Maybe the pinning a hen down, pecking the back of neck and chasing them is just want they do going thru puberty (darn Male hormones).
I'll copy something I wrote a while back, it might help. This is between mature chickens, which you do not yet have but maybe it will explain some of the behavior.
Typical mating behavior between mature consenting adults.
The rooster dances for a specific hen. He lowers one wing and sort of circles her. This signals his intent.
The hen squats. This gets her body onto the ground so the rooster’s weight goes into the ground through her entire body and not just her legs. That way she can support a much heavier rooster without hurting her joints.
The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. The head grab helps him get in the right position to hit the target and helps him to keep his balance, but its major purpose is to tell the hen to raise her tail out of the way to expose the target. A mating will not be successful if she does not raise her tail and expose the target. The head grab is necessary.
The rooster touches vents and hops off. This may be over in the blink of an eye or it may take a few seconds. But when this is over the rooster’s part is done.
The hen then stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts its internal journey through her internal egg making factory.
Even between adults these things don't always happen this way. Sometimes the rooster doesn't dance. Sometimes the hen runs away instead of squatting. If she runs away the rooster may ignore her or he may chase her. After a few steps she may squat, she was just checking to see if he was really interested. Or he may chase her down and force her. That has to do with establishing his dominance. As yours is a juvenile you are probably seeing a lot of that. As long as the hen eventually squats so the weight is passed through her body into the ground she is not likely to get hurt.
It's funny how he leaves the 3 hens I got with him alone.
They may accept his dominance, are they cooperating if he tries to mate them? Or maybe those pullets are not yet laying. There are signs a hen is laying. A good rooster is typically a lot more interested in females that are laying than those that are not. My guess this is that this is more about him establishing dominance over them than just for sex. Some people see this behavior and think it is about sex. It's pretty much not. His hormones are telling him to dominate the flock. He does that by forcing the hens to mate with him.
The hen he is picking on is my most mellow, laid back. Maybe he senses weak.
Possibly. When they pick on one it is usually either the weakest or strongest. It sounds like your boy does not yet have the confidence to stand up to the strongest.
This could be a good approach. When he matures he is more likely to be able to wow! them with his magnificence and self-confidence so he does not have to rely on force as much.
I'll copy something I wrote a while back, it might help. This is between mature chickens, which you do not yet have but maybe it will explain some of the behavior.
Typical mating behavior between mature consenting adults.
The rooster dances for a specific hen. He lowers one wing and sort of circles her. This signals his intent.
The hen squats. This gets her body onto the ground so the rooster’s weight goes into the ground through her entire body and not just her legs. That way she can support a much heavier rooster without hurting her joints.
The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. The head grab helps him get in the right position to hit the target and helps him to keep his balance, but its major purpose is to tell the hen to raise her tail out of the way to expose the target. A mating will not be successful if she does not raise her tail and expose the target. The head grab is necessary.
The rooster touches vents and hops off. This may be over in the blink of an eye or it may take a few seconds. But when this is over the rooster’s part is done.
The hen then stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts its internal journey through her internal egg making factory.
Even between adults these things don't always happen this way. Sometimes the rooster doesn't dance. Sometimes the hen runs away instead of squatting. If she runs away the rooster may ignore her or he may chase her. After a few steps she may squat, she was just checking to see if he was really interested. Or he may chase her down and force her. That has to do with establishing his dominance. As yours is a juvenile you are probably seeing a lot of that. As long as the hen eventually squats so the weight is passed through her body into the ground she is not likely to get hurt.
It's funny how he leaves the 3 hens I got with him alone.
They may accept his dominance, are they cooperating if he tries to mate them? Or maybe those pullets are not yet laying. There are signs a hen is laying. A good rooster is typically a lot more interested in females that are laying than those that are not. My guess this is that this is more about him establishing dominance over them than just for sex. Some people see this behavior and think it is about sex. It's pretty much not. His hormones are telling him to dominate the flock. He does that by forcing the hens to mate with him.
The hen he is picking on is my most mellow, laid back. Maybe he senses weak.
Possibly. When they pick on one it is usually either the weakest or strongest. It sounds like your boy does not yet have the confidence to stand up to the strongest.
This could be a good approach. When he matures he is more likely to be able to wow! them with his magnificence and self-confidence so he does not have to rely on force as much.
I agree with the other posts. He is young so he is more aggressive. Since you said you have a 5 star coop lots of room so not a crowding issue, can you divide the coop and put him on one side with the young females you bought him with and leave the 4 older birds on the other side for awhile while he matures? Often time a male will have a favorite female and it appears he has found his favorite even though she would prefer not to be his favorite. I raise a lot of chicks each year and grow them out. When the young males start getting too aggressive with the females, I move them to another coop and pen and that becomes the bachelor coop and pen. I have no issues then with the males as long as there are no females. Whatever you decide, good luck and have fun...
