My chickens were born feb 20 so they are almost 12 weeks, this is my first flock and I hatched 7 females and 6 males…..I just caught a cockerel mounting a hen this morning….do they practice way before 16 weeks?
At that age they are not trying to fertilize the eggs, there are no eggs to fertilize. It is not practice. The mounting behavior is about dominance. The one on the bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top (at least temporarily) either willingly or by force. It is normally boys mounting girls but sometimes boys mount boys or girls mount girls. It is really rare for a girl to mount a boy. Try not to read too much into it.
And does this mean the roosters are going to start fighting earlier?
The chicks start determining dominance younger than 12 weeks. I've seen chicks (boys and girls) face off and fight at 5 to 6 weeks old. Yeah, the girls do it too. There is no set age that they start determining dominance. There is nothing magic about 16 weeks of age. Each chicken is an individual and each flock has its own dynamics.
I’m trying to figure out when to make a pen to start separating the boys.
Now would be a good time. You never know when you will need to separate chickens, either for being brutal to each other or because one is injured and needs to be treated. I recommend a spot like this for all female flocks as well as mixed flocks.
Also I am considering let the boys and girls take turns free ranging….is it correct that the boys won’t fight if they are separated from the hens even if they can see the hens?
All flocks have a dominant chicken. Sometimes they get that dominant position by intimidation, sometimes it is by fighting. This includes all-girl flocks. In some flocks this is determined with practically no violence, in others there can be a lot of violence.
Typically when the boys hit puberty their hormones tell them to be dominant. They start mating the girls, usually by force though sometimes the girls cooperate, and they fight other boys. This can be pretty hard to watch because it is usually fairly violent. I'd expect yours to be that way because it usually is.
Many people use bachelor pads to keep the boys separated from the girls. If there are no girls to fight over it is often not that bad. They are still going to determine the pecking order whether it is an all-boy flock or an all-girl flock so it can be vicious, but often if there are no girls to fight over it is not much rougher than when an all-girl flock determines the pecking order.
Every year I hatch and raise around 45 chicks. Some years I have several more boys that girls, some years it is the other way around. Some are brooder-raised, some broody-raised. They are all raised with the flock, I do not automatically separate the boys out. Some of the boys will force mate the girls when the boys hit puberty. It can be upsetting to watch but I've never had a pullet actually injured because of this. Some of the boys fight each other. One year I did have one cockerel kill another cockerel. It can happen. But that was one year out of many. And when I say "some boys", I mean it's usually 4 or 5 boys chasing the pullets or skirmishing each other. The rest of the boys do not participate. Their fighting is usually really a skirmish. The fights typically last less than a minute before one decides it is a good idea to run away instead of keep fighting.
Once every three or four years it does get rough enough down there that I will separate some of the older boys into my pen that is ready in case it is needed. I do have my limits as to what is acceptable.
One reason I think I have so little real trouble is that I have over 3,000 square feet so they can run away from each other. I think space makes all the difference. I think what might have happened when that one cockerel killed the other is that it got trapped against a fence and could not run away.
If your space is somewhat limited I strongly suggest you start building that bachelor pad immediately. To me a lack of room to run away and avoid is a big danger to boys and girls when they are going through puberty. And it is very possible you will not be able to tolerate the boys mating the girls or the boys skirmishing. It can be hard to watch. There are a lot of people on this forum that cannot stand it. Another reason to start on that bachelor pad real soon.
I want to pick the best rooster and cull the rest but wanted to give them time to establish their personalities. If I put them up in a bachelor pad can I rotate whole comes out with the girls or will that in of itself cause a problem?
When do you plan on picking your keeper? The problem with this and what makes it really hard is that when the boys are immature cockerels they are hyped up on hormones and are generally out of control. Their hormones are telling them to mate the girls to establish dominance and fight the other boys to establish dominance. Once they mature out of puberty their behaviors usually change totally. It becomes peaceful, the kind of flock we want. It helps for the girls to mature out of puberty too, they have a part to play in flock dynamics. Sometimes they just won't accept certain of the boys. I've had some cockerels reach this level of maturity by seven months, some might take a year or more. I don't know any easy way to do this.
I kind of do what Mrs K outlined. I eliminate the obvious ones that are not going to make it. That helps remove the background clutter. Those earlier ones are usually fairly easy to select but by the time you get down to the last two or three it gets hard. But what that means is that probably any of those would be a decent choice. I don't always pick a good one but I do the best I can.
This is probably not much help to you. I can't tell you that you have to do these things any certain way because I don't think you have to do these things any certain way. My main suggestion though is to get that bachelor pad ready because you don't know how soon you may need it. And make it big enough so you don't crowd them to the point the lack of space causes fighting.
