Roosters. How to handle them (in the larger sense, not as in how to hold them). I know this is old ground for you all, and I have been reading through this thread but somehow I'm all confuzzled on this issue.
My young flock of 21 chickens (getting big but not yet laying) has three cockerels. One is a silkie (don't kill me!) who crowed at about nine weeks and hasn't done so since. The second is a silkie (put that pitchfork away!) who crows (sort of) a few times every morning. Neither has mounted any hens or exhibited huge amounts of dominance. I'm not terribly concerned about them becoming problems as they're silkies, not really chickens. (Tell me if I'm wrong here.)
The third is a Light Sussex about 3 months old. He is dominant over his former broodmates but not the older birds. No sexual behavior or crowing yet. This is the bird I want taking care of the flock.
So how, exactly, do I treat him? I assume I basically leave him be and let him do what he does. I do want him to know people are dominant. Do I merely fend him off with a foot if he is aggressive to me? Or what?
Many thanks for any advice.
The roos you describe are much too young to be mounting hens or even crowing full time...just practice crows, maybe...maybe the 3 mo. old may be entering that territory but the 9 wk old have quite a ways to go.
Eventually you may have too many roos for the number of hens so you might want to monitor signs of overuse on hen's backs and on the back of the head.
I'd leave your LS alone and see how he develops. If you are confident, calm and assertive in your dealings with your chickens, most roosters won't be a problem. Occasionally a young roo will forget his place and do a little dance towards you in a threatening way~this is when I leave a BIG, over the top impression. The first time is the last time at my place and the correction might take around 5-10 min. depending on how much fun you're having with it.
I keep a light weight fiberglass rod for herding sheep/chickens if the need arises...it's flexible and doesn't cause any damage but it can put the sting on a roo's behind. I also have light, old dead limbs I keep in the coop for this~I call them roo sticks...better to have one and not need it then to need it and not have it. When the roo does his dance at me, I advance towards him until he is running away...then I lie in wait for him to come back in the coop to eat with the rest of the flock.
When he gets his head in the pop door I surprise him with a WHAM against the walls right beside him. If he persists in ducking into the coop, I'll chase him with the stick and either bop his bottom or lightly touch his back every time he stops, or even whack the floor beside him as he frantically runs and dodges to get out of the coop. In other words, I turn the tables until he gets the message....he doesn't ever want to ambush me again because this big rooster isn't content to just let him run away, it lies in wait and jumps him.
Not only is this fun to do and watch, it leaves an everlasting impression in that roo's mind. I've never had to repeat the performance for any particular roo and the total and utter surprise on the roo's face is priceless and good for many chuckles later. It's much more fun than trying to aim a kick at a fleet roo that may or may not connect and it also keeps your legs from getting in the way of his possible retaliation...though I've never had one that wanted to retaliate. They pretty much were content to walk a very wide berth around the crazy lady after those shenanigans!
Oh, the joys of keeping chickens! Every once in awhile it affords one some great amusement that is filled with cheaply won joy!