Separate Cockerel?

[MKetter]

I have 17 week old birds here, one cockerel and six pullets. The cockerel is apparently ready to do what comes naturally. He (a Wyandotte) tried mounting one of the Ideal 236s today. She was not interested, squawking and trying to get away, but he was hanging on with his beak. Since I happened to be there outside, I shooed him off. This is my first time having chickens. Does he need to be separated? Do I let the pullets fend for themselves? Do I let the cockerel do as he wants?

 

[DobieLover]

I would separate him until the girls are ready. They are ready when they squat for him or start laying. Pen him up within their pen so they can still be near him. Letting him go after them when they are not ready for his attention is going to stress them.

 

[Pigeony]

I also suggest separating. If you had older hens or a rooster, they would intervene to teach him manners and respect. But since you only have same-age pullets, he's just terrorizing them and they are too timid to fight back. If you want to keep him, separating him would let the pullets not only mature to the point in chicken adulthood where his advances are more appealing to them, but also hopefully mature into more confident birds. Without older hens or a rooster though, he may just remain a problem bird, but that's depending on his adult personality- which can be quite different from his teenage version. It's easier to introduce a younger cockerel when you already have adult hens.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

My cockerel is the same age. I have two older hens that he hangs out with because they let him do his thing but the pullets his same age are very annoyed with him so spend the day elsewhere. My hens are separating him for me so I agree with the above posts that separation is a good idea.

 

[MKetter]

Thank you. I have him separated. Today’s day two. He didn’t like it. At first he would pace up and down the fence line that separates them. Day two, he seems to be settling into the idea that he’s going to be separated. The pullets at first would look through the fence at him. Maybe they wondered what was going on. But they are more relaxed now. I haven’t heard any squawking.

 

[Happy Chick Home]

Thank you all for posting about cockerels. I need help with some cockerels as well.

I started with a small flock of ten 1-3 year old laying hens, most of whom are molting. I purchased 14 sexed pullets in the spring. Now, 4 1/2 months later I have 11 pullets and 3 cockerels. #1 is Reggie, a GIANT, gangly, dumb teenaged boy. (Golden Laced Wyandotte and much bigger than his sisters.) That said, he is not aggressive and will submit to me.

#2 is Oz, an all around lovely Orpington.

#3 is a bantam Cochin, purchased as a buff Orpington. (Hmm, feathers on the feet?) Very cute but kind of useless around my place.

The giant klutz, Reggie, displays all dumb behavior and was about to "leave". Then I saw he would take direction from ME, he will back off the hens and will settle down if I am there to tell him. On those occasions I stay and talk to him until he is better settled. I don't handle him.

He is not generous at all with the hens and will chase hens and pullets away from the feed. Some of the hens put him in his place and some run away a lot. Some get caught. As I have guided him he has improved a little. There is not much I can explain to a chicken. So now I need to know what to do.

My priory is that I do NOT want him harassing any of the other chickens. My molting hens are taking a long time to regrow feathers. I think it's from stress. They refuse the food I give them and are regularly found eating the chick starter. I let them for a while but they need their feathers. Also, they have Reggie harassing them.

I am thinking of housing him with the old ladies to teach him to behave. Otherwise, he has to be held in solitary. Everyone free ranges all day and he would be confined and frustrated worse than just hen-rejection. I don't have facilities for separate free range areas.

I would like to see Oz, the Orpington as dominant boy, but he hasn't a chance against the goofy GIANT. And the goofy giant could turn into the best mature roo. I sure don't know.

I will appreciate any thoughts and advice this group will provide.

Thank you.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Thank you all for posting about cockerels. I need help with some cockerels as well.

I started with a small flock of ten 1-3 year old laying hens, most of whom are molting. I purchased 14 sexed pullets in the spring. Now, 4 1/2 months later I have 11 pullets and 3 cockerels. #1 is Reggie, a GIANT, gangly, dumb teenaged boy. (Golden Laced Wyandotte and much bigger than his sisters.) That said, he is not aggressive and will submit to me.

#2 is Oz, an all around lovely Orpington.

#3 is a bantam Cochin, purchased as a buff Orpington. (Hmm, feathers on the feet?) Very cute but kind of useless around my place.

The giant klutz, Reggie, displays all dumb behavior and was about to "leave". Then I saw he would take direction from ME, he will back off the hens and will settle down if I am there to tell him. On those occasions I stay and talk to him until he is better settled. I don't handle him.

He is not generous at all with the hens and will chase hens and pullets away from the feed. Some of the hens put him in his place and some run away a lot. Some get caught. As I have guided him he has improved a little. There is not much I can explain to a chicken. So now I need to know what to do.

My priory is that I do NOT want him harassing any of the other chickens. My molting hens are taking a long time to regrow feathers. I think it's from stress. They refuse the food I give them and are regularly found eating the chick starter. I let them for a while but they need their feathers. Also, they have Reggie harassing them.

