cockerel mates just with two hens, what should I do?

[maceleneo]

Hi, my flock consists of 5 Marans girls (one year old), 2 Araucanas girls (ten months old) and my MaransXAraucana cockerel (nine months old).
The cockerel (his name is Napoleone) is the newest addiction, he arrived in september and most of the Marans still treat him as an idiot, on the other side the Araucanas succumbed to his charm. He is really sweet: "dances" for them, offers them treats, suggests them places for laying and often stays with them when they are laying.
Here's the thing: these two Araucanas are the only hens he mates with and they are starting to lose feathers on the back and on the head. Napoleone seems more clumsy than violent to me, but he's my first cockerel and this is my first flock ever, so I'm not sure how things should go. Even if they seem to accept him, he grabs them by the head... and they are starting to go bald!
Sometimes he tries to mate with some of the Marans, but they don't let him. There's just one Marans who seems to be interested in him: she has started coming when he calls for treats and I even saw her squat for him once, but he ignored her and doesn't seem interested in her at all.
He is still young and I hope in the future Marans will learn to love him... but what should I do in the meantime? The little Araucanas seem to be stressed by his attentions. Is he too big for them?
I was thinking of keeping the Araucanas in another place for a while, to let their feathers grow back... Could this motivate him to do better with the Marans? Would this be cruel? Should I just wait? Separating the flock doesn't seem the best solution to me, but I don't know what else could I do.
I would really appreciate your advices and experiences with similar issues. Thank you!

 

[sourland]

I'd put the Araucanas in a separate pen until he has matured and is also getting it on with the Marans.

 

[maceleneo]

Thank you! I put the Araucanas in the run for now (they usually free range). Is keeping them separated during the day enough or do you think they should also sleep in separated places? I was thinking of putting them in the coop while others are sleeping for the night and putting them again in the run for the day, since I don't have another pen for them.

 

[bobbi-j]

Thank you! I put the Araucanas in the run for now (they usually free range). Is keeping them separated during the day enough or do you think they should also sleep in separated places? I was thinking of putting them in the coop while others are sleeping for the night and putting them again in the run for the day, since I don't have another pen for them.

Keeping them separate during the day is fine. They’re not active at night.

 

[maceleneo]

Thank you! I hope they'll be fine. How long could this last? I'm not sure what age do roosters reach maturity... I mean, he's already sexually active, but he's just a kid... at what age are roosters adults?

 

[bobbi-j]

Thank you! I hope they'll be fine. How long could this last? I'm not sure what age do roosters reach maturity... I mean, he's already sexually active, but he's just a kid... at what age are roosters adults?

They’re considered adults at a year old. Your older hens will warm up to him eventually, he just needs to mature a bit more

 

[Ridgerunner]

at what age are roosters adults?

The technical definition is that a cockerel is called a rooster when he is one year old. The practical reality is different, chickens don't keep calendars. A cockerel acts like a rooster when he matures enough to act like a rooster. I've had a cockerel 5 months old that managed that. I had one that was 11 months old before he was accepted by all the hens. Most of mine seem to make that switch at around 7 months old but it can vary a lot. Others on here have said they had to wait until well over a year.

Technically a pullet becomes a hen at one year of age. Most of my pullets start acting like hens about the time they start to lay, well before they are one year old.

I think the girls have something to say about that too. Many hens or pullets require a boy to act like he will be a good father to any future kids before they allow him to mate. Part of that is that he needs enough self-confidence and swagger to win them over by the force of his personality, part is that he needs to fulfill the requirements of a good flock master. He ha several duties to perform other than keeping the eggs fertile. Immature cockerels have a lot of trouble managing that. I think that's part of what you re seeing, the younger girls are more wiling to accept him and he is still a little scared of the older girls.

I'll copy something I wrote about the mating act between consenting adults. It might help explain some of the things you are seeing.

The rooster dances for a specific hen. He lowers one wing and sort of circles her. This signals his intent.

The hen squats. This gets her body onto the ground so the rooster’s weight goes into the ground through her entire body and not just her legs. That way she can support a much heavier rooster without hurting her joints.

The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. The head grab helps him get in the right position to hit the target and helps him to keep his balance, but its major purpose is to tell the hen to raise her tail out of the way to expose the target. A mating will not be successful if she does not raise her tail and expose the target. The head grab is necessary.

The rooster touches vents and hops off. This may be over in the blink of an eye or it may take a few seconds. But when this is over the rooster’s part is done.

The hen then stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts its internal journey through her internal egg making factory.

All this stuff doesn't always happen this way, often it doesn't. He may not dance, she may try to run away. As long as she winds up squatting when he is on here and no damage is done, it's all good. But often a cockerel doesn't have great technique. That may be part of your problem with the head grab on those two.

At some point he will mature enough to win over the older girls. That may be a smooth take-over or it may get violent, possibly with the more dominant hen. I've seen it go both ways.

So what can you do since your two younger girls are being damaged? I see two options and am not sure which I'd choose. You can isolate the boy until those two heal and give him a chance to mature more, then try again. Or you can isolate the two girls until they heal and leave him with the older girls. In either case I'd want them where the others can see them so you don't have to do a full integration. And yes, during the day should be fine. I agree with Sour, they are not active at night.

 

[maceleneo]

Thank you so much for your thorough answer!
At the moment the Araucanas are closed in the run where they can see (hear and smell) the rest of the flock. Napoleone spent most of the day near the run door pining for his girls and acted a little crazy: he sang his "treat song" offering rusty screws he found on the ground (aehm, not exactly an Italian garden) (and not exactly a way to act as a rooster, I guess!), and chased and pecked some Marans (the less dominant ones).
For the moment I would keep the Araucanas in the run, at least they can stay together (I would feel bad leaving him alone in the run, but maybe isn't that bad if he can see the hens).
Both Araucanas usually squat for him (at least most of the time), but he seem to lack technique. I really hope he will learn to behave!

 

[Mrs. K]

Truthfully, I would not worry about this. It most generally will get better, and the baldness will grow over. These feather losses bother people way more than they bother chickens. I would not separate the birds.

Separating birds often causes a lot of problems. If you leave them all together, I am thinking that they will figure this all out in about the same amount of time as if you go to all the hassle of separating them.

Mrs K

 

[maceleneo]

Truthfully, I would not worry about this. It most generally will get better, and the baldness will grow over. These feather losses bother people way more than they bother chickens. I would not separate the birds.

Separating birds often causes a lot of problems. If you leave them all together, I am thinking that they will figure this all out in about the same amount of time as if you go to all the hassle of separating them.

Mrs K

Thanks for your reply. This is my first flock and I have no experience with chickens, but I live in a rural area where I often see chickens pretty badly injured. They are kept in very narrow spaces and I guess this is part of the problem, but I guess also that first they lose their feathers and then come scratches and possibly wounds and/or infections?
I'll admit that separating them could have been a little premature in my case and I know that is going to impact the flock balance... this will mean having to reintroduce the little ones at some point (but I hope it will be easier than the first time, since at least they can see each other now).
I think you're right and they would eventually figure this out, but I'm scared by what could happen in the meantime and I would like to see my flock happy and healthy (I have to admit that at the moment the cockerel is not happy at all!).
Can I ask you if you think that I should keep them all together because they will eventually figure this out or because that even if they didn't, this wouldn't be so bad?
I'm not sure what should I do if they wouldn't, but I can't stop thinking about it (I'm an anxious mother ).