Will a newbie cockerel toughen up?

[Studio2770]

We have 2 8 week cochins, and a 7 week old EE. One of the cochins is looking rooish. OlivER does exert dominance over the other 2. We have 5 18-19 week old white leghorn pullets, 3 are laying. We had the older ones and the young ones out together and the youngest leghorn picked on Olive and "she" got down in a fighting position, flaring out neck feathers, and so was Sophie, the leghorn. Olive ended up running away.

But this said "roo" for me. Will a young cockerel protect his little flock against the older flock?

Here's Olive btw

 

[donrae]

Well that comb says roo to me, no matter what the behavior!

He's just a baby, he can't be expected to hold his own against an older female at this age. Cochins are also slower to mature, so he may not hold his own until more like 8 months.

 

[mandelyn]

Cochins are also a generally super sweet breed, so some of those boys never do toughen up. At least the Bantam version is, I haven't had the LF version yet. I've had full grown bantam Cochin roos get their butts handed to them by much younger females. They seem to be more of a "go with the flow" sort of bird.

 

[Studio2770]

Interesting, he does act dominate toward the other two.

 

[Studio2770]

"Cochins are also a generally super sweet breed, so some of those boys never do toughen up. At least the Bantam version is, I haven't had the LF version yet. I've had full grown bantam Cochin roos get their butts handed to them by much younger females. They seem to be more of a "go with the flow" sort of bird." I have read they are mellow. How often do they crow?

 

[donrae]

My bantam cochin roo crowed as much as my big boys. Just higher pitched & kind of squeaky.