Rooster Troubles

[KaseyRose]

Hi everyone! I'm new to BYC but am looking for help. I have a very small flock of 5 Ameraucauna chickens, 3 hens and 2 roosters. They are approximately 9 months old and the hens just recently started laying. Out of the 2 roosters, we have one that is becoming much more dominant to the point that he is outcasting the other rooster from the flock. Last night, the friendly rooster actually started climbing our deck stairs because the dominant rooster wouldn't allow him in the coop.

I've done some reading and saw that I could start a "bachelor pad" if I wanted to keep both but am wondering the following...

If I choose to keep one, does it have to be the dominant rooster? The friendly rooster loves to be held, follows people around like a puppy, loves our dog, etc. etc. The dominant rooster is just your typical ornery rooster.

Any advice would be helpful! And if you live in MA and are looking for a rooster to add to your flock for free and won't eat him, let me know!

 

[iLikeMineFried]

If you find a home for the dominant cockerel, the calm one will most likely step up and display similar behavior as the dominant one. You need to fix your ratio of Pullets/Cockerels. One Cockerel for 10 hens. Speaking from experience, I had a sweet boy, and I culled his competition and just kept him. In about a month, he got nippy with me and kept his distance, preferring the company of his ladies. He does a great job, but the days of cuddling him are long gone. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. If you remove the dominant cockerel, the second rooster will reveal his true temperament. It may or may not be aggressive - only time will tell that tale.

 

[aart]

You can keep either one......or neither.
If you don't need a male(to hatch more chicks) then you might get rid of them both.
Expecting someone to take them without eating them is rather unreasonable,
and will make them much harder to relocate.

Behaviors may change when you remove either from the flock,
you won't know until you do so.
'Cuddly' males can become aggressive, tho doesn't mean they will.
Am surprised you haven't had trouble way before 9 months.
Telling us more about your coop and run(with pics!), and the potential options for having a separate set up for the boys, might help us help you with the decisions.

FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.

Oh, and, Welcome to BYC!
You can add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Biddybot]

The best solution for the chickens of course would be to get some more hens and set the submissive rooster up with his own little flock, but that means double the work and another coop or at least subdividing an existing coop and I don't know if you really want to do that or even have the space. The fact that your submissive cockerel is already afraid enough of your more dominant one to quit the flock and look for another place to roost is concerning in the sense that you probably couldn't get them to share a flock anymore, even if you added more hens. Once the dominant starts driving the submissive out of sight, out of mind, as it were, and won't even tolerate him hanging around...well, that's different from the odd lunge and peck and simply not letting the submissive breed a hen that goes on between a pair of roosters willing to share duties. A rooster who's lost his confidence and who can't even function as a satellite rooster let alone be the chief rooster's number two, is usually a sad bird doomed to a lonely existence who's likely going to need to be caged to remain safe should you want to continue keeping him anywhere near the other birds.

As for making a choice, should it come to that, there is absolutely NO need to automatically keep the dominant rooster you already have if you like the submissive better. In fact, more often than not, anytime I've had to make a choice between roosters myself, I tend to keep the more submissive birds. Main reasons I do is that they tend to have the kinder dispositions when it comes to being handled--they're already more docile by nature--and they're also often nicer with the hens...not quite as assertive or persistent to the point of being harassing when it comes to mating and such. The olive eggers I just raised this past summer, I wound up with five cockerals and four pullets, and while the top four cockerals quickly became sex-crazed boors as they reached that certain age, the lowest ranking one remained quite immature and babyish for a much longer time, so immature that I was able to safely leave him with the pullets. He's still with the pullets and is now their flock rooster whereas his more dominant, randier siblings and half-siblings are all now living as bachelors...and I don't regret choosing 'the wimpy one' over the others one bit. I also once had two young mixed-breed cockerals, both equally good-looking and virtually identical, and it also came down to behaviour when I made my choice of which to keep and which to send off to roasting school. With those two, I watched one chase the other round and round the house one day until the one being chased got so scared he flew over the fence into my neighbour's yard and that was it--decision made. I went and retrieved the scared, submissive cockerel from my neighbour's yard, then went and got the axe for his IMO overly aggressive, more dominant brother and that was the end of his chasing days. Feel free to chose your own 'nicer' rooster if you want. There's something to be said for choosing for disposition first and foremost.

 

[centrarchid]

Hi everyone! I'm new to BYC but am looking for help. I have a very small flock of 5 Ameraucauna chickens, 3 hens and 2 roosters. They are approximately 9 months old and the hens just recently started laying. Out of the 2 roosters, we have one that is becoming much more dominant to the point that he is outcasting the other rooster from the flock. Last night, the friendly rooster actually started climbing our deck stairs because the dominant rooster wouldn't allow him in the coop.

I've done some reading and saw that I could start a "bachelor pad" if I wanted to keep both but am wondering the following...

If I choose to keep one, does it have to be the dominant rooster? The friendly rooster loves to be held, follows people around like a puppy, loves our dog, etc. etc. The dominant rooster is just your typical ornery rooster.

Any advice would be helpful! And if you live in MA and are looking for a rooster to add to your flock for free and won't eat him, let me know!

Bachelor groups ideally have several roosters rather than a small number. Consider penning one rooster by himself.

 

[aart]

One Cockerel for 10 hens.

The 'rooster' to hen ratio of 1:10 that is often cited is primarily for fertility efficiency in commercial breeding facilities.
It doesn't mean that if a cockbird has 10 hens that he won't abuse or over mate them.
Many breeders keep pairs, trios, quads, etc.
It all depends on the temperaments of the cock and hens and sometimes housing provided.
Backyard flocks can achieve good fertility with a larger ratio.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The humorous Mark Twain once compared the sexual drive of men to either a Billy goat or a Galápagos Tortoise. This means that the sex drive is all over the place in men. Well roosters are like men in this respect. Depending on the breed or strain of rooster your rooster hen ratio can be any where from 2 or 3 hens per rooster up to 20 or more. Your mileage may vary. Meat birds normally require more male birds to ensure fertile eggs while most laying breeds generally need fewer roosters per hen. This is another reason that mixed flocks are a bad idea.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined.

What you are describing is pretty typical for a flock with lots of room, though not all flocks are that way. If room is tight they often act differently. A standard model is that the dominant rooster kicks out the adolescent cockerels when they start to challenge his authority. The cockerels often form a bachelor flock and when they mature enough the individuals stake out their own territory and try to attract mates.

You can keep either male you wish. The dominant one may change his behavior as he further matures, and that change could go in any direction. Competition from the other male sometimes makes his behavior worse, sometimes he may get worse when the competition is gone. You don't get guarantees with animal behaviors. I don't know what you mean by "typical ornery rooster" but it is quite possible that is how a dominant rooster will typically act.

The dominant rooster suppresses the roosterly behaviors of the submissive one. The dominant one has certain responsibilities and privileges the submissive one does not have. If the submissive one starts assuming those responsibilities or privileges he gets knocked back. The submissive one can change dramatically when the dominant one is removed. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. You can't tell which way he will go so there is some luck involved.

 

[chickens really]

Welcome to BYC. If you remove the dominant cockerel, the second rooster will reveal his true temperament. It may or may not be aggressive - only time will tell that tale.

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