Cockerel behaving like a moody teen.

[JesBarthel]

I have an 11 week old Japanese bantam rooster who is housed with 4 chicks that are about 5 weeks old. They've all gotten along famously until recently. Last week my roo started crowing, and a few days later tried his hand at herding the other chicks when I let them out. He's starting to pick on the smallest chick, a Rhode Island White pullet ( I believe ). He's extremely aggressive with her, and has caused her to bleed from grabbing her neck and dragging her, and well as nipping and pulling on her wing. He challenges one other chick, which is a Buff Orpington, but even though she is only 5 weeks old, is nearly as big as the roo, They lock eyes, wiggle their heads at eachother and move on. No pecking.

So my question is, is this normal hormonal teenage rooster behavior? To be so mean to the smallest chick? I have them separated at the moment, with my roo in one plastic tub with a screen on top, and the other 4 chicks in another tub right next to him. He seems incredibly lonely though. Was this the right thing to do? Is there anything else I should be doing? I'll be finishing up their coop this weekend, was planning on partitioning off a section of it to continue to separate them.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[silkiechicken]

Smallest chick is probably also lowest on pecking order. Expect them to hash it out when they re-unite. That said, blood = separate. No blood, or able to hide the blood, just give more space. All go through a fussy stage, and roos will take a while to learn their manners.