Dang roosters

[Kirmi8]

Perhaps I am over thinking things, but I have two 6 month old roosters (Easter egger mutt types) in with 39 hens, 17 mature leghorns, and a the rest are a mix of 6 month - 1 year old heritage mixes and 4 bantams.
I feel like the hens are getting terrorized. When I go in a night to refill water and make sure food is good and get the last eggs for the day, the roosters jump from the roosts and then start going after the hens again. It is like a panic situation it seems for several of the hens trying to get away and then hiding in the nesting boxes. I have a ton of feather loss and bald headed ladies now.
I’m just about done with these boys and I am seriously thinking they need to go.

Is it worth waiting to see if these roosters will mellow out? Or if they are being mean to the girls now, it will just continue on? One is a little more gentle than the other but he is also twice the size. There is no fighting between the roosters other than trying to push each other off a hen.
Would it make a difference to get rid of one?
I’m not one to cull unnecessarily but I take a lot of joy in hanging out in the coop at the end of the day and observing and giving treats and since the boys started this it has not been enjoyable for anyone it seems.

My intent with having roosters was another layer of predator protection and thought the hens would like to have them as well. Not interested in fertilized eggs at all.

please share your thoughts. (Also totally willing to admit that I am anthropomorphising the situation).

 

[JaeG]

Some people do keep the cockerels separated until they are older and the hormonal craziness has started to subside which happens when they are closer to 12 months old.

I wouldn't have trusted one we kept around the kids as a young thing so he was kept in his own coop and run, still within the flock so he wasn't lonely, and once he was around 9-10 months old he was allowed some hens in with him, and around that time I started to let him free range and he's been a good boy so far.

How old are your girls as young pullets don't know how to deal with young males, but older hens generally don't let them get away with bad behaviour.

 

[Kirmi8]

The youngest hens are the same age as the boys (hatch mates - I got the boys in august from a friend and then in October her situation changed and she was no longer able to keep her hens). And then the rest were a year in August. They don’t seem to bother the leghorns too much as they are 18 months old, but I’ve seen two now with bloody combs.
These boys do seem to need a good tuning in but no one seems to be doing it and the ladies that protest the most are the baldest.

 

[Mrs. K]

They are destroying your joy of the flock. Always solve for peace in the flock. So you probably need to pull them if you have anywhere else to put them. If not just cull them. The first rooster I culled, I did dilly dally. After that, you won't dilly dally again. Peace in the flock is worth it, and what animal husbandry is about.

Mrs K

 

[Kirmi8]

They are destroying your joy of the flock. Always solve for peace in the flock. So you probably need to pull them if you have anywhere else to put them. If not just cull them. The first rooster I culled, I did dilly dally. After that, you won't dilly dally again. Peace in the flock is worth it, and what animal husbandry is about.

Mrs K

Do you think it’s worth culling the rougher one and see if things relax with just the one? Or just make the decision that roosters aren’t for me and move on.
The most frustrating part is that he treat calls and dances for the girls but then just grabs them by the neck any chance he can.
The other tends to just hop on and do his thing and it seems to be a lot more gentle - but perhaps that’s because he is trying to be more sneaky.
gah. I just don’t know.

 

[JaeG]

Do you think it’s worth culling the rougher one and see if things relax with just the one? Or just make the decision that roosters aren’t for me and move on.
The most frustrating part is that he treat calls and dances for the girls but then just grabs them by the neck any chance he can.
The other tends to just hop on and do his thing and it seems to be a lot more gentle - but perhaps that’s because he is trying to be more sneaky.
gah. I just don’t know.

It's up to you what you do but until the hormones start to calm down it sounds like they are going to make life miserable for your girls. If you can pen them off for awhile that would help. Otherwise I would cull them or rehome them, and you might be better getting an older rooster off a breeder as an older rooster will be a lot calmer, breeders tend to only keep gentle, non human aggressive roosters (the good ones anyway), and he'll know how to do his job properly (young ones tend to just run and hide from a predator attack).

Cockerels are frustrating creatures.

 

[Kirmi8]

It's up to you what you do but until the hormones start to calm down it sounds like they are going to make life miserable for your girls. If you can pen them off for awhile that would help. Otherwise I would cull them or rehome them, and you might be better getting an older rooster off a breeder as an older rooster will be a lot calmer, breeders tend to only keep gentle, non human aggressive roosters (the good ones anyway), and he'll know how to do his job properly (young ones tend to just run and hide from a predator attack).

Cockerels are frustrating creatures.

This is what I am discovering, they are arseholes. I mistakenly thought feather loss happened when you didn’t have enough hens per rooster.
If it wasn’t so cold here I would divide the outside pen and give them a dog house to snuggle in and be away from the hens, but it gets too cold here for them to survive that humanely. And not really enough space to separate them within the coop. Rehoming isn’t really an option as there is a surplus of roosters for rehoming that I see on all of the chickens groups.

I feel awful for even thinking about culling them (fortunately my husband has no issues with this).

 

[JaeG]

This is what I am discovering, they are arseholes. I mistakenly thought feather loss happened when you didn’t have enough hens per rooster.
If it wasn’t so cold here I would divide the outside pen and give them a dog house to snuggle in and be away from the hens, but it gets too cold here for them to survive that humanely. And not really enough space to separate them within the coop. Rehoming isn’t really an option as there is a surplus of roosters for rehoming that I see on all of the chickens groups.

I feel awful for even thinking about culling them (fortunately my husband has no issues with this).

Husbands are good like that.

It's not nice to think about but your flock will be so much calmer with them gone and you will feel better.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

My roosters are separated from hens as my oldest hen keeps screaming everytime the rooster starts chasing her into submission but will make breeding in the spring much easier as i will put certain hens with certain roosters for my project breedings and will know who parents are

 

[Kirmi8]

Like this is excessive right? (Just continuing to talk myself into the fact they need to go).