Young Rooster Question!

[prinellie]

I have a 15 week old BO rooster. My daughter gave him and a hen to me when they were 8 weeks. At the time I got the 'bigs', I had 15 'littles' (all hens) that were 4 weeks. I kept them in a pen that I divided with chicken wire. At 12 and 8 weeks (respectively), I took out the fence and let them all run together and let them outside. Both the 'bigs' were a little hard on the 'littles' for a couple days and then things settled down. However, the roo is still being aggressive at times. Especially eating - he will grab and hold on for a second or two. Or when they are inside (like settling in for the night) he will charge them if they get too close. The 'big' hen very rarely does anything to the 'littles'. The roo is very good with the older hen. He does not feed her or take care of her yet, but never hurts her. Is this normal for the roo? Will this aggressiveness pass when he matures? thanks!

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Yes mines are aggressive too....

 

[Mutt Farm]

Hi! It's not uncommon for a teenage cockerel to turn into a real jerk for a bit. Do you have multiple feeders to be sure the "sorta littles" have free access to food and water? They're likely too big for a "safe house" opening by now. If there's no bloodshed, I'd watch closely. I have no problem using a squirt bottle on a punk roo as he's about to act out. It works for me .

 

[prinellie]

Yes, I do have a couple feeders. It's when I give them treats and he runs from place to place to gobble them up and really IS a jerk getting ahold of the 'littles'. They know they have to get out of his way, but sometimes not quick enough!! I will try the squirt bottle. I don't want to make him mean, so I wasn't sure how much to let him get by with or how to 'discipline'. How old does he have to get to be 'mature'? I've only had one other roo, and he was younger than the hens by a bit so this never happened... and he is just the best roo ever.

 

[Mutt Farm]

A BO should be a wonderful roo. Can you grab his teenage but up and hold him while the semi littles eat thier treats? Then let him down and squirt him right in the face for aggression.

 

[prinellie]

I will certainly try that! Thanks for the advice!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I see this quite often in young roosters and is one of the reasons I will put him in my separation pen for a bit of time, hormones are raging, no one is respecting him, he gets a little too much, I personally don't like it and it drives me crazy, so into my pen they go.

It can take anywhere from 2-6 months for things to settle for him and for his good rooster parts to shine through, if he has any, be ready to put up with it for a bit.

One of the rooster job is to round everyone up at night and get them to roost, so he is at least trying to do that job.

 

[prinellie]

So how long does he stay separated? Just a while or the "2-6 months' ? I just want to do the right thing for him so if he does have the good rooster parts that I don't damage them. It would be hard to replace him after the hens all grow up!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I will put them in my pen


Here's a picture of it, everyone can still see them and somewhat interact with him, this is a younger bantam rooster who's out now.

I put them in there and I will let them out once a week, or so and see how they are acting, sometimes they are out for days before I hear the screaming from the hens, they go back in, I will keep it up until that particular rooster behaves in a way that I'm okay with, some can be a month, others the six months.

I have two BO roosters, they were both decent roosters and never needed locking up, so they are usually a good breed. They either know how to be good or they don't, yours sounds like he wants to be a good rooster and is getting frustrated, young hens don't always respect the rooster and appreciate them until they start laying.

For some reason roosters mature faster than hens which causes problems.