LOL I like seeing messy coops, it makes me feel better about mine! I'm going to go w/ male, though I'm not an expert, I'm just repeating what I was told. What I was told is that on the cockerel the saddle feathers kind of go to a point, where as on a female they are rounded. In your top picture it appears that his feathers are more pointy than round. If you look at my bottom picture of my roo you can see the pointy feathers on his back side. Yours is a few weeks younger, but it looks similar (IMO), but others will be able to give you a more expert opinion. Also, I LOVE your egger! So beautiful!
What should I do? Sweet buff Orpington cockerel turns mean.
- Thread starter sahensle
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #32
Thank you I love her too. Very different. Poor thing keeps getting picked on! My buff is her bff. That's way I can't get rid of him just yet. I need her to have a flock for now. Thank you for your help. This has been a little stressful and confusing lol
FWIW, I didn't separate my buff until he started to be a problem. I still have him (for now) in his own separate area, but he kept going after my younger girls who weren't interested in mating yet. I took him out for their safety. He's a big guy and one of my girls in particular was afraid of him. She'd come find me to save her from him. He wasn't mean or anything to her, just wanted to mate and she didn't want anything to do w/ it. My biggest concern is his size & I worry that he'd hurt one of my ladies while trying to mate.
brucifer
Songster
I've said this before: If it has tires or testicles (testes), you're going to have trouble with it.
I raise several varieties of English Orpingtons, and they're a wonderful, beautiful breed, but when cockerels of any breed start reaching sexual maturity, they indeed can become aggressive, sometimes to the point that you either need to train them, rehome them, or serve them up as chicken dinner.
A good rule of thumb is that if you have grow outs, separate the cockerels from the pullets at 12 weeks. That will help keep teenager hormones in check, and if you have a small backyard flock, keep one rooster IF ANY AT ALL. For a backyard hobbyist with less than ten birds, sometimes it's easier to just to get rid of a problem male. In many breeds, roosters are showier, so I understand the desire to have at least on pretty boy around, but you have to decide if in so doing that it's really worth it to you. Many people are content with a flock of henny pennies. Nothing wrong with that.
If you decide you're going to train a cockerel or a rooster, you need to have the goal of being top roo, and all roosters/cockerels need to respect you. When a cockerel or rooster challenges me for the first time, I have a thin (2" x 1") 6' stick that I use for training. I use the stick to separate the challenger from food and from the flock. It's more as an extension of my hand to hold the rooster back than as a striking instrument. What I do is meet the rooster's challenge; I come directly at him; and, I make sure he understands by the end of the session that (1) I'm not afraid of him, (2) I control his access to food and interaction with the rest of the flock, and (3) he must respect me as being above him in the pecking order. He needs to give me a wide birth at all times from that day forward.
Also, once a rooster or cockerel challenges me, we are no longer friends and really never will be friends from that point forward. The dynamics of our relationship has changed forever. He will now have to always respect me. Some roosters never challenge me, and we are great friends. For example, I have an alpha FBCM rooster who loves for me to pet him and hand-feed him. We're buds. The bottom line though is that training takes work, and for the backyard hobbyists, it may not be worth the effort. Even if you get an upstart cockerel to respect you, that doesn't mean that he will respect your children or visitors. They may each need to train him as well. Simply put, you're not going to get that once-upon-a-time-sweet cockerel to be loving again after he has challenged you. There are exceptions, but don't count on it.
That being said, folks who are into showing birds will not necessarily want to get rid of a show-quality rooster. (I'm not talking about 4H shows where youngsters actually are required to handle the birds.) For example, I have a friend who is a breeder of show-quality Orpingtons, and he has a huge Black Orpington rooster that is one of the meanest Orps I have ever seen, but that bird is stunningly beautiful as well. If that rooster is in his breeding pen with his hens, you're taking your personal safety into your own hands if you dare to enter. He will come at you with both spurs from the get go, and when you leave the pen, he will slam himself against the pen door as you're walking away. He is one mean dude! However, this rooster has won at many shows. He fits closely to the Orpington SOP, so my friend keeps him, but the big black mean rooster is not by any means a backyard pet.
I raise several varieties of English Orpingtons, and they're a wonderful, beautiful breed, but when cockerels of any breed start reaching sexual maturity, they indeed can become aggressive, sometimes to the point that you either need to train them, rehome them, or serve them up as chicken dinner.
A good rule of thumb is that if you have grow outs, separate the cockerels from the pullets at 12 weeks. That will help keep teenager hormones in check, and if you have a small backyard flock, keep one rooster IF ANY AT ALL. For a backyard hobbyist with less than ten birds, sometimes it's easier to just to get rid of a problem male. In many breeds, roosters are showier, so I understand the desire to have at least on pretty boy around, but you have to decide if in so doing that it's really worth it to you. Many people are content with a flock of henny pennies. Nothing wrong with that.