I am thinking of housing him with the old ladies to teach him to behave. Otherwise, he has to be held in solitary. Everyone free ranges all day and he would be confined and frustrated worse than just hen-rejection. I don't have facilities for separate free range areas.

I would like to see Oz, the Orpington as dominant boy, but he hasn't a chance against the goofy GIANT. And the goofy giant could turn into the best mature roo. I sure don't know.

I will appreciate any thoughts and advice this group will provide.

Thank you.

When you say that he's not doing well with the hens, do you mean all the 1-3 year olds, or just some? Asking because you mention housing him with the old ladies to learn some manners. If the "old ladies" are done with their molt, and just the younger hens are molting, that sounds like a great choice. (I assume your pullets are separate from this discussion.)

If all the females are off-limits now due to molting or age (too young), do you have a separate area where you can house him on his own for the time being?

You might see Oz's behavior change once Reggie is housed separately. that this would mean become more confident, not taking over the role of jerk!

I'm confused about what is happening with the chick starter. What's the protein content? Is it higher than their regular (layer?) feed? If so, that's probably why they're interested. No harm - in fact, it's great - for layers to eat chick feed or all-flock feed, as long as you offer plenty of oyster shells (plus egg shells, although egg shells alone aren't quite enough.)

 

[Happy Chick Home]

Thank you for your reply Mother of Chaos.

Most of the 1-3 year olds have lost a few feathers, some have bald spots and three are half naked. They all seem stuck in their molts. The four strongest “old ladies” have not lost many feathers but also seem stuck, not growing new replacements for the few they have lost. But they have only recently been losing feathers. The submissive hens have had bald areas for a long time.
The Big Four “Aunties” are not phased by much and handle Reggie very well. Reggie has some minor pecked spots on his comb and the back of his neck is nearly bald because the feathers are broken off. I did not see that happen and have no idea how, when or who did it. Reggie leaves the Big Four alone mostly. I saw him go after one, she turned and did a chest bump and a great squawk to which he responded in kind but that was it. He leaves her alone.

He favors a hen in the middle of the pecking order. I think she was the first one he caught. He is not enthralled with the more submissive hens. The more submissive the hen the more feathers have been lost (the more naked they are.) It is currently easy to tell who is who in the pecking order.

Reggie doesn’t seem to be doing any physical damage. The previous rooster was very rough and there are lots of broken feathers on the most submissive hens. The more dominant hens (who retained most of their feathers) are available to Reggie as far as I am concerned but they are less agreeable at this point. There may be three submissives that he needs to leave alone and he seems to not be harming them. Perhaps I am overly generous and he should leave them all alone until they are finished growing all new feathers. I don’t know.

I have a 4x6’ pen I can keep him in since I assume he is too heavy to fly. There is shade and rain cover but no roof. The hens, including the pullets can all fly. That is, all but the most naked hens. If I keep him completely separate no one can teach him to behave. I like the idea of Aunties. They have made a big difference in his behaviour in a very few days.

Feed: These hens want what they don’t have. I put them in the pullet house before the pullets arrived and they wanted nothing to do with it. So I put the pullets there. The hens then want to chase the pullets out. I feed the pullets chick starter, the hens won’t eat anything but chick starter and preferably in the pullet pen.

I was trying to feed Nutrena’s Feather Fixer (20% protein) and / or All Flock (20%) with some Meatbird supplementing to entice them, plus free choice oyster shell and any shells from eggs I used. They didn’t want it. They spent all their time foraging. It was rainy here in the desert and maybe they had enough to eat. I don’t know.

When the pullets got Chick Starter (Purina 18% protein) well, the hens just had to have it. I finally gave up and fed them all exclusively Starter. The hens lost interest in the Starter after maybe a week or two of getting all they wanted. A number of days ago I gave them canned fish (rinsed as much of the salt out as I could). Animal protein. Feather Fixer is way too much soy. The last couple of days I started making mash with the Feather Fixer. They thought that was Special Mash – better than anything! It is just wet feed! So now they’re eating what they should, at least for two days, as it is so novel. It is still too hot to ferment the feed. I’ll start that in another month. In a few days I will start adding herbs and spices to the mash. Maybe they will stay interested.

It doesn't seem to be a protein thing unless the soy protein is inadequate. These hens won’t eat layer feed. They will forage solely. I don’t typically have meat scraps but friends often give me vegetables for them and I have a reasonable amount of fruit that they never lose interest in.

Back to Reggie. I like that he keeps the big hens occupied and not chasing the pullets away from whatever they are doing now. I am leaning strongly in the direction of finding a way for him to sleep with, or better, near the big hens.

Oz: I think Oz will be a very good roo given an opportunity. He is slower to develop than Reggie. Oz is more Orpington sized and a little bigger than his sisters. I did see one of these two boys break up a fight between pullets and now can’t remember which cockerel it was. If I can manage to have two good sleeping areas I think the ladies will choose their guy. That will be great for me.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Thank you for your reply Mother of Chaos.

