Teenage rooster

Beaker99

hillbilly extraordinaire
Mar 31, 2022
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Missouri Ozarks
Chicken newbie. My flock is 14 weeks old. We still have a cockerel (currently trying to give him away).
He's crazy hormonal. Pecking and attempting to mount the others (no one laying yet). I assume this is normal.
But he also hangs out at the feeder almost constantly and chases the smaller hens away.
Normal or no? Cull?
 
Chicken newbie. My flock is 14 weeks old. We still have a cockerel (currently trying to give him away).
He's crazy hormonal. Pecking and attempting to mount the others (no one laying yet). I assume this is normal.
One hormonal cockerel in a flock of pullets his age would not be normal if he didn't try to mount them. That might be at 12 weeks, 16 weeks, or 20 weeks, depends on when he goes hormonal. If there are adults or other hormonal cockerels that could change things. Then the dominant one or ones can intimidate the weaker ones. Basically his hormones are telling him to dominate them. One way he does that is to mate them, either willingly or by force. The one on the bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At that age it is often by force. They are not even laying yet, it is not about fertilizing eggs.

But he also hangs out at the feeder almost constantly and chases the smaller hens away.
Normal or no? Cull?
A normal way for chickens to dominate other chickens is to bully them away from food and water. That's why one of our standard recommendations for integration is to have widely separated feed and water stations. It's best if you break the line-of-sight between those stations. In my opinion he is not seeing them as hens that need their eggs fertilized, he sees them as chickens that need dominating. If you have room, I suggest you set up widely separated feed and water stations so he can't bully them away from all. If you don't have room, well lack of sufficient room often makes behavioral problems worst or can create behavioral problems.

Unless you really really want a rooster, I'd agree with trying to give him away. That could solve both present and future problems. Many of us want a rooster with our flocks but an all-hen flock can be very peaceful too.
 

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