Mean Rooster at 11 weeks?

[dorioh]

I planned out my chicks very carefully for breed and sex. I bought 14 hens and 1 rooster. The hatchery sent me a "surprise" chick for free making it a total of 16 chicks. They are about 11 weeks old. One of the buff orpingtons died at about 7 weeks for unknown reasons. The possible problem - the surprise chick turned out to be a barred rock rooster, so I now have 13 hens and 2 roosters. That's probably too many already and then, a couple of days ago one of my Ameracauna "hens" belted out an almost perfect crow. And it is being mean to the hens. It looks like it's trying to mount them - he grabs the feathers on the back of their necks and hold on until they get away. He has beautiful coloring, but I am thinking I may need to cull him. Also, the barred rock rooster is crowing, but the one I actually ordered as a male - a blue laced red wyandotte, hasn't even attempted a crow yet. Is that normal? Any advice is appreciated.

Dori

2 Australorps (f)
2 Silver Laced Wyandottes (f)
2 Barred Rocks (f)
2 White Orpingtons (f)
2 Rhode Island Reds (f)
1 Ameracauna (f)
1 Buff Orpington (f)
1 Ameracauna (m)
1 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte (m)
1 Barred Rock (m)

 

[MadamContrary]

Birds mature on different time tables. I'd separate the bully already. Sometimes when you have multiple males the more submissive ones won't crow, however your birds are still young and working out the pecking order so he might just be slower to mature.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

My rooster was a little rough with hens around that time as well. If he is hurting them then separate for a while. Unfortunately it takes practice for them to be gentle with hens. With time my rooster has become quite the gentleman which gives me hope for yours. You do have quite a few roosters for one flock, is it possible for you to get more hens, less roosters, or 3 separate flocks?

 

[Folly's place]

It's early times yet, and these cockerels are maturing at different rates, all normal. Having lots of space, at least two feeders and waterers, and places to be out of sight of each other will help smooth things out. Any cockerel causing injuries would be eliminated here soonest.
Raising cockerels with only flockmates of the same age is more difficult, because there are no adults to pound some humility into them!
If the BLRW is the one you wanted, maybe eliminating the others won't be such a bad idea. That doesn't mean that he will grow up wonderful though... It's always about watching, and eliminating, and then more time, and further evaluations.
Mary