roosters bothering hens

[shepgal3]

Hi All! Husband and I are on 2nd brood of chickens. 1st group of 16 Barred Rocks are in 2nd year of life and have done/are doing well. The 24 new Dominiques should not begin laying until late July or early August. Dominique roosters (3) have begun mounting the hens already. Aside from setting up a separate run for the boys in which they cannot get to the girls, or making a few pots of soup, what can be done to stop this? (The Rock roo did not bother his gals until several months after they had begun laying). Note: the groups do not mingle (they have separate fenced areas of 1/8 acre each, and separate areas in the chicken coop), & the Rock rooster was butchered this past winter. Thank you for any and all suggestions!

 

[gritsar]

Some people would tell you to seperate the young cockerels, by hook or by crook. I'm not some people.

If my calculations are correct, you now have 37 hens/pullets total and 3 young cockerels? That's a roo/hen ratio of approx. 1:12, so not too bad. The pullets are the same age and about the same size, right?

If they were mine and no one was getting hurt or bloody even, I'd buy some ear plugs for myself and let the young roos get the excessive testosterone out of their system. Things will settle down once the pullets reach laying age and are on the same page as the roos.

If feathers start flying or blood starts flowing, between the cockerels or the cockerels and the pullets then you may need to do some seperating or rethink the number of roos you plan to keep.

I currently have an older rooster, a younger rooster, 3 - 3 mo. old cockerels, a bunch of younger chicks running around, 2 broody hens with chicks, and 25 hens; so my ratios are a bit off. The cockerels are sowing their wild oats. The older hens are the ones putting them in their place each and every time they need to be and no one is getting hurt, other than a lost feather here and there.

Again, just MHO.

 

[hillbillycitygirl]

we had to seperate our pullets from our older hens and roo's. My wyandotte hen was caught red handed (actually red beaked) pecking at some of my babies. I have one crazy roo who likes to chase the hens out of the hen house and nesting boxes, if he keeps it up he maybe dinner. Its a shame too because hes a great protector....he just doesnt seem to want the girls to lay. goofy guy.
I would say let them simmer down for a bit and try putting them back in with the girls in a few days to see how it goes....sometimes those boys get awful fiesty

 

[LCP]

I have 3 Ameraucana bantams hens and 3 roosters. They've been together since they hatched last year, and get along fine most of the time. The woman I bought them from said that, as long as I don't separate them, then put them back together, they should be OK. This has been the case, but now one hen has gone broody and is sitting on eggs. She seems quite defensive of her nest, and won't let me disturb her, but will the roosters kill the chicks? I know this is not a good ratio, but I haven't gotten myself over the hurdle of being able to butcher extra roosters. Should I build a divider in the coop to separate her from the other 2 hens and 3 roosters? Thanks for any advice.

 

[write2caroline]

I know I have too many roos. A bunch of my 38 girls are balding on their backs - I have 3 standard roos. Razz was dominant but he was unseated by the youngest a copper Marans, but the son of Razz took over as dominant. Razz still is good about rounding up the girls that made it out of the run but sometimes it is like a gang rape when they chase the girls and the girls won't squat- son of has taken to pecking at the girls when he is breeding with them and Copper is almost violent. When Razz was top roo he would occasionally attack me but he was good to the girls and very protective. I am thinking it is time to rid myself of the roos and start over.

Caroline

 

[galanie]

Quote:
I would separate her simply to give her peace of mind. A good rooster will protect and help the chicks. If you have one that kills a chick, he needs to go to freezer camp ASAP. They usually don't.