Roo changed in behavior

[rebrascora]

If you have a lot of cockerels (young males under a year) all in with the hens, there will be a lot of competition for mating as their hormones are raging. The hens will be stressed from the attentions of so many males...usually one or two hens will out singled out and targeted repeatedly by several males. The males become more aggressive towards the females because the females are less cooperative because they are stressed. It makes for an unhappy flock. If you remove all the other males from the hens and just leave your new guy in with them and after a week, he is still being a jerk, then put him in the fridge as well.
I think you would be better off getting an older mature cock bird (2-3years old) with proven good temperament perhaps from a breeder who is renewing his blood lines. Juvenile cockerels are at the mercy of their hormones and it brings out the worst in them, especially if there are several juvenile males in the flock with no mature dominant male to keep them in check.
The constant crowing is part of him establishing his place as head of the flock. You can sometimes train them to stop it. I have had success with going into the hen house at night and slapping him with a glove each time he crows. I have several cockerels in a bachelor pad and a few more in the main flock and one lot will set the others off in the night if something disturbs them. Now I just have to go to the door and tell them to be quiet and they stop, but if they don't, the offender gets a slap with the glove next time he opens his beak....they learn surprisingly quickly!

 

[aart]

Agrees with Blooie, need more info,.....and rebrascora makes great points.

I would segregate all the cock/erels in a separate pen and leave the Swedish Flower with the flock....
...THEN assess the SF's behavior. How old is he anyway?

There's no way to accurately asses any male with that many of them having free reign.
Start slaughtering.....you've got a lot of chicken to eat.

 

[chickens really]

I missed the two hen information......If only two hens? Get rid of more of the Cockerels you were eating and only keep one......I did not think all the Cockerels were penned in the same pen with all the Birds?

Totally changes all info you have received.........

Cull all Roosters......Keep one......Buy more Pullets/Hens..............

Lots of Competition for Cockerels at your place..........


Cheers!

 

[Gardenalex]

I should have explained more.
I have 30 hens and a lot of roos around the age of 12 to 6 weeks.
At the moment they are running together because none if the other roos is old enough for eating or mating.
I am now down to 23! Yep, still plenty Roos.

My plan was at the beginning to keep two roos for that group of hens, because i was told to do so in the other community.

 

[chickens really]

Yeah....I figured that......Cull all Roosters and Pick two.........


Cheers!

 

[bobbi-j]

You don't have roosters, you have *cockerels*. Think undisciplined teenage boys with raging hormones. You do have way too many to be with your hens - I was in a similar situation a few years ago when I hatched out 50 percent cockerels. When their hormones hit, those poor pullets had no peace. The cockerels were constantly chasing them and attempting to breed them. The pullets are usually unwilling because they have not reached breeding age yet. The cockerels are rough because they haven't perfected their technique yet, nor have they learned to "court" the hens. All boys know right now is that they're supposed to be breeding. They don't know why or how, just that their instinct is telling them to do it. It takes a while for them to mature, and isn't a pretty process.

The behaviors you are seeing with your Swedish Flower are typical. Cockerel behaviors do level out as they mature. If you have the room and the resources, I would suggest building a bachelor/grow out pen for all those extras and let your Swedish Flower grow into his place as flock rooster without all that extra competition.

May I ask why you are planning on keeping roosters? Do you plan to continue hatching chicks? Are you prepared for extra cockerels year after year? If not, I'd get rid of all the males and just buy sexed pullets to replenish your flock.

 

[Gardenalex]

@rebrascora: At the moment my hens do not seem to be stressed. My Orpington is still running around with her two girls and two boys that are around 12 weeks.
I have never thought of set an older rooster to my hens. I must think about that, but perhaps everything will change now. I started to separate them, so the cockerels from the hens. As i have separated the first ones I heard a new voice out of the bachelor group - one of the younger started trying to crow. Oh lord...
Thanks for your advice, call my soft, but there will be no glove that I will take to my roo. He should not be afraid of me, but show respect.

@Yep, aart, as I told, i started separating. Did not finish it today because I have a sick little chicken with a cold.

But I will not slaughter, they are still too young.

@bobbi-j: I wanted to keep a rooster because I like him when he crows - first of it. Then I recognized that some of my girls would like to have one. They are sitting down for me...waiting for me to cuddle.
And yes i wanted to have some more Swedish girls. I hatched some eggs, and you won´t believe it but it is real. I got six chicks, just one single chick is female!
And here in Germany there is no place where you can buy sexed Swedish Flower Hen chicks or even unsexed chicks. It is even very hard to get a hen here from this breed. So I had to do it on my own.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

First off he is doing what just about every young roosters does,no need to get rid of him,just separate him and see by about 8 or 9 months if his attitude/hormones changed.If not,send him off.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

He could amke the perfect rooster one day.