Learning about Cockerels!

[Arbutus Peregrine]

It's been a fun chicken journey since I got my chicks in July. I have sixteen bantam pullets and two bantam cockerels who are about 23.5 weeks old now. It's my first time having boys...and they are quite interesting to learn about and watch. I had to find homes for my other boys and unfortunately will have to find homes for these two I wanted to keep...but I get to at least keep them another two months or so. One of my cockerels is a Dutch Bantam and he is wonderfully friendly and tame. He has been mating (or attempting to mate) the girls since he was about two months old. My other cockerel is a Mille Fleur D'Uccle. He is very wary of me but does take food out of my hand and will tolerate me picking him up if he has to!! Neither attacks or bothers me. They are really good boys. The D'Uccle has been a particularly good rooster in terms of being constantly on the lookout for danger and being a protector. He makes sure everyone goes in the coop at night, shares treats and alerts to potential dangers. He never showed any interest in mating the girls until 22 weeks! I wasn't sure he was ever going to mate them. Now what I wonder about-- is what makes them mate? My D'Uccle has mated the three girls with very red combs. He does his little dance for them and mates them but thank goodness, not very often that I've seen. My Dutch would mate them all day if he could!! Luckily he's small so mostly the girls just tell him to buzz off!! All this to say--I'm wondering if this is "a thing" that I'm noticing--do some roosters only mate the girls who are sexually mature (with red combs)? My D'Uccle has also been the most interested in guarding the coop and when eggs did start happening about a week and a half ago, he seemed to increase his coop patrol!!
What do people notice about their boys? I'm sad that I will have to find these boys homes since I live in a city, but I'm enjoying them like crazy until that time comes. Thanks for sharing any insights!!
Attached are some pics of my boys, Nicky (Dutch) and Morse (D'Uccle)

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[oldhenlikesdogs]

Comb color and plumpness is a visual indicator that tells a rooster, and any other birds who is mature and in production. A rooster should never mate a hen out of production. Not all roosters are smart. Your d'uccle sounds like an okay boy. I like the breed personally. The Dutch I would have penned up or been rid of when he started mating that early. I personally prefer less intensive and more intelligent roosters. Those that just grab and mate I don't keep.

Young cockerals can sometimes grow out of bad behaviors when maturing if they are removed so the behaviors don't continue. I've turned some boys around, and others I can't.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

Comb color and plumpness is a visual indicator that tells a rooster, and any other birds who is mature and in production. A rooster should never mate a hen out of production. Not all roosters are smart. Your d'uccle sounds like an okay boy. I like the breed personally. The Dutch I would have penned up or been rid of when he started mating that early. I personally prefer less intensive and more intelligent roosters. Those that just grab and mate I don't keep.

Young cockerals can sometimes grow out of bad behaviors when maturing if they are removed so the behaviors don't continue. I've turned some boys around, and others I can't.

Thank you!!
So my D'Uccle is the smart one I think I exaggerated about my Dutch. He is not constantly pestering the girls. He is the tiniest bird I have--so his enthusiasm is just mostly laughed at by the flock. They treat him like the excited little brother. He has just been doing the rooster dance from an early age!! The two boys get along really well, too, and they often roost next to each other at night! The Dutch had a bad leg (trauma) and tried to die his first three weeks of life...so I think he will always be the runt. But he healed all up and it's nice to see him so spirited. I will separate the boys out if they bug the girls. I'm watching them all the time and many days go by that I don't see anyone mating anyone! But if either boy gets too annoying--I'll take them out. Just enjoying them for now. It is good to know that my little hunch (probably obvious to everyone else!) was right--that the red combs (and plump bodies like you say) are signs of maturity. I wondered also if the the D'Uccle's maturity and interest in the girls would coincide with the start of egg laying. And it looks like it did! The D'Uccles really are wonderful birds...but so far I'm just in love with all the breeds! They each have their unique strengths. If I ever live outside the city, I'll be more careful how I raise the boys. I'm sad about it, but these two boys will have to find new homes soon. The girls really love them, so I'm sad to separate them. I love watching the girls clean the boys' combs and wattles. Having a flock is really precious. Thanks so much for the wise advice! Here are a couple more photos of the boys.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your flock is adorable. I enjoy most of my rooster. Good roosters are an asset to a flock. You know the girls adore the rooster when they groom his face. Not every rooster gets that affection from his hens.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

Thanks so much! I really got lucky with these birds! They really enjoy each other and party all day!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Each chicken, male and female, has it's own personality. That's one reason you can easily be wrong of you generalize about how they will behave. Plus you need to have enough for averages to mean something and you only have two boys. But I'll generalize anyway so maybe you can appreciate how lucky you are. I think the females have a lot to do with flock dynamics, it's not just the males.

When they mature into adults most males and females know what parts they are supposed to play in a flock. It's not a calendar thing but a maturity thing. Like humans, some never grow up, but pullets tend to start acting mature about when they start to lay. I don't know of any sign for cockerels other than watch how they behave, I've had a very few start acting mature by 5 months. Very rare. I've also had some not be that mature until they were practically a year old.

The mating act is not just about sex. It is also about flock dominance. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. Until they have eggs to be fertilized pullets usually don't want to be dominated so they resist, usually by running away though occasionally they may fight back. So at this age it is usually by force from the cockerels.

When they hit puberty cockerels tend to have hormones running wild. They don't have self control. Those hormones are telling them to dominate the pullets. Force them to accept that cockerels dominance. They will also try to dominate the other cockerels, often by fighting. Sometimes these fights can get pretty serious though often they change more to running away and chasing. Competition between cockerels might make it worse for the pullets. It's really common for immature cockerels with immature pullets to be really hard to watch at this stage. As someone on here said, watching cockerels and pullets go through puberty is often not for the faint of heart.

Not all flocks or individuals behave this way. I've seen a 13-week-old pullet willingly squat for a 13-week-old cockerel and she was still two months away from laying an egg. That's an example of generalizations being wrong. I think how much room they have can have a big effect on behaviors. But even with all the room I have it sometimes gets really wild by my standards.

When they are laying pullets and hens generally exhibit signs of that. Bright red combs and wattles are typical. Most mature roosters have enough self-confidence and magnificence that they can wow! the hens just with their personality, they don't have to force the hens to mate to establish and maintain that dominance. These tend to not bother the non-laying females much if at all. But wimps that don't have that self-confidence are more apt to resort to violence to maintain the dominant position. Often mature hens don't accept a wimp as a flock master. Occasionally you can get a hen that just will not accept the dominance of even a good rooster. I had that combination once, a domineering hen and wimpy rooster. That flock was not as peaceful as mature flocks usually are. I ate both for the peace of the overall flock, there are too many good hens and roosters out there for me to willingly put up with a bad one.

With what you describe I consider you lucky but sometimes it can be that good.