a good job adopting shocks we have bought from a hatchery. She and chicks are separated in a brooder in the barn, and allowed in run, separated by a fence. Then, they eventually get to mingle. This broody has protected our current chicks pretty well, an daytime integration is going well. Of course, they are still sleeping in the brooder with momma, but will be kicked out in the next week or two. Then the REAL integration will occur at roosting time!

Enjoy your chicks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

10 months. Right in that in-between age. Most cockerels I've had were mature enough at 10 months to be OK but I've had a very few that weren't quite there yet. I'd try him again when I could really observe. maybe the week-end? Nothing wrong with waiting longer either.

 

[RoosterML]

I’ll give him some more time to adjust. When he walks into the coop and sees the chick in the pen but up against the wire he does try to get them. Not sure if that’s a bad sign or what? It does strike me as he goes into intruder mode.
Also coop is 9x16 with a roughly 2000sqft of run space for 10 chooks so plenty of room.

@aart me grabbing him and pinning him down has not affected his behavior towards me that I can tell anyways.

 

[aart]

They were in the main coop with everyone else but separated by wire with small openings to go in and out.

Had the small doors been open? Had the chicks ventured out, and back in, before?

I do not believe he has seen chicks before

How long had the chicks been in the coop.....he could see them thru the mesh barrier, correct?

Not sure what advice to give, except maybe isolate the cock while the chicks integrate.