Most of the 1-3 year olds have lost a few feathers, some have bald spots and three are half naked. They all seem stuck in their molts. The four strongest “old ladies” have not lost many feathers but also seem stuck, not growing new replacements for the few they have lost. But they have only recently been losing feathers. The submissive hens have had bald areas for a long time.
The Big Four “Aunties” are not phased by much and handle Reggie very well. Reggie has some minor pecked spots on his comb and the back of his neck is nearly bald because the feathers are broken off. I did not see that happen and have no idea how, when or who did it. Reggie leaves the Big Four alone mostly. I saw him go after one, she turned and did a chest bump and a great squawk to which he responded in kind but that was it. He leaves her alone.

He favors a hen in the middle of the pecking order. I think she was the first one he caught. He is not enthralled with the more submissive hens. The more submissive the hen the more feathers have been lost (the more naked they are.) It is currently easy to tell who is who in the pecking order.

Reggie doesn’t seem to be doing any physical damage. The previous rooster was very rough and there are lots of broken feathers on the most submissive hens. The more dominant hens (who retained most of their feathers) are available to Reggie as far as I am concerned but they are less agreeable at this point. There may be three submissives that he needs to leave alone and he seems to not be harming them. Perhaps I am overly generous and he should leave them all alone until they are finished growing all new feathers. I don’t know.

I have a 4x6’ pen I can keep him in since I assume he is too heavy to fly. There is shade and rain cover but no roof. The hens, including the pullets can all fly. That is, all but the most naked hens. If I keep him completely separate no one can teach him to behave. I like the idea of Aunties. They have made a big difference in his behaviour in a very few days.

Feed: These hens want what they don’t have. I put them in the pullet house before the pullets arrived and they wanted nothing to do with it. So I put the pullets there. The hens then want to chase the pullets out. I feed the pullets chick starter, the hens won’t eat anything but chick starter and preferably in the pullet pen.

I was trying to feed Nutrena’s Feather Fixer (20% protein) and / or All Flock (20%) with some Meatbird supplementing to entice them, plus free choice oyster shell and any shells from eggs I used. They didn’t want it. They spent all their time foraging. It was rainy here in the desert and maybe they had enough to eat. I don’t know.

When the pullets got Chick Starter (Purina 18% protein) well, the hens just had to have it. I finally gave up and fed them all exclusively Starter. The hens lost interest in the Starter after maybe a week or two of getting all they wanted. A number of days ago I gave them canned fish (rinsed as much of the salt out as I could). Animal protein. Feather Fixer is way too much soy. The last couple of days I started making mash with the Feather Fixer. They thought that was Special Mash – better than anything! It is just wet feed! So now they’re eating what they should, at least for two days, as it is so novel. It is still too hot to ferment the feed. I’ll start that in another month. In a few days I will start adding herbs and spices to the mash. Maybe they will stay interested.

It doesn't seem to be a protein thing unless the soy protein is inadequate. These hens won’t eat layer feed. They will forage solely. I don’t typically have meat scraps but friends often give me vegetables for them and I have a reasonable amount of fruit that they never lose interest in.

Back to Reggie. I like that he keeps the big hens occupied and not chasing the pullets away from whatever they are doing now. I am leaning strongly in the direction of finding a way for him to sleep with, or better, near the big hens.

Oz: I think Oz will be a very good roo given an opportunity. He is slower to develop than Reggie. Oz is more Orpington sized and a little bigger than his sisters. I did see one of these two boys break up a fight between pullets and now can’t remember which cockerel it was. If I can manage to have two good sleeping areas I think the ladies will choose their guy. That will be great for me.

Whew! You have a lot going on!

It sounds like Reggie would definitely benefit from some time with the Four Aunties! It sounds like they won't take any nonsense off of him, and he might pick up some tips on how to charm the girls instead of dominating them.

No clue about your feed! Certainly the 18% Purina Chick Starter would be perfectly fine, but then they noped out after a few weeks. My girls never got quite that bad, but they definitely tried the picky-eater thing. I wound up giving them 1/2 Kalmbach Chickhouse Reserve (18% protein, no additional calcium) and 1/2 Kalmback Flock Feeder pellets (20% protein, no additional calcium), with flaked oyster shell and egg shells on the side. The older girls, who had never had pellets before, went all Drama Queen about them, but I combined the all-flock and chick feed in Mason jars with water to make a mash, and somehow, they decided that they could eat it and live.

They still recoiled in horror when they saw it dry and tossed on the ground, but today, I caught them eating it. Mmm-bwah-hah-hah.

Chickens can be incredibly persnickety about any change in feed, but I've yet to see a report about one who starved herself to death in protest over an unfamiliar feed.