Sex this, please!

[Welshies]

so he's a bad egg, hu?

Yep, little bit! I never keep a rooster who isn't nice to his ladies, the chicks, and me.

 

[It takes alkines]

I would not recommend penning him with just one hen either. It would make her life a misery. I can't visualise the behaviour you describe as "bumper cars" or should I say that it does not equate to anything I have witnessed, so I would struggle to explain it. Maybe he is just testing the water to see how she reacts.

So she will be head down scratching the ground and he will run full speed up behind here and WAM! smacks into the back of her. She squawks and bounces away.

 

[It takes alkines]

Young cockerels are A-holes a lot of the time. He may mature out of it and then again he may just be a rehome project.

I am hoping. He is in his own little area for right now until I can be sure he's not going to hurt any of my ladies.

 

[8 Chicks 1967]

this boy here

is like...

with his girls.

 

[rebrascora]

@Welshies

But this is a "cockerel" ie. an immature rooster under a year old, not a rooster and there is a big difference. He is at the whim of his hormones and with no adult chickens to put him in his place and teach him some manners and generally how to behave, so to a certain extent it is not unreasonable that he is acting the way he is.
In a more normal environment, he would have a senior rooster (possibly his sire) and mature hens including his broody mother that would not allow him to run riot like this. Humans create this situation where juvenile males grow up with no "parental" guidance if you will, because they are hatched in incubators and raised in brooders with siblings but no mature birds to give them social rules. It is not really this birds fault that he is acting like this but it may be hard to rehabilitate him. He just has poor social skills and raging hormones.
Getting a flock of mature hens and putting him in with them might help him readjust his attitude or perhaps adding a mature "flock master" rooster to your existing flock, but finding a good one is not easy and then of course you still have a bad female to male ratio. Easier just to turn him into dinner.

 

[It takes alkines]

But this is a "cockerel" ie. an immature rooster under a year old. He is at the whim of his hormones and with no adult chickens to put him in his place and teach him some manners and generally how to behave, so to a certain extent it is not unreasonable that he is acting the way he is. In a more normal environment, he would have a senior rooster (possibly his sire) and mature hens that would not allow him to run riot, but humans create this situation where juvenile males grow up with no "parental" guidance if you will, because they are hatched in incubators and raised in brooders with siblings and no mature birds to give them social rules. It is not really this birds fault that he is acting like this but it may be hard to rehabilitate him. He just has poor social skills and raging hormones.

I get it is not his fault. I'm not blaming him for his behavior. I just wanted to 1) know if the behavior is normal for rooster/hen relationships because I have no clue and 2) if the rest of my flock is in danger. I can't allow a rooster to harm or kill any of my pullets, regardless of the reasons behind his behavior.
Right now he is segregated from the rest until I figure out what can be done. I'm sad to hear he may not be rehabilitated or "grow out" of this aggressive phase. I am very attached to him.

 

[It takes alkines]

this boy here View attachment 1234002 is like...

with his girls.

LOL you know when I got to the photo part of that sentence, I heard tango music in place of whatever words would go there. LOL

My guy is more like the nice-guy turned abusive ass in a Lifetime special.

 

[rebrascora]

I edited by post above to target the initial part of my reply towards Welshies, as it was his comment about

I never keep a rooster who isn't nice to his ladies, the chicks, and me.

that I was sort of replying to.

I also added a couple of possible solutions in that post for trying to rehabilitate him but neither can be guaranteed to work and come with other risks/issues..... adding adult chickens to your flock risks bringing in deadly viruses, even if they look healthy and pass quarantine and he might be too "cocky" and not accept the lessons they try to teach him anyway.
Sometimes keeping them separated until the first flush of hormones is over can help, but that could last until mid/late summer of his first year.

 

[rebrascora]

Pretty much all cockerels are nice until their hormones kick in. Most people who find out they have an accidental cockerel in their order of pullets will say that they are devastated because it is their "favourite". It is because male chicks are bolder and therefore appear more friendly to us. They pretty much all go through a horrid hormonal stage, much like human teenagers.

 

[It takes alkines]

Pretty much all cockerels are nice until their hormones kick in. Most people who find out they have an accidental cockerel in their order of pullets will say that they are devastated because it is their "favourite". It is because male chicks are bolder and therefore appear more friendly to us. They pretty much all go through a horrid hormonal stage, much like human teenagers.

To be honest, he was the least friendly of my first chickens that I brought home! Never aggressive, though, just didn't like to be approached and never took to being touched. So I kept my distance. But I loved to watch him. He would do some funny stuff. I'm pretty attached to all my birds.