Need to cull some roosters

[Folly's place]

You have pullets and cockerels, not mature birds, and the cockerels mature faster than the pullets. Without mature hens, at least, and a mature rooster helps too, your cockerels will be chasing and harassing pullets who aren't yet interested in mating.
Removing cockerels; you have to start somewhere! A bachelor pen would make it a bit easier, maybe. Or not, because these boys do need more time to show true mature behaviors. Tidbitting and courting behaviors can take more time to develop, especially without having an adult to show how it's done.
This is an annual event here, as we decide which cockerels leave, which go to the freezer, and who stays. We don't always get it right, but decisions have to be made.
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

This makes me wonder if the alpha roos are ones I need to cull.

Some people choose that route. I don't. My goals are different from yours. One of mine is to raise them for meat. I have other goals too but meat is one. I find the more dominant cockerels are the early maturing. They tend to reach butcher size earlier than the slow maturing. But that is not the main reason.

A rooster needs to be the flock master. How can he do his jobs if the hens have no respect for him? To me the better flock masters are the ones with stronger personalities. They win the hens over with their magnificence and self-confidence. The weaker ones tend to rely on force more than personality. To me the early maturing ones are usually the ones with stronger personalities. Early maturing may not be the right phrase, maybe that they hit puberty first. As Folly said, I don't always get it right either but the early maturing ones will win a tiebreaker for me.

They also jump on the hens and grab them, mating with them while the little hens scream and try to get away.

Yes, that is what they do. At that age mating is not abort fertilizing eggs, those pullets may not even be laying eggs yet so nothing to fertilize. They are at 20 weeks, I'm a little surprised that behavior didn't start a month ago with that many boys.

The boys hormones are telling them to dominate the flock. Part of that is that the boys will usually fight among themselves to determine who is dominant. Since they mature at different rates that can lead to a lot of scrimmaging. Sometimes these fights get serious but usually they end in one running away. The fights are violent, it is possible one could get hurt or even die, but mine hardly ever receive any real injury.

In the mating the one on the bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. With them going through puberty it is almost always by force. The boys hit puberty before the girls. The boys hormones are driving them wild. The girls don't have a clue what is going on but they know they don't want to be dominated by those hormone driven boys. It can get violent and is often not easy to watch but again, as long as no one is getting hurt I leave them alone.

Every year I raise a bunch of cockerels and pullets with the flock. The behaviors you describe are what I see. Most years I let them go, nobody gets injured and I consider it chickens being chickens. Something like kids going through middle school and learning how to socialize, but without any adult supervision or guidance. A scary thought. But maybe once every three or four years it gets rough enough that I put maybe a dozen cockerels in what I call my grow-out pen until they reach butcher age. No girls allowed. Each flock is different so you have to go by what you see. As someone once said, watching pullets and cockerels go through puberty is not for the faint of heart.

Typically when the boys and girls mature things calm down tremendously. Some boys seem to never grow up. Some hens just refuse to accept the dominance of any male. There are always exceptions to anything behavioral with chickens. At this phase and future phases reducing the number of boys can really help your chances of having good results. But when the boys and girls reach full maturity and assume their responsibilities as responsible adults the flock is usually extremely peaceful. At least until you bring more juveniles in.

 

[Mrs. K]

I often agree with Ridgerunner - a very respected poster, and I do in this case too.

If you have a multi-generational flock, things can get wild, but not out of hand. When you just have flock mates together with no older birds, you have an artificial chicken society, and it can get rather ugly.

This year, I would pull all the roosters, if you have anywhere else to put them. Let your pullets reach maturity in peace. I often recommend a hen only flock the first year for this reason.

This might sound crazy - but I would look at several SOP's for various breeds. What I strongly look for is structural symmetry, good feet, legs, good growth on the same amount of feed. You really need to handle those roosters - not so they become pets, but because feathers hide a bunch of sins. Check that breast bone, become comfortable with how birds are measured.

Mrs k

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I would pick the birds up and see how much they feel like they weigh. Some birds look huge, but it's because they have a lot of feathers and they actually feel light in your hands