Jealous Rooster?

[WildHorseMountain]

Hi all, I have 3 B.O. hens, 2 bantam hens and 1 bantam roo, they are all 14 weeks old and were raised together and have been peaceful. I added an 8 week old Australorp Roo, who is now12 weeks old to the flock. Everything had been fine, my little black Jap bantam has been the head Roo and still is. Well, for the past week the Australorp has been really mean with the hens, mostly when I come out to feed. If I pick up or show any attention to one of the hens he waits til I walk out of the coop and he will run over to her and peck her on the head or neck really hard and then he will chase after her and grab feathers and hold on while the poor hen screams and drags herself trying to get away. He also does this if one gets too close to him. No problems with the bantam Roo, they avoid confrontation with each other and seem to get along fine. He just seems to be really mean to the ladies. My bantam Roo is so sweet and calls the girls over for treats he finds and just so exceptionally sweet to all of them, but they all run from the big guy and crowd away on the other side of the run from him, if he comes over they run to the other side. I do plan to build another coop and split the bantams up from the large ones after this heat breaks. I also have 7, 5 week old LF girls that I will be adding with the 3 B.O. girls and this Roo, that is, if he straightens up. I just can't understand...I thought Autralorps were suppose to be sweet natured birds. This afternoon he seemed really agitated and just went after a few of the hens including a bantam hen, after I walked away I watched from the window he just kept on pacing the run like he wanted out and then would go after them again chasing them around and around and pecking and grabbing their feathers and pacing until it was dark. My question is, is this normal acceptable behavior for a Rooster???? Should he go or should I give him some more time to see if he adjusts? I'm about tempted to throw him out of the coop tomorrow on his own to let everyone have some peace. I just don't know what to do. What would you all do?

 

[sheaviance1]

Hi there.
First let me say that I have just recently acquired a roo, so I just don't know their behavior very well. What you have described though sounds like a forceful way to climb the pecking order to me. Especially since he is immediately pecking a hen you just picked up on the head. I hope someone else chimes in for you here.

 

[janinepeters]

I'd probably give him a little more time, but it does sound like he is headed for the chop. He might be climbing the peck order, or maybe he's an adolescent not sure what to do with all those hormones. Sounds like he knows those hens are good for something, but not quite sure, yet, just what that is

. He will eventually be chasing, grabbing, and mounting, but he doesn't know about that mounting part yet.

Your question about whether or not this is normal roo behavior: kind of, yes, but maybe a little more extreme. There is a lot of individual variation within each breed, so even within breeds reputed to be "gentle", you will find some aggressive ones. And vice versa.

 

[WildHorseMountain]

Thanks so much Sheaviance1 and Janinepeters for the replies! I won't give up on him so soon, he's such a big handsome Rooster. I'm going to clip a wing this morning and let him out to free range by himself for the day, am thinking maybe he needs some alone time. My husband thinks he's trying to mate, but I was thinking they are way too young to start that. Yep, I think you're right about him establishing a pecking order within the group, just seems to be very rough as the girls are definitely not standing in his way!!! Thanks so much!