Help! Mean rooster

[Cherylanne]

Hi .. I've had chickens for about a year and a half and still learning. I have a silkie who is approx 7 months old that started becoming very aggressive to the other girls. Turns out she is a he. This is my first rooster, and a mean one at that. I will gladly welcome any and all advice. I have never had to cull, and don't know that I could. We currently have 9 chickens of mixed breeds and ages. He only picks on the ones his age. Not the older girls. I'm not opposed to keeping him and seeing how it is with a rooster, but I can't have him hurting the other girls...

 

[Ridgerunner]

You don't have a rooster you have a cockerel. Two totally different critters.

What you are describing sounds pretty normal. When the hormones hit the cockerels can go kind of bonkers in mating the pullets and hens, though they are often less successful with mature hens. It's not that they are sex-crazy maniacs trying to fertilize non-existing eggs, but that the mating act is more about dominance at that age. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At that age it is usually by force. Their hormones are telling them to dominate.

When they mature, cockerel and pullets both, they usually change into a pretty peaceful flock. The hormones settle down and they all accept their mature position in the flock. It can be hard to watch them go through that process though and not all mature.

In a free ranging flock with a dominant rooster, mature hens, and younger chickens the adult rooster would run the cockerels out of the flock at this stage, forcing them to survive on their own and see if they can mature into an adult. That's pretty common with many social animals in the animal kingdom. You don't have one of those flocks. The mature hens may control him a bit but probably not much, nothing like a strong Daddy figure would do. Usually Daddy takes better care of his hens than he does of his pullets when it comes to cockerels. After all the hens are the ones laying eggs.

Are the girls bleeding? Are they losing patches of feathers? While it may be hard for you to watch it's probably not nearly as bad for the girls as you imagine. In many respects that's how they work out the social order in chicken society.

You have a few options. As long as you don't see blood or physical damage to the pullets or hens, you can leave them alone and let them work it out. That's what I usually do.

You can isolate that cockerel for a few months until he and the pullets mature. That's what I do if it gets too rough for my tastes but I'm only separating them until the cockerels hit butcher age. In your case you can try putting him back with the flock and see how they behave. Or you can isolate him for the rest of his life.

You can get rid of him. Try to sell him, give him away, eat him, or just kill him and toss the body. Your choice.

Why do you want to keep that cockerel? What are your goals toward him? The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preference, that can be a strong motivator. It's up to you to decide if the correct number of males in your flock is one or zero.

 

[AltonaAcres]

My cockerels hit what I call a "teen stage", when they are about that age. They go nuts, are really cruel, and crow every 30 seconds. After a while they mature and calm down, though they continue to breed the hens. With only one rooster, your issues should get better after a while. If you had 2 that'd be a different story. However, it TOTALLY depends on the rooster. Some are evil to the hens there're whole lives, and can be aggressive towards humans, while others are gentle with the hens, let them eat first, protect them, and love to be pet and held.

 

[Cherylanne]

Just how serious is the bullying?

Your boy has potential to seriously hurt the pullets, if rough enough.

I always cull for aggression towards hens, because it doesn't usually seem to improve with time (though others may have experienced differently). Separating for a few months as a "cooling off" period hasn't worked in my situation. If anything, when released, the ruffian made up for lost time....and infinitely rougher than before.

It's entirely up to you. Some find stressed pullets and damaged plumage completely normal. Though, from my personal perspective, there are too many gentle roosters available to stand for one who misbehaves.

~Alex

I have two salmon favarelles who are as sweet as you please, and he made one bleed. I didnt realize it was a rooster.No crowing and this behavior started suddenly. But became bad quickly. I have enclosed him during the day in a smaller coop and my older girls sleep in there at night but he hasn't bothered them yet. gx

You don't have a rooster you have a cockerel. Two totally different critters.

