Mean Rooster

[maryb94]

I am a 1st time chicken owner and I will admit that we did not do our proper research. In March, we bought 6 bantam chickens from Tractor Supply along with a nice coop to fit 12-14 chickens. Well after 2 days we found out that bantams could be male or female. So being that we wanted egg layers, we went back and bought 4 road island red hens. Out of the 6 bantams, 4 turned out to be roosters. One is a Silkie that is the head rooster and is very mean to the hens. He won't even let them out of the run area of the pen. Most of the time the hens are sitting on the perch up high so he can't get to them. Is this normal to determine the pecking order and to show his dominance or is he just being mean. Then other roosters are not like this with the hens. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Welcome to BYC!

Is this normal to determine the pecking order and to show his dominance or is he just being mean

Yes. But that doesn't mean that it isn't bad behaviour or that it should be tolerated. I'd find a way to isolate this jerk from your poor pullets, either by penning him separately, or removing him permanently.

And since you only have six pullets, you might want to think about finding homes for two of the others as well. A lot of people recommend having a minimum of ten hens per rooster. I'm not going to say that, because I've had much smaller ratios work out well. But not usually with young roosters (cockerels) who are usually hormonal idiots, and not usually with multiple roosters in the same flock (if you have one less dominant pullet, she'll usually be the rooster's favorite. Which can work out if there's only one rooster in the vicinity. If you have multiple roosters, she'll be all of their favorites. Which really, really stinks for her.)

 

[aart]

nice coop to fit 12-14 chickens.

Can you post a link to the coop you bought?
Those population numbers are grossly exaggerated, and your coop is likely only big enough for half or less than stated.

Agrees, multiple males are usually a big problem, they are just 'coming of age' at around 4 months old and things get chaotic if not injurious at that time. Thinks you better make a plan to get rid of all, or all but maybe one, of the cockerels. Meanwhile would be good to separate them before they hurt the pullets.

FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.



Oh, and...Welcome to BYC! @maryb94
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