Rooster vibes are changing everything

[Molly77]

I'm hoping someone who knows chicken behavior better than I can answer a couple of quick questions.
Background: I have added 8 young chickens to my flock of (4) 18-month-old ladies. The younguns are currently 5 months old (I brooded them indoors from 2-day chicks). The chicken groups are well integrated at this point, they don't argue and are able to all mingle peacefully.

One of them is a gorgeous and huge Black Americauna cockerel (Batman). I am trying to keep him in the flock, because he will have 11 hens to himself which seems like an OK ratio for the hens, and has never shown aggression to either me or the hens beyond what he needed to make clear to them he's boss. He seems really sane and peaceful so far. He's made his way to the top, the older hens don't challenge him anymore, but weirdness is going on now that I don't understand.

My 12 chickens have an 8' x 12' house, and an attached 10' x 20' tin-roofed run that is fully cased in hardware cloth and right now mostly covered in plastic sheet to block wind. They used to love their run and even in 10 degree weather sit on the branch roosts that are out there for them. They normally don't want to hang out in the house at all until bed time. For the past few days, everyone is in the house all day crammed together next to a nesting box. The weather is not bad, and they don't seem scared, they still want to come out into the yard and free range, but when they are locked in the house/run area they are choosing to be in the house, and I have the sense that Batman is telling them to stay in there, because he kind of parades around by the hatch to the run. Is this a normal thing? Does the rooster get neurotic and try to keep the hens in a tiny group crammed inside somewhere?

He is inexpertly trying to mate with the pullets a lot, which mostly involves grabbing neck feathers and trying to hold on. I can see he's also learning to court and tidbit some now so I'm hoping he gets more skillful. Is it possible they are just trying to get somewhere where he can't grab them easily? Is rooster adolescence just a mess like puppy adolescence, and he will smooth out and calm down if I can let him get through this part? Or does it just get worse?

I would be so grateful for some insight from a rooster keeper. Happy Holidays!

 

[SourRoses]

I see two likely possibilities...
Either his exuberance is driving them to avoid exiting the doorway, or there's a legitimate predator lingering around that he's worked up about.

For the first, it's quite typical for cockerels to wait at the exit to the coop and ambush jump on the hens. They hate being startled that way, let alone the lack of courtship and pain of having feathers ripped out.
If he's doing that it should be easy to see by the way the hens act when they do exit the coop. Do most leave the coop at a mad run?
If so, I would install a second pop door if you can. Ideally on a different wall of the coop but still inside the run. If not, as far as possible from the other door with some kind of blocking in between, like a panel of nice lattice perhaps. Something that keeps him from being able to cover both doors. That will enable the hens to move more freely.
If he is acting like that it will probably smooth out eventually but it takes a while. During which time the hens can lose body condition if they aren't eating as much. And stress can keep them from laying.

If you can't do the double exit, it might be necessary to put him in cockerel jail for a couple months until he matures.
Typically that's a large cage / mini run inside the main run. So he can still be with the flock, but can't do any harm.
It can really improve their technique when they can't jump on the hens and find they have to be appealing to lure anyone near for company through the wire. After two months or so, they usually come out as gentlemen, and if they don't, it's a sign there might not be a gentleman waiting to mature inside them.

If, on the other hand, his behavior is paired with alarm calls, it's possible he's keeping them inside due to a predator lingering in the area. Usually that would pass quickly though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My guess is that the five month old cockerel is intimidating all of them, including the older hens. He will probably grow out of it eventually but it may take a few months. The girls (including the hens) don't respect that immature brat enough to want him to be the father of any potential chicks but they are not going to put him in his place either. Each chicken has its own personality and sometimes they mesh like this.

If you want to keep that boy and give him a chance to mature I see a couple of options. One is to lock him up for a month or two and try again. He may mature to the point that he starts acting like a rooster instead of a spoiled brat.

Or put food and water inside the coop so the girls can eat and drink.


Good luck!

 

[Ted Brown]

Not exactly what you asked.

I have had up to 35 birds, mixed sexes, in a coop/run sized for 40.

One time after hatching and integrating my recognition of which were males failed and I had a hen attacked and killed by a small group of roos. The point? As roos mature they change, sometimes toward the aggressive side.

Another time I kept 3 roosters with 30 hens (I have 3 different breeds and keep a rooster of each for breeding). I thought the ratio would work but no. The three became a marauding herd constantly harassing many hens, sometimes focusing a few. I got fed up and separated the males to external cages from whence they come once a year into a breeding cage with 5-6 selected hens for a month. The difference in the main coop & run was dramatic. No harassment, no tearing about to avoid, little noise, just a calm and peaceful space.

I started believing it was best to have at least one rooster with the flock, that may well be the truth. I evolved to my current state but am open to introducing roosters again. Not sure what would induce me to do that.

Do what works for you. Too many variations of breed, housing, climate for one size fits all. And, things change particularly as cockerels mature so keep your eyes open.