Young cockerel and pullets

[Bcolpetzer]

I have 1 Australorp cockerel and 17 pullets assorted. All of them the same age 13 weeks . My cockerel has developed faster than the pullets and up until this past week has been a real sweetheart with the girls, but now he is becoming more aggressive and territorial, and aggressively tried to take hold of them and mount. Which they are not ready and want no part of it. Today I noticed the girls are doing everything they can to avoid him and tonight had one RIR that absolutely wouldn’t go in coop. I finally got her in but she is hiding at a different part away from him with about 6 others. We have way to many predators for her to stay out.

I’m wondering if I need to separate him for a while. Or would I be better off removing him permanently. I only have him because one of my chicks from the pullet bin turned out to be a boy. He has up until now been great he was even developing a protectiveness towards the flock. Even running out and putting himself between the girls and what he thought would be a threat. I even noticed this weekend he was even putting himself between me and the flock when I went into the coop or run to change the water or scrape down the poop trays and roosts. I thought he was wanting my attention so I reached down and petted him. Which he was ok with for now any ways.

And if I separate does it need to be a total different building or would fencing off a section in coop and run work or would that make matters worse.

 

[Folly's place]

This is all normal, and he's just being an adolescent, with few social skills. If nobody's being injured, and there's plenty of room, extra feeders and waterers, and places for birds to be out of sight, I think it's okay to watch and wait.
Cockerels are easier to raise in a flock having at least one mature rooster and some mature hens, who won't put up with juvenile nonsense.
It's all entertaining to watch, and definitely awkward at times!
If he begins to think bad thoughts at you, that's different. This is your first cockerel? It takes some experience to recognize early signs of human aggressive behaviors, and that can be a real problem. So many people don't realize that they have a jerk until someone's injured!
Nice roosters are great to have, and maybe this will be one of them. Too soon to know though.
Mary

 

[chrissynemetz]

I agree with @Folly's place
If you decide to keep him, there are lots of good articles and threads on raising roosters here on this site that should help. Also if you decide to separate him, fencing off part of the coop and run would be fine.

 

[Bcolpetzer]

This is all normal, and he's just being an adolescent, with few social skills. If nobody's being injured, and there's plenty of room, extra feeders and waterers, and places for birds to be out of sight, I think it's okay to watch and wait.
Cockerels are easier to raise in a flock having at least one mature rooster and some mature hens, who won't put up with juvenile nonsense.
It's all entertaining to watch, and definitely awkward at times!
If he begins to think bad thoughts at you, that's different. This is your first cockerel? It takes some experience to recognize early signs of human aggressive behaviors, and that can be a real problem. So many people don't realize that they have a jerk until someone's injured!
Nice roosters are great to have, and maybe this will be one of them. Too soon to know though.
Mary

Thank You Mary. Even though I didn’t start out wanting a rooster he has grown on me. I see so many other traits in him I do want just not this. And don’t want an6 of the pullets getting hurt. He had a mouth full of feathers from the one today. Maybe he needs a time out or a shock collar lol

 

[aart]

I’m wondering if I need to separate him for a while. Or would I be better off removing him permanently.

Either would work.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m wondering if I need to separate him for a while. Or would I be better off removing him permanently.

Why do you want a male? What are your goals with him? The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preference, that can be a strong motivator. Cockerels often grow on you because they usually have more personality than pullets. I generally suggest you keep as few males as you can and still meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed problems but the more males you have the more likely problems are. I don't know if your correct number is one or zero.

A flock that has pullets and cockerels going through puberty can get really wild. Cockerels typically start to mature before pullets so the pullets don't know what is going on. The cockerel's hormones run wild, telling him to dominate the flock. You only have one so you will miss out on two or more competing. That helps. Still, the hormones are telling him to dominate the pullets.

At that age the mating act is not really about sex, it's about dominance. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At 13 weeks your pullets are unlikely to be willing so it is usually by force. There are exceptions to everything to do with chickens and behaviors. I once saw a 13 week old pullet willingly squat for a 13 week old cockerel, but that is really an exception. When pullets and cockerels are going through puberty it can get really wild down there. As one person on here said, watching that is not for the faint of heart. There are experienced chicken keepers on here that have a lot of trouble watching that, let alone someone new to chickens.

Eventually they should mature out of this phase. With pullets that's usually about the time they start to lay. I guess the hormones associated with laying tends to mature their personalities so they start acting more like adults. With cockerels though, who knows? I've had a 5 month old cockerel act pretty mature. I've had a cockerel not hit that phase until he was almost a year old. With most it is around 7 months, but you sure don't get guarantees with living animals and behaviors.

When they all mature, pullets and cockerels, things usually get peaceful. Most pullets squat for him when he dances. He usually has improved his technique. If a pullet runs from him, he might let her go or he might chase her down. If he catches her she generally squats with very little urging. It's often as if she were teasing him, was he really serious about wanting little old her.

But they are living animals. Sometimes a pullet never accepts a male's dominance. Some cockerels never mature into adults just like I've seen 50 year old men that never outgrew puberty. Typically a flock becomes very peaceful when they become hens and roosters, but there can be exceptions.

If you decide to keep him, you can try leaving him with the pullets. That's what I do, but I generally have a mature rooster and mature hens in the flock too. That, plus a lot of room, makes a difference. But have a Plan B ready in case it gets hard for you to watch or if pullets get hurt. Plan B should be a separate place you can put him to separate him from the flock. Get it ready now, things can happen quickly. A place like that can come in handy for other reasons too. Mine is right next to the main run where they can all see each other. If you do isolate him, I'd wait until a half dozen or more of the pullets are laying, then see what happens. He may be ready, he may need to wait a bit longer.

Good luck!