Young Beta rooster is now alpha, what's your experience?

[rotagen]

Hey all, I just wanted to run this by you guys, I've hatched some eggs in hopes of adding a Roo to my Hen flock of mostly Faverolles (pure friendly sweeties, and timid) and a couple Reds (anti-social and quite dangerous to the young ones).

First off what's my goal ? Doing some breeding, enjoying the process and having a roo watchdog, etc.

Well the Isbar eggs hatched pretty well, but I ended up with 3 roos, the top-dog was pretty, and grew faster, but he showed warning signs of being a real jerk even when young, and at 8 wks really started harassing his mates to the point they would cower away from him and run into the fence injuring themselves. They've been in a seperate adjacent coop to the older hens. He was even attacking his little hen mate so I threw him in with the Old hens while watching with hopes "big Red" would kick his arse, but he attacked a sweety faverolle grabbing her neck and not letting go while she flapped like crazy...5 min later He was freezer meat...It wasn't a mating thing, he was standing on the ground and she just walked by.

Anyways, beta roo has always been friendly and smarter than alpha (grabs treats while alpha stood around crowing constantly), but I have read the new alpha can also turn into a D-head. ? With his new status. What's your experience?

I have high hopes because a faverolle hen got in there with beta and his friends and they ate together peacefully for a minute.

The little Roos are 9 weeks old.

Bottom line is vicious attacks on my bearded Frenchy hens and you're gone. I understand normal pecking order stuff...no big deal.

Thanks!

 

[sourland]

It's really something that can not be predicted as behavior of all sorts varies from breed to breed and from bird to bird within breeds. Just observe and take whatever actions you feel are necessary. Hope that he is one of the good ones.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Well hello and good morning! Welcome to BYC!

It's really something that can not be predicted as behavior of all sorts varies from breed to breed and from bird to bird within breeds. Just observe and take whatever actions you feel are necessary. Hope that he is one of the good ones.

X2

We've had a few rude rosters and they don't last long here either. Recently my 2 bantam Silkie cockerels tried climbing ranks. They've been on the bottom most of their life, but around 8 months old started getting strangely dominant. The rooster of that flock is a 2 year old Serama named General (cause that's how he runs his flock). I eventually had to move them to the large fowl flock which did calm them down.

One tip I would give, if you've never owned a cockerel/rooster is to research rooster husbandry. There is a fine line between aggression and assertion, and how you keep them could lead to then acting one way or another. Sometimes though, you just get a rude rooster and there is nothing you can do about it. Good news is the more rude they are, the better they taste.

 

[Nor-Cal Chickens]

Good thing you have two roosters left! Seems like they're of good temperament and should remain that way. My current flock of "teens" appears to possibly have 5 or 6 roosters out of a flock of 10! They all seem to get along well with 1 particular rooster appearing to be the Alpha but with great temperament so far.

 

[Nor-Cal Chickens]

Good thing you have two roosters left! Seems like they're of good temperament and should remain that way. My current flock of "teens" appears to possibly have 5 or 6 roosters out of a flock of 10! They all seem to get along well with 1 particular rooster appearing to be the Alpha but with great temperament so far.

 

[Ridgerunner]

At 9 weeks you don't have roosters, you have cockerels, very immature cockerels. My experience is that each cockerel matures at his own pace, that rate can vary by months. Each has his own personality, some are more jerks than others. Some will be meek and mild, others can be quite assertive. A dominant cockerel can suppress the behaviors of a less-dominant one.

Even when very young many cockerels have a more assertive behavior than pullets, but not all do. Some can be pure wimps. When the hormones hit their assertive behavior intensifies for many of them, but some seem to not have the hormones hit hard or until they are quite old. It's hard to say how different each individual can be. We want to paint them all with the same brush but you can't do that. I typically raise about 20 cockerels each year to butcher age, 5 to 6 months, and there is a great difference in when the hormones hit and how it affects them.

Still, there is a general pattern you can expect. When the hormones hit they want to dominate the flock. They are likely to fight other males that have reached a certain level of maturity. These fights look serious but they usually don't last that long before one decides it's best to run away instead of keep fighting. As others mature you can get more fights. They need enough room to get away if they want to run. If you have them shoehorned into a small space where they can't run away these fights can be a lot more serious.

