Rooster drama and selection - what should I do?

[GreenHaven]

I have been keeping chickens for only a few years, so I could use some advice from those with more experience. I have a young flock of Australorp - 5 months old. I have 14 hens, and started with 4 roosters so I could be choosy about which I keep. I have removed one (he was aggressive with me), and now have three which is too many for the hens. Of the three, one is wry tailed, so he can't be allowed to breed, but he is the flock leader and seems to be the best behaviorally. One is somewhat slow maturing and is on the timid side, but has no serious defects. The third has no serious defects and matured quickly, so he was the one I was thinking could be breedable, but he is overly "hormonal" and far too rough with the hens. I found two hens with the feathers pulled out of the backs of their necks over the last week, and the skin was actually torn on one. I was thinking he was to blame, but not certain. I thought perhaps he might calm down given a little time, so I moved him to another flock of older 2 year old hens (no other roosters) so that he might learn some manners from them. That was a few days ago. They free range during the day so they have a lot of space. Today I found one of those hens with the side of her head slightly bloodied - so now I regret putting him in there, but I feel pretty sure he is to blame for the others as well. I have isolated him from the others and am unsure what to do with him. I have room for three roosters, I think. Two for the flock of 14 hens, and one for the flock of 7. I think I should keep the wry tailed rooster but not breed him, because he is doing a good job.
So the big question - should the rough rooster be freezer bound? Or do I give him time to mature on his own or with the timid rooster. I could clip their wings and put them in another pen.
Thanks for reading. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Personally I'd put the rough one in the freezer. There's always more roosters. I don't put up with them hurting the hens.

 

[GreenHaven]

Personally I'd put the rough one in the freezer. There's always more roosters. I don't put up with them hurting the hens.

What proportion of roosters should I expect will need to be culled?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most will recommend one rooster with your number of hens, you can maybe have 2, but often two roosters just fight, and it doesn't work out.

I tend to remove the bad acting cockatiel first, than work my way down and keep the good acting one that is often near the bottom of the pecking order. When you remove one it shuffles the pecking order and can change the behavior of the others, so I always take my time picking the best. I want roosters at take care of the hens and look out for them. Not ones that peck them or mate them constantly.

 

[Altairsky]

I'd keep the wry tailed and the slow maturing together for as long as possible, and see how the slow maturing does when he matures further. He might learn good manners from the dominant wry tailed.

 

[GreenHaven]

I'd keep the wry tailed and the slow maturing together for as long as possible, and see how the slow maturing does when he matures further. He might learn good manners from the dominant wry tailed.

The wry tail and slow maturing fellows are doing ok together so far. There have a very large run and access to a small orchard so lots of hiding places. The one that i think was rough i put into another flock - on a large pasture - but a hen showed up with some blood on the side of her face. Dont know for sure he did that - hate jumping the gun because i did that once and blamed the rooster and felt terrible. For all i know there was a hawk attack. The rooster WAS outside the pen - flew over a 54” fence which he's never done. Or maybe he was in a fight with that hen? Head hen might have gotten totally annoyed with him? Anyway, I put him in a small mobile coop - hes wandering around the yard and visits both enclosures but seems ok with this setup for now.

I was toying with the idea of putting the slow grower in with the other flock and keeping the wry tail with his flock. If theres no further hen damage then i will know he is to blame. If he were flawed - id be less tolerant but ive found it very hard to actually find roosters that come close to the SOPs for breeding.

 

[GreenHaven]

Most will recommend one rooster with your number of hens, you can maybe have 2, but often two roosters just fight, and it doesn't work out.

I tend to remove the bad acting cockatiel first, than work my way down and keep the good acting one that is often near the bottom of the pecking order. When you remove one it shuffles the pecking order and can change the behavior of the others, so I always take my time picking the best. I want roosters at take care of the hens and look out for them. Not ones that peck them or mate them constantly.

Thank you. I totally agree. He is overly anxious in his mating - and selfish with goodies. Ive not seen him be violent intentionally. I was excusing some of it because he is so young and has to mate on sly when i had him in the other pen. Thus the move. I just didnt want to make a mistake and cull too early. Hes definitely the main suspect.
So in your experience the lower pecking order roosters typically wind up being better with the hens? Roosters are a bit confusing and exasperating compared to hens.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you. I totally agree. He is overly anxious in his mating - and selfish with goodies. Ive not seen him be violent intentionally. I was excusing some of it because he is so young and has to mate on sly when i had him in the other pen. Thus the move. I just didnt want to make a mistake and cull too early. Hes definitely the main suspect.
So in your experience the lower pecking order roosters typically wind up being better with the hens? Roosters are a bit confusing and exasperating compared to hens.

I do find the lower pecking order cockerel to be better roosters. They have had to learn to be nice and can't just take what they want like the dominant ones. I have had luck penning cockerel for a few month to a year and they have sometimes improved. I always pen them where they can interact through the fence. They learn to call hens over and nice talk them. If a cockerel has some potential I will occasionally keep him around until he mature more to see if he improves.

 

[Folly's place]

Picking the right cockerels to keep is always a challenge, and a guessing game.
I'd eliminate the bird who's too rough, once you are sure that's what's going on. And 'wry tail' generally means a pelvis and/ or spine that's crooked, so not a blemish, rather a bad individual to breed on.
You are watching, and planning, all good.
I'm doing the same thing now, with three unexpected cockerels out of ten 'pullets' this May. One is definitely leaving, he's got a good temperament, but just not as good tail a set as the other two. Likely I'll keep both 'maybes' for a few more months, unless they don't get along, or whatever.
Mary