Juvenile rooster behaviors

[Pastors wife]

I'm new to this, so please forgive a common sense question. I started out with 10 little peeps. They are now 15 weeks old and I'm pretty sure at least 2 are Roo's. The lavender orpington just crowed, so that's a no brainier. The Silver laced Wyandotte looks like a roo and is stand-offish. They seem to enjoy each other's company, and hang out together. Last night when I locked the coop, they looked fine. There was some banging around in the coop afterwards and this morning, the wyandotte

has one tail feather left and the orp's tail is a mess. Do I let them work it out since their so young? Separate them? I have no idea. I do eat chicken, but can't eat one I've raised. Any advice is welcome.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is a good question. If you don't have the experience you don't have anything to base common sense on. Never be afraid or apologetic about asking a question. We all have to start somewhere. If someone tries to bully you about it, send them to me.

I think you have two cockerels. The Orp is easy. With those thick legs, a tail feather bending down, and the pointy hackle feathers I'm pretty sure the Wyandotte is too. Nice looking birds.

Why do you want roosters? The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Anything else is personal preference. I always suggest you keep as few males as you can and met your goals. That is not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters but that problems are more likely with more roosters. Sometimes the correct answer is zero. I like to avoid stress when I can.

If you decide you are better off without them there are several ways you can go about that without eating them yourself. I don't know which country you are in so I can't make specific recommendations.

Some of your options will depend on how much room you have. The more room you have the more likely things can work out. I'm not talking about that 4 square feet in the coop plus 10 in the run type of numbers you so often see on the forum, I'm talking about a lot more.

In spite of what you read on here, there is no magic ratio of females to males and no magic numbers as per a specific square feet per chicken. What works for each of us will vary because of all the different variables. Some of that depends on the personalities of the individual chickens, some on how the room is set up as well as how much room you have, some depends on your expectations and what you see as acceptable behavior. There are plenty of other variables too. Sometimes these things go so smoothly you wonder what all the fuss was about. Sometimes chickens die. Usually it is in between, not peaceful but not deadly.

Each case can vary but you can typically expect the two boys to decide which is boss. Hopefully you only have the two. That will probably involve fighting. Sometimes that gets really violent, sometimes it is more a case of running away and chasing. That's part of why room is important, the loser needs to be able to run away. That's how they say "you win". One may wind up seriously injuring or killing the other, they may work out an accommodation where they work together to take care of the flock. You never know what it will be.

Another aspect that can really bother people is that the boys hormones will cause them to want to dominant the pullets. The way they do this is to mate them, often by force. At this age the mating act more about dominance than sex. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. The pullets are typically not mature enough to accept the cockerels dominance so they usually resist, typically by running away. Since the cockerel's hormones are telling him to dominate he chases and forces if he can catch them. As someone in here once said watching them go through puberty is often not for the faint of heart. Once the boys and girls mature into responsible adults this behavior tends to really calm down, but pullets and cockerels are not mature responsible adults.

Usually no pullet or cockerels are seriously injured during all this, though occasionally chickens die. It can get pretty violent. For some people this can be really hard to watch. That's part of what I meant by your expectations. Some people think the pullets are so stressed by this that they have to intervene. You'll probably see this behavior with just one cockerel, but having two much more than doubles the likelihood.

So what are your options other than getting rid of one or two cockerels. One is to wait and see how bad it really gets. You may come through it fine, though the tighter the space the less likely that is.

You can make a bachelor pad. House one or both boys in a separate pen where there are no girls to fight over. Many people on here have done that quite successfully. When you are dealing with living animals no one can give you any guarantees, but this is a typical solution that usually works.

You can build two separate pens and give each boy his own harem. If you try that I'd suggest the bachelor pad until the pullets have been laying at least a month. By then they may be mature enough that you avoid a lot of that teenage drama. In spite of the magic rations of males to females you often read about on here, many people are very successful with pretty low rations. But the secret to that is that they are talking about mature chickens, not immature adolescents.

Good luck!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Usually, cockerels will face off, and ding up their combs or wattles, not their tail feathers. This may have been a spat over roost space, even with a pullet. I wouldn't worry about it. Feathers will grow back!
Probably, one male will work out best in this small flock, but I wouldn't make any decisions now. As long as both are getting along, and there's plenty of space, and there's NO human aggression from either bird.
If the flock can free range, that gives more space, and relieves pressure on them.
Your boys may get along forever, r decide one day to try to kill each other! And, there might be too much pressure/ stress on the pullets. Just watch how things go, and be ready to take action as needed.
If you still have both cockerels next spring, fighting might commence then too.
Mary

 

[aart]

I think the SLW is a pullet......and the boy was trying to get jiggy wit her so she kicked his butt.

The SLW hackles just appear pointed due to the color pattern,
the saddles are decidedly girlish....plus pale comb and wattles.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Welcome! Usually, cockerels will face off, and ding up their combs or wattles, not their tail feathers. This may have been a spat over roost space, even with a pullet. I wouldn't worry about it. Feathers will grow back!...

If any of you wish to see the pecking disorder in action then by all means quietly watch your flock at roosting time. It may come as a surprise to you to see the shinagings that go when your chickens are going to sleep.

 

[Pastors wife]

Thank you for all of the replies. It's really helpful to be able to ask and receive quality answers! I never intended to have roosters, but since I've had them since day one, I just can't bring myself to abandon them. (I'm a softie...I also have 3 senior bassets that we rescued) Anyway, I HOPE you are right about the SLW being a pullet. That would be wonderful. And I have seen the battling over roost order. It's never the same two nights in a row. These 9 birds have 2 eight foot roost bars and they crowd themselves into a 3 foot row! And the Lavendar Orp roo is always snuggled up next to the runt.
As far as coop size. The coop is 8x8' and the run is 8x18' with a tree in it for roosting. We live in a valley in northern PA that seems to be a runway for hawks, foxes, bears, weasels, raccoons, skunks, and coyotes. So I don't think free ranging would be a wise idea, although I'm sure the chickens would love it.
I will continue to watch carefully and be prepared to take action if things go badly.
Thank you again.