If you decide you're going to train a cockerel or a rooster, you need to have the goal of being top roo, and all roosters/cockerels need to respect you. When a cockerel or rooster challenges me for the first time, I have a thin (2" x 1") 6' stick that I use for training. I use the stick to separate the challenger from food and from the flock. It's more as an extension of my hand to hold the rooster back than as a striking instrument. What I do is meet the rooster's challenge; I come directly at him; and, I make sure he understands by the end of the session that (1) I'm not afraid of him, (2) I control his access to food and interaction with the rest of the flock, and (3) he must respect me as being above him in the pecking order. He needs to give me a wide birth at all times from that day forward.
Also, once a rooster or cockerel challenges me, we are no longer friends and really never will be friends from that point forward. The dynamics of our relationship has changed forever. He will now have to always respect me. Some roosters never challenge me, and we are great friends. For example, I have an alpha FBCM rooster who loves for me to pet him and hand-feed him. We're buds. The bottom line though is that training takes work, and for the backyard hobbyists, it may not be worth the effort. Even if you get an upstart cockerel to respect you, that doesn't mean that he will respect your children or visitors. They may each need to train him as well. Simply put, you're not going to get that once-upon-a-time-sweet cockerel to be loving again after he has challenged you. There are exceptions, but don't count on it.
That being said, folks who are into showing birds will not necessarily want to get rid of a show-quality rooster. (I'm not talking about 4H shows where youngsters actually are required to handle the birds.) For example, I have a friend who is a breeder of show-quality Orpingtons, and he has a huge Black Orpington rooster that is one of the meanest Orps I have ever seen, but that bird is stunningly beautiful as well. If that rooster is in his breeding pen with his hens, you're taking your personal safety into your own hands if you dare to enter. He will come at you with both spurs from the get go, and when you leave the pen, he will slam himself against the pen door as you're walking away. He is one mean dude! However, this rooster has won at many shows. He fits closely to the Orpington SOP, so my friend keeps him, but the big black mean rooster is not by any means a backyard pet.
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It's beyond me why anyone keeps and breeds a human aggressive cock bird, just because he's 'pretty'! Are his offspring nice, or is he reproducing his awful behavior? He's not the last of a rare species, or the only choice available. Sorry, just me venting; I've never been happy when purchased chicks develop issues like that, and hate to hear from new flock owners who are upset about their 'sweet' boy who turns into a beast. Mary
Chickassan
RIP 1975-2022
I'm starting to wish they made rooster pants. Ever since Hubert my head roo got hurt he's been a machine, guess he felt his mortal coil slipping away and now he's going full force. While im glad he is feeling better im sick of telling him to keep it in his pants when he has none. At least he isn't mean right? Hubby jokes im a professional "cock blocker" it's vulgar and not the least bit funny to me. I'm getting tempted to trade him for a turkey at least they have a reason to act goofy. Probably be the worst turkey ever, that's just my luck. 
A 13 week old rooster is in the midst of a harmone induced change of life. As he gets older he may or he may not reform his actions. But he belongs to you and to nobody else. If you want to keep or rear cockrels you're going to get "bit" so do what you want to do with him and don't feel guilty what ever the action you take is..
The OP said that this bad boy was 13 weeks old so I really doubt that he has produced any offsprings yet.
My daughters were shocked and appalled when Odin started mounting the girls. Then I pointed out to them that the girls weren't fighting him and some would squat down and get ready when he approached & was over quickly. After that they stopped interrupting him. Now when Steve started going after the young girls they'd cry and run away so we'd intervene w/ that. They'd yell at Steve No means No! Unfortunately he doesn't speak english. lolI'm starting to wish they made rooster pants. Ever since Hubert my head roo got hurt he's been a machine, guess he felt his mortal coil slipping away and now he's going full force. While im glad he is feeling better im sick of telling him to keep it in his pants when he has none. At least he isn't mean right? Hubby jokes im a professional "cock blocker" it's vulgar and not the least bit funny to me. I'm getting tempted to trade him for a turkey at least they have a reason to act goofy. Probably be the worst turkey ever, that's just my luck.
Chickassan
RIP 1975-2022
I'm not usually one to get in the way of romance either but he's trying to mount everybody now. The pullets are pretty close to being of age and physically large enough to be okay but he's just crazy active! He swoops around the yard like a b-52 hopped up on viagra. The cockrels are not buying what he's selling obviously and the older hens are starting to give him the stink eye too. I really like the old boy but he's got to cool off he's driving me nuts. He got hurt on his back not his head for pete's sake.
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