Cockerel sexual maturity

[Poodlemum]

Randy Roger has started mounting his pullet friends, they’re mostly all about 3 months old. He’s being put in his place and not bothering the younger pullets (2 months). We bought him as a pullet and now I’ve decided to try keeping him for olive eggs. Is he better to stay with his current friends or is putting him in the laying pen better for his pullet friends? None are over a year there, but all laying for a few months now. His size isn’t an issue like my first roosters were, so I’m new to this and want everyone happy!

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

No idea what the "correct' answer is. But I would put him with the older girls. Hopefully they will teach him some manners. No reason for him to be breeding pullets that are too young to even lay yet. IMO that is just asking for injuries.

 

[Poodlemum]

No idea what the "correct' answer is. But I would put him with the older girls. Hopefully they will teach him some manners. No reason for him to be breeding pullets that are too young to even lay yet. IMO that is just asking for injuries.

I appreciate any insight! A bit nervous about them being mean, but he’s a good size… Wyandottes are such jerks lol

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's around 13 weeks old. Some cockerels do start trying to establish dominance at that age but many often wait a couple of more weeks or even months. The reason he is wanting to mate them at that age is not to fertilize eggs, the one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At that age and for another two months it is usually by force. It's one way chickens sort out the social order, it's not always just by fighting or intimidation. To me that's part of chickens being chickens.

Are any of those pullets being injured? I've never had a pullet injured from that but the mating is by force so injuries can happen. It's not unusual during mating for an occasional feather to come off (either on the back where the claws go or the back of the head where he grabs on) but those areas can get bare. That raises the risk of cuts so bare spots are something to watch for.

I'll mention this now, I think it applies to practically any behavioral issues. The less room they have the more behavioral issues are magnified. I have over 3,000 square feet outside so they have plenty of room to avoid each other and to run away. Cockerels still chase pullets down to force mate but having room may have a lot to do with why I haven't had any injuries. I have adults and often juveniles of various ages all roaming together without injuries, They may interact a small amount but mostly they just avoid each other by groups. It's extremely peaceful until the boys hit puberty.

If you put a 3 month old cockerel with a group of older pullets like that different things can happen. He is going to be by himself and they do like company. More mature chickens are higher in the pecking order than less mature chickens and will often peck the less mature if they invade their personal space. Same thing can happen if you put an immature pullet in with them.

The pullets may let him interact with them as long as he does not try to mate with them or dominate them, not likely but possible. If he approaches them they may run him off so he hangs by himself. As long as he has room to run away and avoid them it is unlikely the pullets will injure or kill him. If space is real tight that becomes more of a possibility. With living animals you can't be sure what will happen though. Tight space may not be bad, lots of room may not help.

At some point in puberty he will want to mate with them. Again there are many possibilities. The pullets may submit to his dominance. This can go very peacefully. They may just run from him, sometimes getting away and sometimes being caught and forced. They may fight back. Usually this is the more dominant females, It's not unusual for some to submit but for the dominant female to knock him off and run him away if he tries to mate in her presence. She understands it is an act of dominance and she's not going to let him demonstrate dominance when she is in charge. Eventually he will mature to the point where he takes over as the dominant flock master. For me that's usually a peaceful transition but it can mean a day or two of violence between that maturing cockerel and the dominant hen.

My goal in all this is that no one gets hurt. Every year I hatch out around 40 to 45 chicks and raise them all together with the adult flock. Some years there are more pullets than cockerels, some years more cockerels than pullets. Usually I let them work this stuff out by themselves. But every three or four years it gets rough enough that I separate out a dozen or so of the cockerels and raise them to butcher age in a separate enclosure. I do pay attention and I have my limits. But as long as no one is being injured or I feel the threat of injury isn't too high I try to let my chickens be chickens.

I don't know what the right answer is for you. You can try him with either group or isolate him until he matures. Usually around 7 months is when my cockerels can handle it. I had one that could at 5 months, one that couldn't until 11 months, they all vary. Some of that is your perceptions and what behaviors you can accept. My main suggestion is to go by what you see. Try something. If you don't like it, try something else. In any case have a plan if you have to isolate him on short notice. It sounds like you have multiple flocks and plan on hatching chicks. I find a place to put a chicken in an emergency can be really useful anyway.

Good luck and let us know what you decide and how it turns out.

 

[3KillerBs]

I followed this advice last year with my maturing cockerels and things went well for me.

 

[Poodlemum]

Thank you! This is such a great trove of info and really helpful. We’re currently in flockdown and I’m definitely concerned about lack of space for integration. Adequate space for situations like this is very important for me and I’ve got a separate space he can go if needed. He’s being great with the freshly introduced younger group. If anything, there’s one or two pullets I’d pull out before him… I’ll keep this updated and check in if I come up with any other questions

 

[U_Stormcrow]

agree w/ @Ridgerunner - that's consistent with m experience, though I free range all my birds, so as a practical matter there is no seperating into groups by me - they sort of do that on their own - but I can see the behaviors described above in my flock, even though our management of our flocks differ.