The cockerels try to dominate the pullets by mating them. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At that age it is typically by force which can be hard to watch. The pullets have not yet reached a level of maturity to do their part and the cockerels have not developed the self-confidence and majesty to suitably impress the girls. Their only resort to dominance is by force. When the cockerels and pullets reach maturity peace typically reigns in the flock but watching them get there can be very difficult to watch. Again, the more room you have the better, but even with a lot of room it can still get pretty wild.

When you add mature hens the dynamics change. How they change will depend a lot on the individual personality of the hens and the cockerels. Some cockerels keep their attention on the pullets only for a while. But typically at some point they notice the hens and try to mate them. Some hens may let them without a fuss, but most of the time the cockerel has not matured enough to satisfy the adult hens that he is ready, so they resist. Sometimes they just run away and he chases and may force them, sometimes they beat the snot out of him. The dominant hen especially can be a big challenge for him. Eventually he should mature enough that he dominates the flock and it gets pretty peaceful. I've had cockerels that could do this at 5 months, though that is really rare. I had one that took until 11 months to win over the dominant hen and that took some serious fighting between them. Many cockerels can handle that at seven months but that can vary. The attitude of the dominant hen is especially important.

I've seen a lot of variations on any of these. Sometime the process of the cockerel becoming a dominant rooster is pretty peaceful, unbelievably so. Sometimes it gets so violent that I separate several cockerels from the rest of the flock until they reach butcher age. I've also eaten a few hens because of their behavior. I've also seen some really young chicks that are pure brutes, a two-week-old killed a sibling and started on another.

I suggest you make your decisions on what you see, not what we tell you that you will see. If you want a rooster that badly you might want to house him separately from the girls for a few months until he matures enough to just take over instead of immediately off with his head if his and their behaviors upset you that much. That does not come with a guarantee but if you really want an adult rooster with your hens off with his head is not a good way to get there if you raise them yourself. Another option is to bring in a fully mature rooster and try it that way. That often works, but a male will mate with a female. That's the way it works with chickens.

 

[rotagen]

Thanks guys, good info. I don't consider my "off with your head" response irrational in the least. You kinda had to be there. And I'm working with Favorelle hens at 8 mos. old, real sweeties, so there's no chance I'm gonna have a violent rooster in there with them... I've seen normal mating/pecking order behavior and this was way b eyond, Every bird that got too close to this guy was his enemy and was immediately attacked.

"He's in the freezer (jailhouse) now..." Jimmie Rodgers.

There was peace in the air 20 minutes later, the favorelles stopped squabbling each other and the Big Red Meany hen stopped pacing along the fence seperating the little guys....INTERESTING !

Yesterday big red even got inside their pen by accident and simply ate with them,

They have been in the adjacent pen for "look don't touch" for 1 month now, I figure another few weeks and they can go with big girls.

But I may want to wait until they are 4 mos old and bigger? thanks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

But I may want to wait until they are 4 mos old and bigger? thanks.

I'd try it now when you can observe. In my experience size means very little. It's not unusual for a bantam to dominate a full-sized fowl chicken. There can be differences in how cockerels and pullets behave, even with allowances for different personalities, but I've never seen a 4 month old pullet stand up to a mature hen regardless of size. Most cockerels won't either but those hormones can do weird things to them. When the pullet matures enough she'll stand up to a hen if that is in her personality. That's not likely to happen at 4 months.

Will it work? I don't know, you'll have to observe. My brooder is in the coop. My brooder-raised and broody-raised chicks are often on their own with the flock by 5 weeks of age. But they grow up with the flock, I don't think yours did from hatch. And you have a different flock make-up and different amounts of room. Different conditions can give different results.

My 9 week olds might mingle with the adults without it being a big deal, but most of the time they avoid them. It's peaceful. I hate to speak in generalities because each year I have different chickens in the flock so flock dynamics are different. Most years the process of newly hatched chicks growing with the flock to become adult members of the flock is pretty peaceful. There will be a little drama but not much. But every three or four years it gets wild by my standards. But I start very young. If you add adult chickens to a flock it is more likely to be violent. Instead of growing into the pecking order they settle it right now. They normally sort it out in a very few days but the violence tends to be more intense. Both ways can work, there are risks both ways.

With 9 week old cockerels it is highly unlikely hormones have hit. They could in a few more weeks, it may be a few months. When they do hit things are likely to get pretty exciting down there. That may be a decision time for you.