Cockerel behaviour

[Lol123]

I agree with @aart on this one.

My cockerel is very frisky first thing in the morning and chases the girls. Once he gets it out of his system, he's back to being a gentlman. It's normal with the hormones raging at this age. I was concerned at first but noticed the unwilling girls will get away from him and the willing will crouch down and let him mate. Once he successfully mates once or twice, he's fine.

As long as he's not injuring your girls, I say just let them work it out. Let them be chickens.

Forgot to mention he is around 2 to 3 years old but i took him on a couple months ago but for those years he lived in a flock of around 50 cockerels no females. The ones that crouch he won't mount he will just rip feathers out and attack them

 

[WingItRanch]

Forgot to mention he is around 2 to 3 years old but i took him on a couple months ago but for those years he lived in a flock of around 50 cockerels no females. The ones that crouch he won't mount he will just rip feathers out and attack them

Oh. Well that changes things...

If he's an adult rooster and not mounting the ones who squat but only attacking... that is concerning!

Do you have means to separate him for a week to see if that corrects the behavior? He might not be the right rooster for your flock with that aggression.

 

[Lol123]

Oh. Well that changes things...

If he's an adult rooster and not mounting the ones who squat but only attacking... that is concerning!

Do you have means to separate him for a week to see if that corrects the behavior? He might not be the right rooster for your flock with that aggression.

This is what confuses me, he only does this in the morning when everyone is getting their first feed, the rest of the day he acts like a normal roo. Yes I will separate him, is it best to take him away from them completely or still in view of the hens?

 

[Shadrach]

Are your hens laying currently?
Do any of the hens willingly crouch for him?
Mature roosters won't feed their hens and sometimes won't let the hens eat until after they have if they are not laying eggs. Winter is the time roosters take care of themselves and expect the hens to do the same. While the hens are allowing him to mate them and laying eggs it all changes and the rooster will give the hens most of what he finds and let them eat the food the keeper supplies without inteference.

 

[Lol123]

Are your hens laying currently?
Do any of the hens willingly crouch for him?
Mature roosters won't feed their hens and sometimes won't let the hens eat until after they have if they are not laying eggs. Winter is the time roosters take care of themselves and expect the hens to do the same. While the hens are allowing him to mate them and laying eggs it all changes and the rooster will give the hens most of what he finds and let them eat the food the keeper supplies without inteference.

Has gone down recently but the majority are laying. I've seen a fair few crouch for him yes. I've never had that with roos, he still finds them food during the day ect it's just when they get let out, hes been like this really since I got him it's just getting worse to the point I think he will injure one of them

 

[Ridgerunner]

Well that what I thought when I first saw him start doing this, like he was just excited to be out with his girls. This looks more like aggressive behaviour to me although he's not drawing blood, yes he is pinning them down and full on attacking everyone, almost like he doesn't want anyone else to eat besides him, he will run from feeder to feeder attacking anyone who is eating

Typically the first thing my rooster does when I let them out in the morning is mate one or two hens to show he is still the flockmaster, then everything calms down. No violence or anything, just normal mating. Not what you are describing.

Forgot to mention he is around 2 to 3 years old but i took him on a couple months ago but for those years he lived in a flock of around 50 cockerels no females. The ones that crouch he won't mount he will just rip feathers out and attack them

But after he does this he is fine with the hens the rest of the day. That makes no sense to me. I'm at a loss. I'd probably eat him and try another rooster if you really want a rooster. I don't know if he will ever actually injure a hen but I'd worry about it. There are too many good roosters out there to worry about a bad one.