Are my cockerels aggressive, or hormonal?

[Deleted member 649519]

Hello, everybody! I'm new, to both the BYC and to chicken keeping. In April this year my family thought it would be fun to get some lil chickies, but now the responsibility is solely mine to care for them, so I'm in need of a little help.

We were surprised to find 3 cockerels in with our batch of birds (we bought 10, obviously believing TSC when they said they were all pullets), and in the past few days our cockerels are becoming a pain in my arse. One of them, an EE named Oreo, was alpha for a while, until he all of a sudden lost that position to a who-knows-what named Swifty. Swifty is such a sweet gentleman to our girls. He's gentle when he wants to get his jerry on (ya know what I mean?) and releases any girlie who just doesn't want any. HOWEVER for the past few days he has been beating the daylights out of Oreo and chasing him into the coop to kick the outta him while he's hiding in a nesting box. Today he didn't seem to do it, but I want to know what I should do about it if the problem happens again.

And my second problem arose only 2 days ago. Our third in line cockerel, an EE named Peeps, has been absolutely brutal to our third in line pullet, Toasty. The first day he tried to get his jerry on with her, Oreo joined him while he was trying to do his thing and was repeatedly kicking her in the head. Let me tell you, I stepped in immediately and gave each of them a slap (not as hard as I would hit a human, but hard enough to get them off of her). Every evening since, Peeps has been aggressively trying to force her to submit. Swifty now steps in when Oreo gets out of line, but he has yet to put Peeps in his place, and Toasty allows none of them to mount her yet (I think that may be the problem, but I'm not positive).

I just want to know if this is an act of pure aggression, or if his hormones are kicking into high gear and he'll eventually mellow out. Whenever I see this behavior (I watch them like a hawk day and night) I wait a beat before interfering and finally just let Toasty out by herself to free range while I keep watch over her.

The cockerels are normally very well behaved; they don't usually do anything through the day but eat, nap, bathe, and swing on their stick. They show zero aggression toward me; I go in and out freely and if I bend over for a minute they all jump on my back and sit there, picking through my hair or preening themselves, whatever they want. So I can't tell if they're aggressive, or hormonal.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated from rooster people, but I will tolerate zero suggestions at culling for the time being, as their behavior truly does not warrant such a reaction.

Thank you!

UPDATE: As I was damned near tears while writing this post, and all of the suggestions were not exactly doable at that moment, I turned to my brother for help. He had raised chickens for many years and he advised me to let the boys fight it out and intervene only when absolutely necessary. He had always kept the ratio of 1 roo to 2 hens, as they were used for protection in the middle of the woods, and had no problems with this. So yesterday evening, as I was intervening solely for the sake of my pullet, it was like a switch flipped in my alpha cockerel, and he took complete control of the other 2. Together, he and my head hen (Mulan) have been working restlessly to establish order in the flock, and today there has been zero issues (I have been guarding them day and night and getting a mere 2 hours of sleep since this started to ensure that none of them were harmed.) All of my hens are more relaxed and the atmosphere changed drastically since the 2 leaders stepped up their game. The boys are still mating the pullets, but the girls seem to have been assigned roos (or the other way around) and they yield to their designated roos about 3 times a day each (I thought it would happen more often, but apparently they just want to spend their extra time playing with their bucket and chicken swing ). So I thank everyone for their suggestions, and will definitely be working on a bachelor pad for the future, but at this moment my lovely alpha and his lady are taking care of things. Though my next step will be to try the pinless peepers that just arrived in the mail so I don't accrue another 5k in debt.

Below is a pic I took today of my lil 'king' keeping a close eye on momma... He's waiting for his blueberries.

 

[SilverBirds]

Welcome to BYC! Glad to have you here with us.

Your main problem is you have too many roosters, too few hens. The hen to roo ratio is about 3-10 hens per 1 rooster, depending on the number of hens total, amount of space, and personality of the roo. You need to get rid of two roosters and just have the one.

 

[bobbi-j]

If it were my flock, the one beating up the pullet would no longer be in the flock. At the very least he’d be separated. As it is, your three cockerels are likely going to end up running those pullets ragged with gang breeding, chasing them from food and water and not allowing them to dust bathe in peace. I’m not a firm believer in “the ratio”, but have experienced the trauma too many cockerels can cause in a flock. Especially when they’re all the same age and the boys reach sexual maturity before the girls. (Which is why the pullet isn’t submitting.) If you’re set on keeping them all, a bachelor pad for at least two of them might be a good idea. If they all remain in the flock, not only will your pullets be constantly harassed, there is a good chance you’ll also have to deal with the cockerels fighting. That can get bloody.

 

[Mrs. K]

The chances of this getting worse, much worse are quite high. They don't call it cock fighting for nothing. Too many males with flock mates, tend to brutalize the females because they are bigger than them, and can do it. Being raised together has no influence on this behavior.

While you see the act of jumping on your back as friendly, I see it as dominance. They may not be aggressive with you yet, but I am betting you are on the list.

Do you have small children? Children are often attacked first, at what appears to be out of the blue. This forum is full of the darling turned into the nightmare in an instant. Inexperienced people don't pick up on the cues showing aggression, or mis interpret them (like jumping on your back or head) and vastly underestimate how violent an attack can be.

If you have children, don't let them out with the roosters, otherwise, you can wait and see. It can be quite hard on your pullets, and they can kill each other. They really are livestock, and a bit closer to Mother Nature than puppies or kittens.

A lot of people new to chickens are animal lovers, I am too. But dispatching an animal has never been their lot, and they don't like the idea. But you can't wish chickens to be nice.

There is really limited training that produces for sure results with roosters. The more roosters you have, the bigger the chance of it going wrong, very wrong. It would be best to separate them from the pullets and keep a bachelor flock with their own coop/run. That is the best solution if you do not wish to cull them. Do not leave them with the pullets.

Mrs K

 

[azurbanclucker]

Welcome. You need to pack 2 of your roosters off to freezer camp. That will solve your problem.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have to agree with Mrs. K.

If these are your first chickens I strongly suggest rehoming ALL your males. If you then decide to have a rooster in your flock you will have a better chance with one that's raised by adults and taught the rules of chicken society as he grows.

There are no guarantees, but it's more likely.

I followed this advice and am glad I did.

 

[SE_Gardener]

I maintain two breeder flocks each with 6-8 hens and NEVER maintain more than one rooster per flock. Juvenile jockeying for top roo ALWAYS evolves into a bloody show time particularly if you cannot maintain a minimum of 5+ hens per roo and if it's spring forget it the top roo takes all. It's nature and you cannot change that.