First time chicken mom! I have 14 chickens in my flock, mixed bantams and large fowl. I have two that I know are cockerels: Rudy, my RIR is the oldest of the flock, about 15-16 weeks old; Louis is a BLRW bantam who is about 14 weeks old.
My first questions pertains to Rudy, the RIR. He is ready to mate, however none of my pullets are cooperating yet. He keeps chasing them, grabbing them by the neck feathers and attempting to mount them. They are all terrified of him. So far he has only attempted to do this with the other LF (thankfully none of the bantams), and his favorite is Pearl, my petite and docile RIR pullet. I have been concerned that he is too rough, so I try to discourage him when I see him chasing one; however today I discovered that he had actually injured Pearl... it appears that he actually grabbed flesh on the back of her head rather than just feathers and she has a gash there. The blood was dried when I found it, so I cleaned it and put some antibiotic ointment on it before she roosted for the night. Is this normal behavior or is he being too aggressive?? He really is a sweet boy... hand-feeds and even allows me to love on him. He herds his girls and watches over them like a good roo should. Just wondering if maybe I should separate him from them until the pullets are old enough to mate?
Second question: Rudy and Louis, the BLRW cockerel had been co-existing peacefully, however things seem to be getting interesting. For the last 3 nights, Rudy has chased Louis away from the coop at bedtime. They get along okay during the day with an occasional chase, but when it gets time to roost, Rudy waits until all the hens are in the coop, then chases Louis away. Poor Louis waits until almost dark and then sneaks into the coop after Rudy is on the roost lol. I even saw Louis trying to claim one of the smaller hens for himself today, which didn't go over too well. My plans are in progress to build a separate coop for Louis to have some of the bantam hens for himself, but it isn't ready yet. I really wasn't expecting them to be attempting to mate so soon, since the pullets aren't anywhere near ready. Any advice on how to help them get along until I can get the new coop ready?
My first questions pertains to Rudy, the RIR. He is ready to mate, however none of my pullets are cooperating yet. He keeps chasing them, grabbing them by the neck feathers and attempting to mount them. They are all terrified of him. So far he has only attempted to do this with the other LF (thankfully none of the bantams), and his favorite is Pearl, my petite and docile RIR pullet. I have been concerned that he is too rough, so I try to discourage him when I see him chasing one; however today I discovered that he had actually injured Pearl... it appears that he actually grabbed flesh on the back of her head rather than just feathers and she has a gash there. The blood was dried when I found it, so I cleaned it and put some antibiotic ointment on it before she roosted for the night. Is this normal behavior or is he being too aggressive?? He really is a sweet boy... hand-feeds and even allows me to love on him. He herds his girls and watches over them like a good roo should. Just wondering if maybe I should separate him from them until the pullets are old enough to mate?
Second question: Rudy and Louis, the BLRW cockerel had been co-existing peacefully, however things seem to be getting interesting. For the last 3 nights, Rudy has chased Louis away from the coop at bedtime. They get along okay during the day with an occasional chase, but when it gets time to roost, Rudy waits until all the hens are in the coop, then chases Louis away. Poor Louis waits until almost dark and then sneaks into the coop after Rudy is on the roost lol. I even saw Louis trying to claim one of the smaller hens for himself today, which didn't go over too well. My plans are in progress to build a separate coop for Louis to have some of the bantam hens for himself, but it isn't ready yet. I really wasn't expecting them to be attempting to mate so soon, since the pullets aren't anywhere near ready. Any advice on how to help them get along until I can get the new coop ready?
