Beat up young rooster

[Rickba]

I always butcher the most aggressive roosters out of the flock. They always seem to cause the most damage, even to the hens. I have one rooster right now that's just begging for it. Soon as I turn my back he attacks the back of my legs. He's a Red Sex Link. I bought 16 RSL pullets last spring but one tuned out to be a rooster and he's a pistol. Chicken soup for him. This way I keep the blood letting in the run to a minimum. There he is right in the center of the pictures.

 

[Cable Guy]

Here are some pics of the coop, pen and flock, the plywood is only temporary as I am milling all the wood for the coop from scrap bundles from a local sawmill.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/rooster-flocks.72998/

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Hate to cause more work for you as you seem to be doing a great job (although a lot of hard work) on your coop. However, 1 young roo can easily service 9 hens without a problem. So unless you are planning to seperate them into different pens for breeding purposes, so they will not be interacting at all. I think you may continue to have problems. Hope things work out for you what ever you decide is in your flocks best interest.

 

[esavvymom]

We had this problem last year. two roosters. #2 was getting mercilessly assaulted by #1. (12 hens, btw). He couldn't go into the coop at night either. So we started putting him in the guinea coop (they have a separate coop). He stayed with them for at least a month maybe. The guineas free range daily, so he got that privilege as well. The chickens have a large fenced area of yard, so not always free-ranging. Given the issues with the roosters, we left the chickens in their fenced yard, and the guineas/#2 rooster in the other 5 acres. This must have given #2 some serious ego boost or something. We caught him "strutting" around the chicken yard fence even. Then one day, we let the chickens free range as well. A week or so later, we noticed that #1 was missing an eye and had lost his spurs....and he was completely submissive. #2 was now in charge, and still is.

Sounds like in your case, you can spare an extra rooster, so if separation is not a feasible option, then perhaps keep only 4 roosters instead of 5 this time around.

 

[Cable Guy]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, hate to take out the number 2 rooster as he is big and beautifully feathered but that may be what I need to do.

 

[aart]

I'm assuming it has something to do with the roosters reaching sexual maturity as I am seeing some breeding now from some of my roosters.

Might be more to do with the pullets(not hens until one year old) becoming sexually mature? Any laying yet?

The cockerels (not roosters until one year) are raging hormone machines at this point. Multiple males creates an environment of competition which often brings out the worst in all their behaviors and can make it very hard to select a keeper.

 

[microchick]

I agree with @aart.

It's hard to judge which is the best rooster when they are all acting like first class jerks.

Personally, I like having at least two roosters with any group of hens. One is dominant one is a lieutenant. Also, if something happens to the alpha rooster, the beta can step in and vis versa. I don't cull my extra roosters, mainly because I have Marek's in my flock that has been particulary hard on the males, mainly due, I suspect, to hormonal stresses. I do have a rooster pen, tho and it works very nicely.

If you can separate your extra boys for a while till they settle down, you will be able to make a better judgement call as to who stays and who goes. I've noticed that after they reach the age of 18 months, they change dramatically, in the case of my roosters, for the better.

 

[Cable Guy]

Might be more to do with the pullets(not hens until one year old) becoming sexually mature? Any laying yet?

The cockerels (not roosters until one year) are raging hormone machines at this point. Multiple males creates an environment of competition which often brings out the worst in all their behaviors and can make it very hard to select a keeper.

Yes some of my hens have just started laying

 

[centrarchid]

Run and coop area is too tight for number of roosters involved. If no hens / pullets, then you would likely be OK but you have them. I assume you are not going to breed for a purpose so an operational sex ratio not important. Industry recommendations of hen: rooster ratios can be breed specific and usually assume multiple rooster breeding groups. Industry keeping does not likely consider how good the birds look as only hatching eggs important. Some breeds have fertility issues corrected for by more roosters.

I would reduce to two roosters and hold a couple others as reserve in a bachelor group.