Cockerel/Rooster (what should I do?)

[Fricasee]

this is my second run at chickens so I'm very new at it

I got six hens in March, and very soon after picked up ten chicks at Tractor Supply. Two of them turned out to be cockerels. Then I was gifted a hen from a friend when a bear was visiting his coop regularly and she was the last hen left. A month ago a guest's dog got into the run and killed one hen and one of the cockerels. Stupid dog killed the good cockerel. I picked up a free polish cockerel from a Craigslist ad and added him to the flock. He is sweet and shy and doesn't bother the hens. I feel bad for him. He keeps to himself a lot, but over time he is integrating more and more.

Now...for the other rooster. He is relentless in pursuit of the hens and pullets. I spent 30-45 minutes in the garden with them chopping thistles yesterday after work. I saw him mate maybe a dozen times in that time span. I'm not experienced at all with rooster/cockerel behavior, so is this excessive? He will chase his target all around the whole run until either he gets smacked by one of the other hens or until he catches his target. It seems to be stressing them out, and he also bullies the other little polish cockerel. (when are they deemed rooster after cockerel anyway?) He is not aggressive to me "yet". I pick him up when I can catch him and hold him and pet and examine and he doesn't struggle.

I'm wonder if I should remove him from the flock or am I being too judgemental of him?

 

[Chickassan]

That's a decent amount of mateing for sure. Your little polish won't have a chance at the ladies unless he sneaks it. That's pretty normal for a cockrel but since you have a gentler fella I would choose him for the ladies sake.

 

[Zoomie]

A cockerel is officially a rooster when it reaches one year of age.

A young cockerel like this can surely cause a lot of trouble and harass the hens. It's kind of hard to say because I don't think there are any hard and fast rules here. If it were me, I'd probably take him out and put him in a pot with carrots and potatoes. But, he's still young... if you really like him for some reason, you could wait for him to mature more, and see if he settles down. If you feel he's disrupting the flock too much, well, I always tell people that the mean ones taste better. After all, I presume you are not keeping hens for the sake of the cockerel being able to mate continuously, so your opinions matter here.

 

[Fricasee]

They're both cockerels then. I don't really like him that much but I feel really bad saying that too! He's just insatiable, he's at it constantly and the other little guy is really sweet and does not bother the hens much. He does the foot stomping but I haven't seen him hop on yet. How many hens to each boy is a good rule of thumb? I'll give putting him on Craigslist a shot and see how that goes.

 

[aart]

Multiple males can make them all behave badly due to competition.
Keep the one you want. CL, or stew, the other one

 

[Fricasee]

ok, thanks for the input!

 

[theoldchick]

Keep the gentle rooster. Your hens will love you for it.

 

[Fricasee]

Ok. I've put an ad on CL. However I can see there are several other people trying to rehome their roosters.
My boyfriend has a friend who may take him too...

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

How old is he? Young roosters can be really mean to hens/pullets, but they can get gentler as they get older.

 

[Fricasee]

He came home as a day old chick the first of March.