Young rooster starting to mate

[oliviaandjosh4]

We have 4 laying hens, 3 pullets, & 2 cockerels. The pullets & cockerels are around 16 weeks old. The two cockerel/ roosters are starting to mature, our bantam Cochin is starting to crow & our barred rock is starting to chase & attempt to mate the hens. He has tried mating (chasing & jumping on top of) our pullets who are not yet laying & I had read where they won't do that unless it's a laying hen, so does this mean they will start laying soon? Also he is always chasing our laying Rhode Island Red hen & constantly getting on top of her & sometimes just standing on top of her. She runs as fast as she can away from him. He has made some of her feathers come out & we did find some blood in the coop not too much though & we couldn't figure out who was bleeding. Does this mean he will be rough will hens always like some roosters are or is this just because he is just starting to mature? Also last question, our Bantam Cochin is a lot smaller than all the rest & I'm wondering whether or not he will attempt to mate since he's so small? Thanks

 

[Duckopolis]

I would get rid of one rooster or add a lot more hens. They should have at least a 1 roo to 10 hen ratio.

 

[aart]

I just went thru this in my junior flock, aged 10 to 16 weeks.

The oldest cockerel was crowing but not trying to dominate the pullets...until one of the younger cockerels started crowing.....then the oldest was all over those poor pullets grabbing necks and not letting go and trying to climb on their backs.

I removed the 2 younger cockerels (the plan all along) and the oldest calmed down almost immediately. He still does some grabbing and treading, but with much less aggression.

I'd suggest getting rid of one of the cockerels. The bantam cockerel will no doubt try to tread the large hens, no telling if he will succeed for more reasons than his size, but I've read plenty of stories of successful bantam roosters in large fowl flocks.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

Ok thanks, we also 4 5wk old lavender orpingtons, 3 of which I'm pretty sure are hens, & 3 two week old mixed breeds two of which might be hens. I want to get more hens than what we have now so two roosters might wind up being fine. I have seen a lot of people who have many roosters & no problems and I wouldn't mind doing that if we don't have any problems with aggression or hurting the hens.