Mean D'uccle cockrel

[CHICKENLADY123]

I have a Mille Fleur D'uccle about 4-5 months old. He was born in an incubator with 8 Buff Orpington's. Needless to say, all his girlfriends are too tall for him. So...we got him two new girlfriends (about 3 months old d'uccle pullets). Initially, I put them in cages next to each other. They politely poked at each other for two days. Once I moved him to his private hutch, I added one of the pullets. He instantly attacked it. He grabbed her by the neck and start swinging her around. I had to save her and check for injuries. What happened ?? This could not have been love, because he was swinging her around like a rag doll. She is a bit smaller and I fear that if I put them together he will kill her. Never had any problems with the Orpington hens and him. Help ?

 

[Kev]

If he grabbed and held on to the neck without letting go, he was just very excited but still too young to know how to properly mate.. it's instinct for cockerels to start grabbing necks when they are starting to feel hormones.. what they do next varies, sometimes it looks quite violent, or they may actually be violent... until they finally go through the complete mating motions and all of a sudden the light bulb goes off and they turn into gentlemen or the behavior is much more obviously for mating instead of seeming to beat up the hens.

Some people probably will tell you it's a terrority thing, but it's only partially true. All roosters get quite excited upon having access to a new hen- and unfortunately very often their first response is to chase down and forcibly mate the hen.. it is a horrible sight if one is not familiar with chickens.. however it seems to be a chicken thing. That's what I am thinking happened basically in this case- your rooster "reacted" to suddenly having access to a new girl, only he doesn't know what to do yet.

I'd suggest just keeping separate until he is a bit more mature and eventually he should be properly mating the "new" hen instead of terrorizing them through his immaturity. When the pullet's combs and wattles turn deep red, that's a good time to try reintroducing.. hens usually squat down in response to being grabbed and that helps cockerels learn how to respond properly.

 

[CHICKENLADY123]

Thanks ! They were sooo cute pecking at each other through the fence that I thought they were ready. I will give it another month or so.

 

[Kev]

The pecking may not be good.. especially if the roo was taking it the wrong way & the pullets were doing with lowered wings and tails tilted slightly to the side- that's an challenge. In any case, the pullets should get bored and stop trying to peck back, especially once they near laying... so don't feel like you need to totally separate them now.


If you try putting a pullet with him again soon, don't panic if he gets "grabby", just let it all happen and see how he reacts after the inital excitement.. if he starts doing a wing-stomping thing at the pullet repeatedly thats good.. it's courtship. It's when the pullet is crashing around and he's kicking at her with his legs without seeming to try to hold on & get on her back, that's bad.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

he sounds like he is starting to mate it's about the age my boys started. i have never had my d'uccle males aggressive so i think he is hitting maturity on u, it sounds like normal mateing hold to me.

ur girls r to young to mate yet they need about 3 more months or till they start laying. at 3 mths old they shouldn't be in with a male of breeding age he could do some serious damage to them if they r not breeding age yet.