Problems with Roosters

[gegeda]

I got 6 "pullet" baby chicks from TSC in July. However, as they grow up, it turns out that 2 of them are actually roosters . Both of them are behaving odd from my perspective.

One of them appears to be the alpha in the flock and loves to peck, mount and bully other hens daily (it also pecks the other rooster). All chickens in the flock seem to be really scared of the alpha and will run away from him. But interestingly, it seems that the alpha treats me as a big threat and will run fast and far (leaving his hens behind) the moment I am in the chicken coop. If I get close to him in a corner, he will just jump up and down, shaking, like I am gonna give him a hot bath .

Well, given how "well-behaved" the alpha is, I now separate him from the flock and invite him to stay in a chicken prison. Then another funny thing happens. Now the beta starts to peck and chase after other hens (though not as frequent as the alpha). But one thing I couldn't understand is that my hens seem to enjoy having him around even being pecked and follow wherever the beta goes. On the very opposite of the alpha, the beta seems to care about the hens and try protecting them when the dangers come (well, in his world, when I come ). And he didn't seem to fear me AT ALL. One time when I tried to touch one of my hens, he rush all the way to me trying to peck me and take a fight, like he was saying, I was going to kill you.

Do anyone understand why both of my roosters behave like that? Is there a way to make them be nice to my ladies? Putting them down is really the last thing I wanna do cause I raised them this old

 

[Logar]

The one that sees you as a threat needs to be culled. He is just going to get more confident and it will get worse. And having 2 cockerels with only 4 pullets is not going to end well. the pullets will be over bred. I wouldn't keep either as human aggressiveness can not be tolerated and it sounds like the one that is scared of you is just stressing all of them out

 

[azygous]

People often don't realize that there is more than the one option of keeping roosters with the hens. You are obviously attached to these two young cockerels. If you wish to keep both but are concerned about how they treat the hens, you can build a "bachelor" pen, and ideally, a bachelor coop.

Some years ago, I found myself with two roosters. I already had a second coop and a run where they could live, and that is where they spent most of their time. Over the years, they became best pals, and they only spent some of the time with the hens when everyone free ranged.

This arrangement spared the hens the constant wear and tear of two roosters, and it made for a peaceful flock.

When roosters are not constantly with hens, they are less apt to become aggressive, as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I got 6 "pullet" baby chicks from TSC in July.

You got them in July. It is very early November. You do not have hens and roosters, you have immature pullets and cockerels. The girls are not laying yet. The boys are starting to feel their hormones. It's like expecting preteens to behave like adults.

Do anyone understand why both of my roosters behave like that? Is there a way to make them be nice to my ladies?

Let them all mature. It does not always work but it usually does. Once the girls start laying they start behaving like mature hens. That includes wanting their eggs to be fertilized. An issue with that is that they expect the future father of their children to be a responsible adult. A bratty immature cockerel high on hormones can have a lot of trouble meeting that expectation so they don't want him to be the potential father of their children. An immature cockerel high on hormones can be very disruptive to the flock. While most cockerels mature out of that phase some never do.

Your initial plan was for an all-girl flock but you got those boys. What are your plans now? What are your goals for those boys? The only reason you need a rooster is to get fertile eggs. Everything else is a personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preferences, I have a few of those myself. But those are wants, not needs. My general recommendation is to keep as few boys as you can and still meet your goals. Having more boys does not guarantee that you will have more problems but the more you have the more likely you will have problems (it is that way with living animals). Some of those potential problems are that one or more could become human aggressive, they may fight to the death, they may overmate your hens and cause them to be barebacked from feather loss or terrorize them, and possibly injure the girls from overmating. Many people on this forum can meet their goals for having chickens with zero or one boy.

If you decide to keep both I suggest you prepare a place that can permanently house one or two boys, Azygous's bachelor pad. Make it big enough for both of them. That way it is there when you need it. Even if you don't need to isolate one or both boys when they and the girls mature it can be very helpful to have a place where you can isolate a sick or injured chicken if you have to.

