Young rooster terrorizing my hens

[El Huevo]

I would like to say that chickens are animals do not expect them to act like humans. Let them be, they will sort it out.
I believe that the less I interfere with their behavior the better, I like to see them in a natural environment, mine are free range, they sleep on a tree of their choosing and they lay their eggs were ever they want. I initially build a coop but I didn't like to see them in a jail cell so I free them, the coop is there but they don't use it. I build boxes for them to lay their eggs but they look for the best place that suits them. I'm lucky that I live in the tropics so no freezing or cold weather, there's no predators, dogs or cats don't bother them they are quicker. One of the hens lays her eggs in my work bench, another in the laundry ( I put boxes with wood shavins) the others lay in the ground and hacht them right there, the all do find. They have a herarchy and there's nothing we can do about that. Chickens without roosters (is my belive and I hope nobody gets offended) is unnatural. There's a lot of drama but I guess they are not to far from humans when it comes to the drama between roosters nd hens.

Love you all because you love chickens

 

[Chickensareamazing]

You can make stew out of this rooster, and make soup out of the next one, and after that, let's see, perhaps fried chicken. Because practically every young cockerel will behave, to some degree more or less, like this first one. They are all overwhelmed by a flood of hormones, can only think of sex, sex, SEX all the time, and will be clumsy and obnoxious and annoying, and even damage the hens from time to time. It's NORMAL, as Chickencanoe points out.

The first year is the worst with a young roo. It gets better by age two. By age three, if he lives that long, you may very well be blessed with a gentleman roo, kind and protective of his girls, and cordial with his humans. But the main objective, if you want to have a rooster around, is to survive the first year with him.

When I had my first rooster, I just let him have free reign, and that was a big mistake. He got the wrong idea, and decided he was in competition with me for the hens. It was exhausting with daily boxing matches, but eventually he calmed down and became manageable until he died suddenly one night at age two.

My next roosters were an "accidental" pair, and they set about trying to kill each other as soon as the hormones began to surge. I decided early on that these two would not be permitted to terrorize the hens or me. They got their own pen, and were allowed only brief access to the girls.

By the end of their first year, they had both calmed down considerably. One was killed by dogs, but the remaining roo grew into a calm, sweet boy, he was a Brahma, by the way, and by the time he was three, he was a true gentleman roo.

I urge you to be patient if you decide to keep a rooster. Keep him separate for the first year, for the most part, and it'll be a lot easier on everyone. By the time he reaches a year old, you should see a big improvement.

You do not need to build him a big pen. He will be content with a very small enclosure as long as it's adjacent to the main run. He will glue himself to the fence, caring only about watching the girls and talking to them. As for the coop, you can do what I did with my first rooster, just partition off one end so he can't terrorize the hens at roosting time. I would wait until the hens had roosted, then I'd let the rooster go in to his section. He learned quickly that this was the routine. This is a problem that is easily solved if you're determined.

This is great advice, thank you! What you are describing is exactly what I am seeing with my young Roosters vs 2 year old Rooster! Now I know it’s normal. Other than the hormones making them insane the young roosters are very sweet boys.

 

[JaeG]

In a natural environment the older hens and rooster would keep young cockerels in line, teach them manners and prevent them harassing the young pullets (most of the time). With those essential elements missing it falls to you to protect the pullets who, because they mature slower than the boys, have no idea what's going on.

I'm very glad we had mature hens before our getting our little cockerel. They don't put up with any bad behaviour and he's turned into a lovely boy.

We have some younger cockerels who are in a separate run and coop because the pullets they'll be going with are only just starting to lay. Once the girls have been laying for awhile I'll try one with them (I've got a couple of colour projects planned). But if they don't behave nicely they'll only be allowed to visit.