How long do young roosters act like jerks?

[Hholly]

Hi y'all! I have a 5 month old rooster that is feeling his oats in a big way, recently. He's jumping on the hens and grabbing beakfuls of feathers off their backs. He's definitely mating my only mature hen. Normally his obnoxious behavior only occurs for the first few minutes after I open their door in the morning. But I'm wondering if he will become the gentlemanly rooster I keep hearing about. Or, is he just a jerk?
TIA!

 

[BeachMomma]

He may or may not become a gentleman rooster but 5-7 month olds are def rambunctious lol. It also will help if he knows his boundaries with you and other family members.

Never let your rooster mount one of the girls when you're in the pen or near the pen. Same with him crowing within a few feet of you. He definitely needs to know you're the top "rooster."
My roo definitely got attitude checked by me a few times when he's tried to mount the girls. Also helps holding him down and tapping right behind his comb to learn he's not the boss of you. If he wiggles to get loose grab him again and start over. After he keeps his head down for 10 seconds or so let him up. He's quite the gentleman now and when he sees me coming into the pen he bows his head and walks far away haha.

If you search the learning center for rooster behavior you should find the article that describes the above.
Good luck!

 

[SilkieNation]

chickenarmor.com

There are also these things called chicken saddles...

 

[microchick]

He's walking hormones with feathers. Roosters develop sexually faster than the hens. He is trying to force them to squat for him and A) the hen isn't mature enough B) she isn't in the mood C) he isn't mature enough to have developed 'fenesse' when it comes to courting the ladies D) all of the above.

Our boys took a couple of weeks before they went from this stage to tidbitting and dancing for the ladies. At the feather pulling stage, they have no idea how to court the ladies and have to learn. That takes maturity and time. Once the hens start squatting for them, the feather pulling should stop. If it doesn't you may want to reconsider your flock and make sure that you have enough hens for your rooster.

Until he figures things out he will continue to be a bit of a jerk, but once he figures things out he should stop pulling their feathers in order to get what he wants from them.

 

[Hholly]

He's walking hormones with feathers. Roosters develop sexually faster than the hens. He is trying to force them to squat for him and A) the hen isn't mature enough B) she isn't in the mood C) he isn't mature enough to have developed 'fenesse' when it comes to courting the ladies D) all of the above.

Our boys took a couple of weeks before they went from this stage to tidbitting and dancing for the ladies. At the feather pulling stage, they have no idea how to court the ladies and have to learn. That takes maturity and time. Once the hens start squatting for them, the feather pulling should stop. If it doesn't you may want to reconsider your flock and make sure that you have enough hens for your rooster.

Until he figures things out he will continue to be a bit of a jerk, but once he figures things out he should stop pulling their feathers in order to get what he wants from them.

Ok, thanks! That gives me hope.

 

[Hholly]

chickenarmor.com

There are also these things called chicken saddles...

I'm hoping it won't get to that point. But thanks.

 

[SilkieNation]

Hopefully he'll calm down.

 

[microchick]

He'll wise up. Until then you will just look at him every now and then and wonder how good he would be in a pot of dumplings. Then hopefully one morning you'll see him gallantly drop a wing and dance a circle around one of the hens or offer her a tidbit that he has found and suddenly he won't seem like such a jerk anymore. But expect some resistance and squawking from the hens until they get the hang of things also.

I think all roosters have moments of jerk-dom even after they mature.

The other night I was tossing broken up whole wheat bread to the flock prior to lock up. Our B.O. rooster who is really a sweet bird, offered a piece to his favorite hen and while she had her mouth full of bread, he jumped on her. She squatted for him,bread hanging out of her mouth on all sides and screamed her displeasure at him which was kinda muffled thanks to the bread. That behavior isn't allowed when I am in the pen with them so I reached down pushed him off her and I think I called him an "Idiot!" He looked at me and chattered a blue streak like "what'd I do wrong" to which I replied "You are an idiot! Let her eat her bread in peace!"

Yep, he is still ocassionally a jerk.

 

[chickmomma03]

Mine is a grumpy little jerk for a couple minutes in the morning, but then he chills out. He shakes his leg and "charges" toward the girls, and they get the heck out of the way. Only lasts a couple minutes then he's on to the next thing (searching for food or patrolling). He's 6mos old, but he's pretty chill the rest of the day after his little morning grumpiness.

 

[Hholly]

Lol, I'm loving the stories. :-D