Roosters

[grammabonnie]

Hi I am a new city chicken gramma. Need to ask a stupied question. I have a black copper maran young roo and 6 hens. They are all about 4 mths old now. Roo just started crowing. He does this early morning which is fine, and then whenever he sees me or wants something. Is this normal for roosters? Also, my hens haven't started laying yet so he hasn't started trying to breed them. Can he do that before they are old enough or do roosters know when the time is right? So far, he has been the perfect roo, non aggressive. Just not sure about the roo chasing the hens business. We are considering giving him away, but so far he is pretty nice. Thanks for any info. Gramma Bonnie in WA I have also heard BCMarans Roos can be pretty aggressive.

 

[SIMZ]

Hi there!

Your rooster's crowing is very normal. Mine have always jumped on something to crow when they see me coming out or when we pull in the driveway. They seem to be the "announcer".

I have had a few mean roosters, including one EVIL BCM rooster in the past. The one I have now is the nicest male you could ask for. Individuals of a breed vary, but aggressiveness will typically start showing up when they start maturing (crowing/breeding). I've read ways to help with that, but my current method is to get rid of them at the first sign of aggressiveness.

Finally, the rooster will begin mating the pullets as they approach maturity. It's always a sure sign to me that they'll be laying soon when I see them mating. He will most definitely chase your females around, but the "drama" of the whole thing settles down as the rooster gets older.

I hope this helps!