Rooster Help - Aggressive or Just Learning

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ChickensComeHome2Roost said:
The older girls teach them to be responsible gentlemen! Otherwise how will they learn?
Mine spend half their time running from or avoiding the hens and the other half avoiding each other.
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This is really helpful. Thank you! I think I’ll get a jump and move the Brahma with the big girls and put the divider back up for the pullets.
 
I opened and closed the run all day today (to let the hens in out while they laid). It was the only way the pullets could have the whole run to themselves and lock the cockerels out
 
TropicalChickies said:
Yes. My cockerel Lucio is nine months old now -- almost a rooster -- and quite a young gentleman. He stands his ground during falcon warnings, gives all the treats he finds to his ladies, and knows that "no" means "no." Lucio spent his first five months of life in the company of older hens. By the time I brought in some younger pullets for him to woo and mate with, he had been schooled.

It doesn't always look nice when older hens school a cockerel. They will peck at him and make no secret of their annoyance. But it's for the cockerels own good, as I've learned.
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How old is Derek now?
 
Jasfarm said:
He’s only 3 months. We got him and the others April 1.
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I think he still has plenty of potential to be schooled by the hens. Like I said, the way the hens treat him may look pretty harsh. Other hens are more benevolent, like a wise auntie. He will suffer a bit, but it's good for him.
 
TropicalChickies said:
I think he still has plenty of potential to be schooled by the hens. Like I said, the way the hens treat him may look pretty harsh. Other hens are more benevolent, like a wise auntie. He will suffer a bit, but it's good for him.
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Thank you! One of the older girls schooled him today. He ran up behind her and she whipped around so fast…I’ve never seen him move so fast!
 
Jasfarm said:
Thank you! One of the older girls schooled him today. He ran up behind her and she whipped around so fast…I’ve never seen him move so fast!
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Good. He will hopefully learn respect from them. When he starts finding "treats" for them and trying to woo them (some people call it "tidbiting") like grass seed, nice forage plants, or insects, he is on his way to becoming a better bird.

After several refusals at mating from the older hens, you may notice he starts using the "chest bump." Instead of just trying to jump on the hen, he will approach and bump her tail with his chest. This is politely asking "do you want your eggs fertilized?" If the answer is yes, the hen will crouch. If not, she will quickly move away. If you see the chest bump, that's also a sign of improved behavior.
 
This has been a very helpful thread so far! Along with Derek, I have learned a thing or two as well!

It sounds like Derek has been involuntarily enrolled in Manners Mitigation School. Hopefully his grades will drastically improve with the combination of harsh schoolmistresses (the older hens) and time. I know that shuttling hens back and forth can be quite exhausting, and is very generous of you as a rooster temp!
 

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