Rooster incompetent? Bullying?

[The Rinaest Rina]

Hey y'all. This is not my favorite topic but here we go. I've talked about this guy before, haha.

This fella here? He's the cornerstone to the castle in my clouds- a homozygous for blue egg guy. I am rather fond of him.
Trouble is, he's a doofus, and I mean that affectionately, but it appears to be true. Just this morning I watched him at feeding time interact with the hens- who have been with him since Christmas- and instead of breeding them he just runs up and pecks them on the neck. One by one they left the coop and went outside to eat mud instead. Then Doofus here was all by himself before he wandered out to join them. This explains why I often find uneaten feed now where I didn't before.
The worst part is that one of my hens is terrified of him. She hates being around him and I had to shut the chickens up yesterday to keep her from standing outside in the rain by herself. He also is chasing my bantams away from the food, though the "chasing" looks a lot like his neck pecking so he could just be trying to mate them. Yes, I have multiple feeding locations.
I've only seen one successful-looking breed from him in his time here. Maybe he hasn't got all of the hormones he needs? Maybe it's the weather?
I did crack open one of the eggs I wanted to hatch, and the bullseye is there. A different rooster was in the run for like thirty seconds about a week ago, so who knows. I guess the best way to tell is to run a test hatch and see if any chicks match his marks, or if there are any chicks.
The people I got him from said he was pretty slow to mature- he was just starting to crow when I got him, allegedly because he had a dominant older brother. He's probably nine or ten months old now.
Is he mean or just fumbling?
Should I separate my scared hen for a bit and try to reintroduce her, similar to what I would do if it was hen bullying?
I mostly wanted an unrelated rooster for my flock, and one that would bring advantageous genes and good personality in while he was at it. This guy is very nice on all points except that he seems like he doesn't know what he's doing and he's scaring the hens in the process.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I'm going to guess he's just immature. You said he's only been with them since Christmas? He may be more focused on getting himself established in the pecking order (especially with the neck pecks). Hopefully he grows out of this, becomes more comfortable with the flock, and starts doing his job.

Of course his photo just oozes confidence, so I'm sure he thinks he's doing a great job!

 

[Mrs. K]

What part of the world are you in? In the dark days and long nights of winter, the hormones are typically lower. In a month, the 'sap will start to rise'. If he is not showing much better characteristics and traits by then, I would cull then and try again.

Mrs K