New Chicken Owner in Colorado

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Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
DixT said:
I was looking for the sharp "extra claw-like appendage" higher up on the leg
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That is called a spur and they don't develop them to any real extent until after they become roosters at one year of age. Prior to that, he is called a cockerel and and his spur buds will likely not get longer than 1/2". This is also why his crow is croaky. He will also develop a more dignified crow with practice.

Just for your awareness, hens can also grow spurs. Two of my hens have spurs. One has spurs about 1.5" long and the other has spurs about 1" long.

He was not bullying the pullets. He was dominating them and herding them and yes, he looked at you as competition because you were petting and handling his girls. He may become a problem or not. If you just let them be chickens and sit quietly and observe the flock, my boys have no problem with that. Even when a hen jumps up in my lap on her own.
If you are permitted to keep roosters, I would keep him and observe but it is entirely up to you.

Can I also suggest you get some kind of litter in their run? Any dry organic litter for them to scratch through will do like wood chips/mulch, dry pine straw, leaves, etc. And put some perches, stumps, old wood chairs, etc in the run for them to perch on. Try to give them about 15 sq ft per bird at a minimum for space in their confined area.
 
DobieLover said:
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.

That is called a spur and they don't develop them to any real extent until after they become roosters at one year of age. Prior to that, he is called a cockerel and and his spur buds will likely not get longer than 1/2". This is also why his crow is croaky. He will also develop a more dignified crow with practice.

Just for your awareness, hens can also grow spurs. Two of my hens have spurs. One has spurs about 1.5" long and the other has spurs about 1" long.

He was not bullying the pullets. He was dominating them and herding them and yes, he looked at you as competition because you were petting and handling his girls. He may become a problem or not. If you just let them be chickens and sit quietly and observe the flock, my boys have no problem with that. Even when a hen jumps up in my lap on her own.
If you are permitted to keep roosters, I would keep him and observe but it is entirely up to you.

Can I also suggest you get some kind of litter in their run? Any dry organic litter for them to scratch through will do like wood chips/mulch, dry pine straw, leaves, etc. And put some perches, stumps, old wood chairs, etc in the run for them to perch on. Try to give them about 15 sq ft per bird at a minimum for space in their confined area.
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We do have straw on the backside of the coop, we probably should get some more for the bigger side. I hadn't thought of wooden chairs! We do have some logs from some of our pine trees that we had to cut down because of a lightening strike----I could probably put some of those around in the run. The last 2 days I went out in the morning to feed and water, and to shut the coop door at night----we still have work to do on the coop, but we have a roost, and nesting cages, and straw on the floor sprinkled with DE. But I stayed away the rest of the day and the rooster has been very "calm," and the hens follow him around now and aren't running from him, like before! He's had no "aggression" with the hens for the past 2 days, as well----other than mounting 4 of the hens today! When he was "done," I saw 2 of the hens "shake" a funny little shake----is this normal?
 
DixT said:
He's had no "aggression" with the hens for the past 2 days, as well----other than mounting 4 of the hens today! When he was "done," I saw 2 of the hens "shake" a funny little shake----is this normal?
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It was never aggression. The pullets sexually mature slower than cockerels and they just weren't ready for his advances.
When a pullet/hen shakes after mating she is moving the semen into a receptacle inside her body for future egg fertilization. One mating can leave a female able to lay fertile eggs for up to 3 weeks.
This also means the pullets submitting to him are close to laying eggs.
 
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