What you are describing sounds pretty normal. When the hormones hit the cockerels can go kind of bonkers in mating the pullets and hens, though they are often less successful with mature hens. It's not that they are sex-crazy maniacs trying to fertilize non-existing eggs, but that the mating act is more about dominance at that age. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At that age it is usually by force. Their hormones are telling them to dominate.

When they mature, cockerel and pullets both, they usually change into a pretty peaceful flock. The hormones settle down and they all accept their mature position in the flock. It can be hard to watch them go through that process though and not all mature.

In a free ranging flock with a dominant rooster, mature hens, and younger chickens the adult rooster would run the cockerels out of the flock at this stage, forcing them to survive on their own and see if they can mature into an adult. That's pretty common with many social animals in the animal kingdom. You don't have one of those flocks. The mature hens may control him a bit but probably not much, nothing like a strong Daddy figure would do. Usually Daddy takes better care of his hens than he does of his pullets when it comes to cockerels. After all the hens are the ones laying eggs.

Are the girls bleeding? Are they losing patches of feathers? While it may be hard for you to watch it's probably not nearly as bad for the girls as you imagine. In many respects that's how they work out the social order in chicken society.

You have a few options. As long as you don't see blood or physical damage to the pullets or hens, you can leave them alone and let them work it out. That's what I usually do.

You can isolate that cockerel for a few months until he and the pullets mature. That's what I do if it gets too rough for my tastes but I'm only separating them until the cockerels hit butcher age. In your case you can try putting him back with the flock and see how they behave. Or you can isolate him for the rest of his life.

You can get rid of him. Try to sell him, give him away, eat him, or just kill him and toss the body. Your choice.

Why do you want to keep that cockerel? What are your goals toward him? The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preference, that can be a strong motivator. It's up to you to decide if the correct number of males in your flock is one or zero.

I've not yet had a rooster. Admittedly new to this and learning. He has made one of my girls blead. He is pecking at them. We always thought if we accidentally got a rooster we may try to keep it. See if we could have some chicks, kids would love that. But didn't account for a mean one. So I don't have to keep him. But if there was an answer I am willing to try.

 

[Cherylanne]

My cockerels hit what I call a "teen stage", when they are about that age. They go nuts, are really cruel, and crow every 30 seconds. After a while they mature and calm down, though they continue to breed the hens. With only one rooster, your issues should get better after a while. If you had 2 that'd be a different story. However, it TOTALLY depends on the rooster. Some are evil to the hens there're whole lives, and can be aggressive towards humans, while others are gentle with the hens, let them eat first, protect them, and love to be pet and held.

This came out of nowhere for sure. He has not been aggressive toward us. And seems to pick mostly on my salmon favarelles. They are so sweet. I put him in the smaller coop and may just leave him there for a while. We have 5 children, the last thing I need is another moody teen

 

[Ridgerunner]

With you never having a rooster I'll copy this.

Typical mating behavior between mature consenting adults.

The rooster dances for a specific hen. He lowers one wing and sort of circles her. This signals his intent.

The hen squats. This gets her body onto the ground so the rooster’s weight goes into the ground through her entire body and not just her legs. That way she can support a much heavier rooster without hurting her legs.

The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. The head grab helps him get in the right position to hit the target and helps him to keep his balance, but its major purpose is to tell the hen to raise her tail out of the way to expose the target. A mating will not be successful if she does not raise her tail and expose the target. The head grab is necessary.

The rooster touches vents and hops off. This may be over in the blink of an eye or it may take a few seconds. But when this is over the rooster’s part is done.

The hen then stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts its internal journey through her internal egg making factory.

As i said, you have a cockerel, not a rooster. As he is making them bleed, I agree the best thing is to lock him up. Good luck, this can be frustrating.

 

[Mrs. K]

Always solve for the peace of the flock, separate him and let your birds grow up a bit.

I think you will like your flock better without him. If you want a rooster, ask around, roosters are plentiful, it is way more fun to have a good one, than you and your hens put up with a rotten one.

MRs K

 

[chickens really]

Do you mean he is breeding the Hens?