To me the only thing the least bit strange is that those pullets accept the beta as well as they do. That may mean his hormones have not hit all that hard yet. Hopefully that behavior will continue, it sometimes does, but it can also change as he matures.

To be blunt, I think your best chance to enjoy your chicken venture is to get rid of both boys. Sell, them, give them away, or eat them. Stick with your initial plan of girls only. Avoid the drama you are almost certain to get with having boys.

Good luck!

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Without mature chickens around to teach them respect cockerels often become violent jerks. I wouldn't keep any males with a history of violence. Peaceful, well-mannered males can be easily found nearly anywhere for free

 

[gegeda]

People often don't realize that there is more than the one option of keeping roosters with the hens. You are obviously attached to these two young cockerels. If you wish to keep both but are concerned about how they treat the hens, you can build a "bachelor" pen, and ideally, a bachelor coop.

Some years ago, I found myself with two roosters. I already had a second coop and a run where they could live, and that is where they spent most of their time. Over the years, they became best pals, and they only spent some of the time with the hens when everyone free ranged.

This arrangement spared the hens the constant wear and tear of two roosters, and it made for a peaceful flock.

When roosters are not constantly with hens, they are less apt to become aggressive, as well.

Thanks a lot! I am actually considering doing something similar to see that could work out. Just curious, are your two rooster pals able to treat your hens nicely? Also, how are you dealing with them crowing? The beta does not like to crow whole a lot but the alpha tries to crow multiple times a day from time to time.

 

[gegeda]

You got them in July. It is very early November. You do not have hens and roosters, you have immature pullets and cockerels. The girls are not laying yet. The boys are starting to feel their hormones. It's like expecting preteens to behave like adults.

Gotcha! I am very new to this, so thanks! I guess a pullet become a hen when she is laying, what age does a cockerel become rooster

Let them all mature. It does not always work but it usually does. Once the girls start laying they start behaving like mature hens. That includes wanting their eggs to be fertilized. An issue with that is that they expect the future father of their children to be a responsible adult. A bratty immature cockerel high on hormones can have a lot of trouble meeting that expectation so they don't want him to be the potential father of their children. An immature cockerel high on hormones can be very disruptive to the flock. While most cockerels mature out of that phase some never do.

Your initial plan was for an all-girl flock but you got those boys. What are your plans now? What are your goals for those boys? The only reason you need a rooster is to get fertile eggs. Everything else is a personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preferences, I have a few of those myself. But those are wants, not needs. My general recommendation is to keep as few boys as you can and still meet your goals. Having more boys does not guarantee that you will have more problems but the more you have the more likely you will have problems (it is that way with living animals). Some of those potential problems are that one or more could become human aggressive, they may fight to the death, they may overmate your hens and cause them to be barebacked from feather loss or terrorize them, and possibly injure the girls from overmating. Many people on this forum can meet their goals for having chickens with zero or one boy.

If you decide to keep both I suggest you prepare a place that can permanently house one or two boys, Azygous's bachelor pad. Make it big enough for both of them. That way it is there when you need it. Even if you don't need to isolate one or both boys when they and the girls mature it can be very helpful to have a place where you can isolate a sick or injured chicken if you have to.

To me the only thing the least bit strange is that those pullets accept the beta as well as they do. That may mean his hormones have not hit all that hard yet. Hopefully that behavior will continue, it sometimes does, but it can also change as he matures.

To be blunt, I think your best chance to enjoy your chicken venture is to get rid of both boys. Sell, them, give them away, or eat them. Stick with your initial plan of girls only. Avoid the drama you are almost certain to get with having boys.

Good luck!

Appreciated! Really constructive!

Well, I think I am still in a stage of processing that they are both cockerel and trying to figure out what is the best to do here. Personally, I do not mind having two cockerels in my backyard cause I do love these two except when they are mean to my girls.

