Mean rooster? Or normal behavior?

[NewfieMom]

I have 8 hens that are almost 5 months old. None laying yet. I have 7 roosters that I am still trying to rid myself of before I am forced to throw 'em in the pot. I was going to keep the prettiest one but he has started latching on to the back of the neck of the other roosters and hens and ripping feathers out. The squawking and screeching that ensues is awful!! This mainly happens when there's food or treats being handed out.
Is this normal behavior? Will things only get worse? Will this lead to him flogging us?

 

[Sphynxii]

when he does it too the hens you could take that as an attempt to mate, but too other males im not so sure...we have a rooster that attacks us but luckily he is a bantam and we just shake him off, I would suggest keeping the second prettiest though just incase, especially if you have young children.

 

[donrae]

sounds like a dominance thing to me. If he's not drawing blood and isn't acting aggressive to you I wouldn't worry about it too much. But I do think you're rapidly reaching the point where you'll need to pull the males out of the pen with the females or they'll start trying to mate and your little girls' lives will be miserable.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Depending on the breed of chicken a proper ratio of roosters to hens is somewhere between 1 rooster for every 5 to 8 hens all the way up to one rooster with 25 hens. Seven roosters and only 8 hens is pushing things a bit especially since your roosters are young and are desperately trying to carve out a place for themselves at the top of the pecking order. I am surprised that you don't have more troubles than those that you have reported. Quickly put the 6 ugly roos in the stew pot and things will smooth out. I can't tell you if your roo will flog you or not. That is mostly in your hands.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Depending on the breed of chicken a proper ratio of roosters to hens is somewhere between 1 rooster for every 5 to 8 hens all the way up to one rooster with 25 hens. Seven roosters and only 8 hens is pushing things a bit especially since your roosters are young and are desperately trying to carve out a place for themselves at the top of the pecking order. I am surprised that you don't have more troubles than those that you have reported. Quickly put the 6 ugly roos in the stew pot and things will smooth out. I can't tell you if your roo will flog you or not. That is mostly in your hands.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Depending on the breed of chicken a proper ratio of roosters to hens is somewhere between 1 rooster for every 5 to 8 hens all the way up to one rooster with 25 hens. Seven roosters and only 8 hens is pushing things a bit especially since your roosters are young and are desperately trying to carve out a place for themselves at the top of the pecking order. I am surprised that you don't have more troubles than those that you have reported. Quickly put your 6 ugly roos in the pot and things will smooth out. I can't tell you if your roo will flog you or not. That is mostly up to how you act towards him and your hens.