- Mar 12, 2017
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I posted about a month ago: I have a Cochin and a Hamburg cockerel. They are about 5 1/2 months old, and they're in a flock with 20 hens. All were raised from birth together. They have plenty of space in their coop/run, and they free range for a few hours a day. Both boys are human-friendly, and I'd like to keep both if I can.
About a month ago, the Hamburg started attacking the Cochin to the point that the Cochin would hide from him all the time and he stopped crowing or socializing or coming over anytime I gave them treats, so I took the Hamburg out of the flock for a couple of days and put him back. (They were never any major injuries - just scratched combs and ruffled feathers.)
They've been okay ever since. The Cochin stopped being so scared, they both crow, they share food, and they hang out together, free-range together, etc. I've even seen them snuggled up sleeping together.
But there are about 2-3 hens in the flock that they've started kind of clashing over. They can mate with other ones, and it's fine, but if one of them goes for one of these specific girls, the other goes nuts. They don't fight like they were doing in the beginning, but they'll go knock the other off and chase each other. And they only seem to do it when they're free-ranging, not when they're in their coop/run. To make it worse, some of my girls aren't quite ready for mating, so the advances are stressing them out a bit.
I've never had boys in a flock, so I'm just wondering if this is normal, and if they'll ever knock it off?
About a month ago, the Hamburg started attacking the Cochin to the point that the Cochin would hide from him all the time and he stopped crowing or socializing or coming over anytime I gave them treats, so I took the Hamburg out of the flock for a couple of days and put him back. (They were never any major injuries - just scratched combs and ruffled feathers.)
They've been okay ever since. The Cochin stopped being so scared, they both crow, they share food, and they hang out together, free-range together, etc. I've even seen them snuggled up sleeping together.
But there are about 2-3 hens in the flock that they've started kind of clashing over. They can mate with other ones, and it's fine, but if one of them goes for one of these specific girls, the other goes nuts. They don't fight like they were doing in the beginning, but they'll go knock the other off and chase each other. And they only seem to do it when they're free-ranging, not when they're in their coop/run. To make it worse, some of my girls aren't quite ready for mating, so the advances are stressing them out a bit.
I've never had boys in a flock, so I'm just wondering if this is normal, and if they'll ever knock it off?