I did read multiple posts and articles on this forum, and deep down, I agree with you that I'd better just send them away to avoid all of these dramas. Now I am just trying my last thing to separate them from my pullets and have them only spend some time per day when I was in the coop watching them. But my bottom line is that they could not be violent to my pullets. If they could not grow out of this phase, I might just try rehoming them.

 

[aart]

I am very new to this, so thanks! I guess a pullet become a hen when she is laying, what age does a cockerel become rooster

Both names change at one year of age.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I guess a pullet become a hen when she is laying, what age does a cockerel become rooster

Technically the names change when they hit one year old. But that has nothing to do with behaviors, which I'm more interested in. A pullet starts acting like an adult about the time she starts to lay. In a mixed age flock that's when the adult hens will accept her into the pecking order. Usually they will accept a rooster mating them about that time.

The boys are a lot less definite. At some point the hormone level should drop to the point where he is not constantly mating them. He accepts his responsibilities to keep peace in his flock instead of being a disruptive force. He takes care of his flock, finding them food and looking out for their welfare. He watches for predators, especially flying predators, and warns the flock if he sees something suspicious. One of his responsibilities is to assure that all eggs are fertile. His magnificence and self-confidence are so high he wins the girls over by the force of his personality instead of having to rely on force like you've seen that cockerel do.

I've had a cockerel peacefully take over as flock master with adults hens in the flock as young as 5 months of age, really rare. I had one that could not do that until he was 11 months old. Some people on this forum that I trust have had cockerels take even longer. Most of mine seem to be able to handle that at 7 months or so but the personality of the girls has something to do with that too. Some boys never mature enough to do that peacefully, they have to rely on violence instead of personality.

But my bottom line is that they could not be violent to my pullets. If they could not grow out of this phase, I might just try rehoming them.

Some people on this forum get upset that a rooster will mate with his hens. They seem to think that the hen has the right to say no. A mating between consenting adult chickens should go something like this.


1. The rooster dances to show his intentions. He lowers a wing and sort of sidesteps around the hen.

2. The hen squats. This gets her body on the ground so the rooster's weight goes into the ground through her body instead of just her legs. Most roosters of the same breed as the hen are heavier than the hen so the squat is nature's way of protecting her legs and joints.

3. The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. This head grab helps line him up right and helps him keep his balance, but the main purpose is to tell her to raise her tail up out of the way so he can hit the target. Without the head grab he would not be able to get to the target so there would be no fertile eggs.

4. The rooster touches her vent with his. That deposits the sperm. This may take a couple of seconds or may be over in a flash.

5. The rooster hops off, his part is done. The hen stands up, fluffs up her feathers, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm in a special container where it can stay viable from a week to maybe three weeks.

It doesn't always go this way between adults. Sometimes the rooster does not dance but just grabs and hops on. No harm no foul, but it shows he does not have the self-confidence he should. Sometimes the hen runs away instead of squatting. The rooster may let her go or he may give chase. If he chases the hen may squat, she just wanted to know he was serious. He may stop the chase pretty quickly and let her go. He may chase her down and force her. As long as she squats and is not injured it's all OK. Even when he forces her it should not be very violent.

 

[azygous]

I've had five roosters in my flock over all these years, not counting a couple extra I rehomed at around ten weeks.

The last two were father and son and a year apart in age. The older one tutored the younger one from the time he started getting his hormones, and both were very respectful of the hens. If the younger one got carried away, the daddy roo would set him straight.

Over an eight year period, the two peacefully coexisted. For the most part. There came a time, a few years ago, when the younger one challenged his pop for dominance and won. After a day or two getting used to their new roles, they went back to being best friends.

They would have crowing contests, roosters being compelled to crow just because they can, mostly in the mornings. I was the only one to enjoy it as I'm on 36 acres without close neighbors. The older rooster died a month ago of cancer at around age nine. The younger one has skin cancer so I don't know how long he has. He' lives alone in his bachelor pad and mingles with the thirteen hens for a little bit most days.