Thoughts on cockerel management?

[Ridgerunner]

I mostly agree with Perris, I usually do.

I personally do not believe that any ratio of girls to boys or minimum or maximum numbers are "best" for every flock on the planet. My suggestion is to first determine your goals with the boys. Why do you want a rooster? Then keep the minimum number that will allow you to meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed to have problems if you keep more but that the more you keep the more likely you are to have problems. I don't know your goals. I don't know if the best number of boys for you is 0, 1, or more.

If you read enough posts and threads on here you will find that some people that cuddle their cockerels have great roosters. You'll find that some that cuddle have horrible roosters. You'll find that some that keep a hands-off approach have great roosters, some have horrible ones. You are dealing with living animals. You do not get guarantees of behaviors no matter what you do. Each has its own personality and will react differently. You've probably noticed that training dogs. Some are a lot easier than others.

Personally I do not cuddle or hand-feed my cockerels or pullets. If I need to handle them, I handle them. When I can, that is off of the roost at night. If I need to handle them during the day I lock them all in the coop if I can. The first one I do is the rooster, then toss him outside so he is not around when I'm handling his girls. That way he avoids the temptation to protect his girls if they protest me handling them. I've had a human aggressive rooster but very few. A lot of people cuddle their chickens (boys and girls) and make it work, I'm not trying to say mine is the only approach. It's what suits my goals and what mostly works for me.

About the poor girls being stressed by those mean old boys. Most of the time the pullets are force mated by the cockerels. That's the boys establishing dominance, has nothing to do with fertilizing eggs. The pullets are not laying yet. Sometimes that gets pretty rough, sometimes it isn't bad at all. Occasionally the girls will hide in the coop to avoid the boys, I've seen that once every 6 or 7 years but I have a lot of room outside. There have been a few times I've separated some boys because it was getting rough but most of the time I let it go as long as no one is being physically injured. To me that is mostly chickens being chickens as they go through puberty. Once they get through puberty it usually calms down tremendously, but getting through puberty can be rough to watch. Occasionally some never grow up.

For what it is worth my flock consists of one rooster and 6 to 8 mature hens but during breeding season I hatch enough that the total numbers reach in the 50's. By winter I've butchered enough that I'm back to my main flock so a lot of cockerels and pullets have gone through puberty.

My suggestion is to determine your goals and then start eliminating any you know you do not want to keep. After that go by what you see, not what some stranger like me tells you over the internet. Make your own decisions based on what you see. Solve for peace in your flock and for your peace of mind. This is supposed to be enjoyable for you, not stressful. You may need to make some hard decisions getting there. Good luck!

 

[febane]

I have fifteen large teen chickens, five cockerels and ten pullets.
Out of these cocks, I know I must be rid of four. Two of them I know I don't want to keep- and the reason is my fault. I petted and held them and now that hormones are raging, they think they can bite onto my hand like they do to the backs of the pullets. The other three guys are still hand-wary because they were perhaps held less as chicks- they were less cute and friendly.
Before I only noticed pecking only when I put my hand out to them (like an idiot) but tonight I was feeding them and the two marauders in question both tried to bite my hand one after the other. I snaked it down under their chins and caught them gently by the necks. (In my defense this is a reflex from bitey puppy training...) It startled them in the moment, but will likely have no disciplinary effect.

I know many people are saying that cockerels can't understand touch to be purely affectionate like a mammal would, and thus it causes problems. That would appear to be the case for me, but I have heard before that one can pet cocks without issue as long as you address the issues right after Buy Sophia Bandfall online. I am hoping that those who believe this will please help me to address my problem chickens!
I know standing up tall, hands on hips and a displeased voice may be effective to a degree, but what else can I do?
One of them I know I will sell, but before then I do want to see if I can reduce the effects of my errors.
The other one I don't want to keep, but I used to really love him (he was vivacious) and I did say I would keep him then. I want to abide by my word, but when push comes to shove... Well, he's a big boy and might be tasty or downright mean.

My second issue is the pullets. I have two that are older, but not quite at point of lay yet. Any time now. But what should I do to make sure the girls won't be stressed out or harmed by the cocks? The older two are taking it okayish, but the younger ones are pretty freaked out. Reducing the number of boys is solution number one, but I want to hear any advice there is on that.

We have a very happy cockerel leading a flock of 22 hens. He is about 3 or 4 years old now (neighbour abandoned him). Last year we had a pretty awful Light Sussex hatch (1 egg hatched and it was a cock) so we have a cockerel with his hatch mum (unrelated female who was broody). The plan was to put him in the pot but he is a good sized cock and has a very good personality so we were thinking of keeping him on. I had read that a cockerel can managed about 10 hens so our existing boy is a bit oversubscribed at the moment. My question is how do I introduce him. They have met (through the walls of the polytunnel guessing by the rips we've discovered. With new hens I just pop them in the house after dark and make sure I am up when the pop hole opens in the morning (automatic) to make sure there's no bloodshed. Then hens range over about 2 acres during the day. Would this work with cockerels? I am a little bit terrified of them fighting and killing each other. The newcomer is about 6 months old now. Any advice is very welcome. The main flock is currently in a 8x6 shed with 2 8ft perches.