Normal cockerel behavior?

[Eggs82]

pretty sure this has been posted before but I wasn’t sure where to look. I’ve got 5, old hens and a new flock of 6, 19 week old ee hens. Well I recently picked up a beautiful cockerel for free on Craigslist about two weeks ago. He just started crowing and has been relentlessly trying to mate with my ee pullets. I know chicken love isn’t always pretty, I was just wondering if it’s normal. None of my pullets are laying and most haven’t even started turning red yet. I’ve tried having roosters before and it didn’t work out due to aggression towards me and the hens I had. This guy shows no aggression towards me, actually seems scared of me, some of the older hens actually seem willing but he has no interest in them for the most part. Only the pullets.

 

[BirdGirl2004]

Well, my roo picked his favorite too!
This is normal behavior! He will soon start to mate with the others but for now he picked his favorites. If he's still small it would be hard for him to get up on the other big hens... ( if ya know what i mean )
Good luck!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

.... I know chicken love isn’t always pretty, I was just wondering if it’s normal. None of my pullets are laying and most haven’t even started turning red yet.... This guy shows no aggression towards me, actually seems scared of me, some of the older hens actually seem willing but he has no interest in them for the most part. Only the pullets.

The pecking order runs over into the sexual lives of chickens. Cockerels especially will not breed hens who are in positions of power above young cockerels.

 

[RWise]

I see just the opposite, my little guys go after the oldest most dominate hen, and ignore the little girls,,, so far.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Yes,usually my boys go for the adults,not the pullets.Breedig the adults is all about gaining power above them,maybe Seperate him or the girls until they are egg laying and ready to be bred.

 

[aart]

He just started crowing

How old is he?

some of the older hens actually seem willing but he has no interest in them for the most part.

What does this mean?

Might be good to keep him separate until the pullets are laying.
How long have you had the pullets?

 

[Eggs82]

How old is he?

What does this mean?

Might be good to keep him separate until the pullets are laying.
How long have you had the pullets?

He is 19 or 20 weeks old. I’ve had the pullets since they were chicks. And a couple of the big girls actually go up to him, puff themselves up and make sounds I’ve never heard, almost like purring, Looked to me like they where trying to get his “attention”. He was able to mount one of the older hens yesterday without any complaints from her, but he wasn’t there long before another one of the hens came racing across the yard and chased him off.

 

[aart]

He is 19 or 20 weeks old. I’ve had the pullets since they were chicks. And a couple of the big girls actually go up to him, puff themselves up and make sounds I’ve never heard, almost like purring, Looked to me like they where trying to get his “attention”. He was able to mount one of the older hens yesterday without any complaints from her, but he wasn’t there long before another one of the hens came racing across the yard and chased him off.

All sounds pretty normal. He's dominated(or 'won over') some of the hens, but not all.
Typical that he's chasing down the younger ones, most cockerels don't 'get' that they are not ready to breed. If he won't stop chasing them it might be good to keep him separate until the pullets are laying. The stress can be debilitating for the pullets, and for us the keepers. You'll have to decide how much is too much.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That all sounds very normal. Chicken society can be really complicated, especially when you are dealing with adolescents. That cockerels hormones are running pretty strong, telling him to become the dominant chicken and take over the flock. At his age the mating act is more about dominance than sex. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force.

The pullets are still too immature to understand their part so hey try to run away. It's not that he is trying to breed them to fertilize eggs, he's trying to become dominant over them by force. Some adult hens will squat for practically anything in spurs but others are more discerning. They want a male to show that he will be a good father for their chicks before he is allowed liberties. The dominant hen will not stand for anyone, especially an immature brat, showing dominance in front of her so she knocks him off when he is trying to mate another hen, even if that hen is willing.

That's not only normal cockerel behavior that is normal pullet and hen behavior.

 

[Eggs82]

Makes Sense. The hens he’s had success with are the same ones that squat when I look at them funny. The ones chasing him off are actually the two lowest in the pecking order of my hens. If he tries to get on a pullet they’ll actually knock him off then go after the pullet.