Cockerels - What to do - I'm new to them

[CoopedUpChicken]

I have 16 chickies - all a dash over 4 months old. They have been doing fantastic - but now I've been able to pick out the cockerels (I'll call them roosters).

I've got a HUGE white rock rooster who now crows, does the little chicken dance to woo the girls, is raping the girls, learning to offer food and protect them. The other roo who was supposed to be the only roo is a gold laced wyandotte. He hasn't started to do much of anything. He tried crowing a couple of times but didn't sound very good at all lol. And in the mix is a pair of straight run white silkies and it is obvious that one is a roo and one is a hen.

My questions please if you can help!

1. The huge roo has danced in front of me as I have cleaned the pen, I've been picking him up every time he displays dominant behavior in front of me. I wait a few minutes, put him to the ground and will not release him until he is calm. Will this work? How long does this training take?

2. Do I need to worry about the 3 roos fighting eventually? Will one day I look out to the pen and see a dead roo or hen? Can the huge roo mate with the tiny silkie hen without killing her?

3. The hens hate being raped, will eventually they like the roo's advances when they fully mature?

4. Is there anything else I need to know?

Thanks!

 

[sourland]

1) What you are doing may work, or his behavior may escalate. Don't turn your back on him - that's a big bird, and do not allow children anywhere near him.

2) The roosters may eventually fight, but given enough space they may be able to coexist. Potentially the large rooster might injure the silky hen.

3) Rape is a thing that humans do not animals. Chickens mating, especially young cockerels, can be rough. After a while most roosters develop a bit more finesse and the hens become more accepting of their advances.

4) It is possible that extremely large roosters can injure the backs/sides of hens while trying to breed them. If they start trying to knock one another off of the hens it becomes more likely that this can happen. Trimming toenails and spurs can sometimes help, but this is something to watch out for. Such wounds are susceptible to fly strike.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm a big fan of polite roosters, and cull any that think I'm fair game. If you need to chose, eliminate the Plymouth Rock; he's already thinking bad thoughts. Your Wyandotte is being good so far, and may or may not continue to be polite to you. One of my seventeen week old Chantecler boys tried me out today; I carried him around and put the "you're dinner!" leg band on him before he was released. If he shapes up it would be nice, but I doubt it. Your Silkies might form a separate little group, which will be safer for them, because they are special needs birds anyway. Mary

 

[azygous]

One more thing I might add to the excellent run-down on roosters that Sourland gave you is that you are not required to allow your cockerels access to the hens if you so wish.

When I discovered I had two young cockerels on my hands, and that this would double the stress my hens had been receiving from a recently deceased rooster, I decided that life would simply be better for all concerned to segregate the two boys.

In short order I built a coop and a run specially for the two of them. Problems all solved!

Well, no. They decided that going forward, they would spend most of their time trying to kill each other. They were only six months old, and I doubted they would make it to a year without one being killed and the other seriously maimed.

So I put a partition up in the coop to keep them separated, but they fought through it tearing it down, and ended up bloodying each other just as badly as if there were nothing there. I rebuilt the partition and covered it with fabric so they couldn't see each other and it solved that problem.

But what to do with them during the day? I eventually decided that one could stay in the run, and the other would take turns remaining outside to do "patrol" and take his chances with the predators. That is how one eventually met his end, unlucky having his day outside and some dogs killed him.

But the solution was the best for the flock, I had determined. It spared the hens the constant and clumsy attentions of two hormonal cockerels, and I didn't have to constantly worry about them injuring or killing each other.

You might give this solution some consideration.

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

No children around at all to worry about

He is HUGE and his behavior is pretty aggressive. He flaps his wings every time I walk by the pen. He was able to bite my hand today for the first time and I picked him up and held him. I will not turn my back on him anymore (didn't know that). I will give it a bit more time but I might have to get over my "killing things makes me sad" and put him in a pot or the lady at the farm store said I could return him there at any time...

He was supposed to be a hen, and as a beginner chicken keeper I'm beginning to think that I'm over my head with regard to this huge white roo.

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

I love the idea of keeping them separated!

Oh - for the silkie couple - they will be getting their own separate area within a few weeks where they can see the others - and mingle with the others at their "supervised free range outside at dusk time".

 

[sourland]

He is HUGE and his behavior is pretty aggressive. He flaps his wings every time I walk by the pen. He was able to bite my hand today for the first time and I picked him up and held him. I will not turn my back on him anymore (didn't know that). I will give it a bit more time but I might have to get over my "killing things makes me sad" and put him in a pot or the lady at the farm store said I could return him there at any time...

If he's becoming that aggressive at just a bit over 16 weeks old, I'm thinking he's not long for your flock.

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

If he's becoming that aggressive at just a bit over 16 weeks old, I'm thinking he's not long for your flock.

So, that is a sign of a roo that will probably be more on the "really mean to humans" side when he fully matures... in otherwords, I don't have to put up with it as there are other roos who wouldn't be nearly as mean?

 

[sourland]

Some cockerels settle down as they mature, but this guy sounds a bit precocious. Like Mary of Folly's Place I am a fan of polite roosters, and have little to no tolerance for human aggressive creatures. Even more so now that I have slowed down.