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Allymcc1999
In the Brooder
- Oct 7, 2018
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The younger two are about 4-6 months old. When we separate them will they be separated all the time or only at night when they sleep?
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A bachelor pad is a separate coop and run designed to separate any extra or aggressive roosters from your laying hens. This allows you to manage your flock without being attacked and prevents any serious fighting between roosters.The hens highest in the pecking order will alert the flock to danger if there is no rooster . If you add one rooster to a flock it will change the dynamics of your flock. Roosters are most aggressive in a flock of hens.The more roosters you have with the hens the more aggressive they typically become...If you remove the roosters the hens will become less stressed. Roosters do rule the coop.They escort their favorite hens to and from the nest boxes.They pick the spot they want them to lay and sometimes lay in the nest to convince them its the safest place to lay.If that doesn't work sometimes they'll get in the nest with the hen to "protect " them and crowd them out. Any effort you make to pet on the hens will make him act worse. If you are "perceived" as a threat he'll attack you for (no apparent reason). His job is to keep everything away from the hens that could harm them-thats his job.Mean roosters take it to a different level.Wouldn’t that effect the dynamic? Wouldn’t the hens feel vulnerable and what if he bullies the other two roosters? I’m scared of the fighting.
If he's out in a bachelor pad with the extra roosters she can look after her flock without being attacked and if he improves she may decide to keep him there permanently. She can keep one of the other roosters in the flock or get another one but put the extras with him with no hens in the bachelor pad. Not everyone will agree he's worth saving but everyone will agree 3 roosters is too many in her small flock.It causes aggressive behavior and if you've already got an aggressive rooster he'll get worse.Here I disagree. The rooster's job is to protect his flock, and he should know the difference between real threats, and the humans who bring food!
The fighting bird people, who have selected for roosters who will kill each other, have also selected for birds who are not human aggressive. Separate behaviors genetically, or it couldn't be done.
I've been attacked by cockerels as young as eight weeks of age, and they didn't get 'nicer', only worse. Including birds like that in a flock is not a good idea! Here we favor cockerels who spend their time with their flock mates, not us.
Mary
Actually I'm going to disagree on that. In this case, it may be, but I've had those numbers before in 2 of my flocks and there were absolutely no problems temperament or apperance wise. My males just all knew their individual places in the flock.everyone will agree 3 roosters is too many in her small flock
I absolutely agree that this rooster needs removed from the flock and put in a pen with the other roos until she decides what to do with all of them. He's not up to snuff and the other roosters may nit be any better ( roos) likely won't be much better. Meanwhile they aren't earning their keep and costing money.
Your rooster to hen ratio is way out of whack. 1 rooster to 5 hens for breeding and 1 - 10 just for pecking order/protection. I don’t keep aggressive roosters at all. They get culled. You can try to give them away but good chance they will eventually be culled anyway. You can only have so many roosters - the rest have to be dealt with.My family has 3 roosters and 7 hens. We recently incubated some of our hen’s eggs which hatched into the 2 new roosters. Our main rooster his name is Sunny. The two new ones are Lyla and Cami, they are angles, so sweet and always come over and let us hold them. Sunny has always been aggressive (he never liked to be held), but recently he has started attacking me and my mom whenever we are in the coop. We can just be standing near him or the asking past to change feed/water or pet the goats and he’ll come and attack us. He now knows to attack me above my boots, where his kicks will actually hurt. I’ve tried picking him up and petting him. It’s always a fight to pick him up, chasing cornering, etc. Today I tried to pick him up, which I did after a while. I was holding him and he’d peck my hand, which he usually does. Today he actually pecked my face and I now have 3 cuts on my lip. I was holding him on my side when it happened. I have no clue what to do now. Is it even possible to become friends with him now? How do I handle him?
How were the hens backs?Actually I'm going to disagree on that. In this case, it may be, but I've had those numbers before in 2 of my flocks and there were absolutely no problems temperament or apperance wise. My males just all knew their individual places in the flock.
However none are agreeive to each other, let alone to humans
One would be fine but point well takenYou have 5 roosters to 7 hens, that's 5 too many.
Your hens will thank you, they are going to get mated to death or the roosters will kill each other.
Cull the mean one, send the others away.