Rooster mating with pullets who arent laying yet????

[mandamay28]

Do roosters do this? Can it hurt the pullet? I have a rather large Brahma rooster who was hatched with the Brahma and Cochin puletts in question. I do not know if they are laying yet. They are 24 weeks old. Should I remove the rooster for a while? Seperate the pullets to see if anyone is laying? Thank for any advice!

 

[Adirondack poultrykeeper2]

Do roosters do this? Can it hurt the pullet? I have a rather large Brahma rooster who was hatched with the Brahma and Cochin puletts in question. I do not know if they are laying yet. They are 24 weeks old. Should I remove the rooster for a while? Seperate the pullets to see if anyone is laying? Thank for any advice!

Hey, yes it is normal,they even will start fertilizing at 15 weeks old, Best wishes!

 

[JedJackson]

It's very normal. I've seen roosters mating with pullets that were barely feathered out. If the behavior concerns you or the hens are being hurt you could separate him out for a while, but there are likely to be fights when you reintroduce him.

 

[Jetblack2004]

Yes, that's perfectly normal! He'll mate with them whether they're laying or not. Don't worry about it at all =)

 

[Akrnaf2]

Do roosters do this? Can it hurt the pullet? I have a rather large Brahma rooster who was hatched with the Brahma and Cochin puletts in question. I do not know if they are laying yet. They are 24 weeks old. Should I remove the rooster for a while? Seperate the pullets to see if anyone is laying? Thank for any advice!

Yes they do! They will try to mate any pullet/hen they can reach to!
The big breeds like Brhama are to slow to mature so, if you can separate them for another 8-10 weeks it will reduce their stress levels.

 

[mandamay28]

Will seperating him in a coop/run that he can see them stress him too much?

 

[aart]

Will seperating him in a coop/run that he can see them stress him too much?

Better that he be stressed than the pullets.
Cockerels can be a real pain in the butt.
It can be hard to learn what behavior is OK , and what is going too far.
If he is chasing them down relentlessly and not giving them a break or the pullets can't get away from him this can be very stressful for the pullets and may delay laying.
If he's stressing the pullets who won't submit to his advances, it might be best to separate him for a time.

Are these your only birds...or do you have older hens and cocks?

 

[rebrascora]

Better that he be stressed than the pullets.

This is very true!

Your "rooster" is actually a cockerel (a male bird under a year old) and that makes a big difference behaviour wise. He is an adolescent at the whim of his hormones and without any adult birds to keep him in line and teach him some manners he will run amok with your pullets. It is not unheard of for pullets to scalp themselves trying to escape their attentions and they can also sustain gash injuries down their sides under their wings as well as the stress putting them at risk of other health issues like an outbreak of Marek's disease.
This is a human contrived situation due to incubator reared chicks growing up without older flock members. Yes it is "normal" for the cockerel to do this, but in a more natural flock dynamic with adult hens and a dominant mature rooster, he would not be allowed to do so or at least his opportunities to do so would be greatly reduced and the pullets would be able to stick close to a senior flock member for protection.
In my opinion, this is a man made problem and unfortunately there is not an easy solution. If you pen him separately, yes, he will probably be stressed but which is better, one bird being stressed or most of them as well as the risk of injury. Most of us get chickens for the eggs they produce, in which case the welfare of the pullets is surely our primary responsibility.

In case you have not seen a flock master rooster at work, he gains the respect of his flock by finding tasty treats for them and calling them over for it, he escorts them about, checks out suitable nest sites for them and encourages them to lay in them and oversees them. He wing dances to woo them and when they accept and squat, he jumps on them and holds onto the back of their neck to balance for a few seconds whilst the hen lifts her tail and he deposits his sperm. It is over in a few seconds without trauma or squawking. This is the way it should be, but such a mature rooster was once also young and at the uncontrollable whim of his hormones too. They mostly get over this horrible adolescent stage but many do not have the attributes to be a good flock master even then.

 

[mandamay28]

Better that he be stressed than the pullets.
Cockerels can be a real pain in the butt.
It can be hard to learn what behavior is OK , and what is going too far.
If he is chasing them down relentlessly and not giving them a break or the pullets can't get away from him this can be very stressful for the pullets and may delay laying.
If he's stressing the pullets who won't submit to his advances, it might be best to separate him for a time.

Are these your only birds...or do you have older hens and cocks?

I have 5 older hens. they at tmes will chase him off the younger pullets and each other.

 

[mandamay28]

This is very true!

Your "rooster" is actually a cockerel (a male bird under a year old) and that makes a big difference behaviour wise. He is an adolescent at the whim of his hormones and without any adult birds to keep him in line and teach him some manners he will run amok with your pullets. It is not unheard of for pullets to scalp themselves trying to escape their attentions and they can also sustain gash injuries down their sides under their wings as well as the stress putting them at risk of other health issues like an outbreak of Marek's disease.
This is a human contrived situation due to incubator reared chicks growing up without older flock members. Yes it is "normal" for the cockerel to do this, but in a more natural flock dynamic with adult hens and a dominant mature rooster, he would not be allowed to do so or at least his opportunities to do so would be greatly reduced and the pullets would be able to stick close to a senior flock member for protection.
In my opinion, this is a man made problem and unfortunately there is not an easy solution. If you pen him separately, yes, he will probably be stressed but which is better, one bird being stressed or most of them as well as the risk of injury. Most of us get chickens for the eggs they produce, in which case the welfare of the pullets is surely our primary responsibility.

In case you have not seen a flock master rooster at work, he gains the respect of his flock by finding tasty treats for them and calling them over for it, he escorts them about, checks out suitable nest sites for them and encourages them to lay in them and oversees them. He wing dances to woo them and when they accept and squat, he jumps on them and holds onto the back of their neck to balance for a few seconds whilst the hen lifts her tail and he deposits his sperm. It is over in a few seconds without trauma or squawking. This is the way it should be, but such a mature rooster was once also young and at the uncontrollable whim of his hormones too. They mostly get over this horrible adolescent stage but many do not have the attributes to be a good flock master even then.

This is where I have concerns and difficulty in making a decision. I have always rehomed my cockerels bc they seem to agrgressive to us or the hens. This cockerel however seems to be nice to his humans and for the most part good withthe hens. he does find tasty morsels for them and calls them over. If he hears a noise he raisies his head to llok for the source. The pullets squack when he mounts them. He does do the wing dance but does not wait for them to squat. When I let them out first thing he does is go crazy trying to mount them all as fast as he can.
If I seperate him for a few weeks in a pen next to the girls where everyone can see each other, will there still be the need to reintegrate him? I really want to give it a go to keep him but I don't want my girls to get hurt.