Words of wisdom and mainly observed behaviours wanted on our 8 bird flock! I think we have quite typical behaviour, but interested to know if anything is unusual.
The flock consists of 4 x hybrid Lohmann Brown hens (bought at POL, now ~70 weeks) and 4 x Gold Partridge Brahmas (incubator hatch; 1 cockerel / 3 pullets, now 20 weeks raised together). The hens were first, having been with us for ~7 months before the Brahmas.
During integration we kept the groups visible to each other in adjacent enclosures for just over a month, and then merged them into a single coop and run about 2 weeks ago.
1. They aren't quite 1 flock at present - I've read people say that it may always be this way? It's early days yet, but the hens mainly keep to themselves and the Brahmas do the same. There is enough space and separate sets of feeders/drinkers in their enclosure, but you do notice when moving around, that the Brahmas will dash/dodge/dip/dive past the hens and the hens will try to get a peck in regardless (I think because it was 'their' territory first). The Brahmas seem scared of the older girls, but not terrified, despite being much larger!
2. Our young boy started crowing yesterday. 20 weeks old to the day! He sounds like a cow. Really deep and low. His sisters honk like geese
3. Another (witnessed) first. This afternoon, the boy mounted in front of us - one of the Lohmann hens. This was partially unexpected as the Brahma boy and the Lohmanns have been scuffling for the past 2 weeks and he also seems to be fighting quite often with one of his Brahma sisters. (We didn't intervene at the time, ugly and upsetting as it was to see, except when prolonged and we were worried about bleeding injuries.)
Is this mating or dominance, seeing as he doesn't seem to either like or get on with the Lohmann hens (yet)? I've been reading about all these sweet, seductive rooster dances but we originally thought he was attacking her because she was in 'his' area.
Also, earlier this morning, one of the submissive Lohmanns was laying in the nest box and he went up to her and pecked her head seemingly aggressively. I did intervene at the time as I didn't know what that was about and she had nowhere to run (I thought possibly another attack whilst she was in a vulnerable position, but now I'm wondering if that was odd mating behaviour?). This was confusing to me. I'm assuming he's probably been mounting or trying to mount for a while... (We're not hoping or planning to breed our birds.)
He is otherwise fine and can be picked up and handled/petted - he's not a fan of the approach but will settle if you put him on your knee or shoulder - doesn't attack humans, seems to be fine with a visiting neighbour's cat, but will startle himself by tripping over his own feet
4. Does a cockerel have preferential mounting behaviours? I would think that he would prefer the hens, but I don't know if there is any reason why he would be motivated to mount his sisters (same age as him, not laying yet); or is mounting a universal drive from the cockerel, regardless of pullet/hen maturity?
He behaves a bit like a 'boss' to his sisters as well as an escort to protect them from the Lohmann hens (whom he seems to treat as 'the enemy' at the moment). And the caveat is when I say 'sisters', I mean only that they were hatched and raised together - I have no guarantee that they are closely related as we had the eggs sent to us by a hobbyist via post.
5. Our UK bird lockdown will end on 31 March and then they can all free-range again! Maybe with a bit of space, I can eventually hope for a single flock with a cockerel/rooster protector, or at least, less angst between the groups?
We're taking things slowly as they come and learning every day!!
The flock consists of 4 x hybrid Lohmann Brown hens (bought at POL, now ~70 weeks) and 4 x Gold Partridge Brahmas (incubator hatch; 1 cockerel / 3 pullets, now 20 weeks raised together). The hens were first, having been with us for ~7 months before the Brahmas.
During integration we kept the groups visible to each other in adjacent enclosures for just over a month, and then merged them into a single coop and run about 2 weeks ago.
1. They aren't quite 1 flock at present - I've read people say that it may always be this way? It's early days yet, but the hens mainly keep to themselves and the Brahmas do the same. There is enough space and separate sets of feeders/drinkers in their enclosure, but you do notice when moving around, that the Brahmas will dash/dodge/dip/dive past the hens and the hens will try to get a peck in regardless (I think because it was 'their' territory first). The Brahmas seem scared of the older girls, but not terrified, despite being much larger!
2. Our young boy started crowing yesterday. 20 weeks old to the day! He sounds like a cow. Really deep and low. His sisters honk like geese
3. Another (witnessed) first. This afternoon, the boy mounted in front of us - one of the Lohmann hens. This was partially unexpected as the Brahma boy and the Lohmanns have been scuffling for the past 2 weeks and he also seems to be fighting quite often with one of his Brahma sisters. (We didn't intervene at the time, ugly and upsetting as it was to see, except when prolonged and we were worried about bleeding injuries.)
Is this mating or dominance, seeing as he doesn't seem to either like or get on with the Lohmann hens (yet)? I've been reading about all these sweet, seductive rooster dances but we originally thought he was attacking her because she was in 'his' area.
Also, earlier this morning, one of the submissive Lohmanns was laying in the nest box and he went up to her and pecked her head seemingly aggressively. I did intervene at the time as I didn't know what that was about and she had nowhere to run (I thought possibly another attack whilst she was in a vulnerable position, but now I'm wondering if that was odd mating behaviour?). This was confusing to me. I'm assuming he's probably been mounting or trying to mount for a while... (We're not hoping or planning to breed our birds.)
He is otherwise fine and can be picked up and handled/petted - he's not a fan of the approach but will settle if you put him on your knee or shoulder - doesn't attack humans, seems to be fine with a visiting neighbour's cat, but will startle himself by tripping over his own feet
4. Does a cockerel have preferential mounting behaviours? I would think that he would prefer the hens, but I don't know if there is any reason why he would be motivated to mount his sisters (same age as him, not laying yet); or is mounting a universal drive from the cockerel, regardless of pullet/hen maturity?
He behaves a bit like a 'boss' to his sisters as well as an escort to protect them from the Lohmann hens (whom he seems to treat as 'the enemy' at the moment). And the caveat is when I say 'sisters', I mean only that they were hatched and raised together - I have no guarantee that they are closely related as we had the eggs sent to us by a hobbyist via post.
5. Our UK bird lockdown will end on 31 March and then they can all free-range again! Maybe with a bit of space, I can eventually hope for a single flock with a cockerel/rooster protector, or at least, less angst between the groups?
We're taking things slowly as they come and learning every day!!
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