Need Suggestions For Calming Cockerel and Blending flock

[ChicNmom]

My surprise Bared Rock cockerel Rocky, (typical name LOL) is just over 6 months old. He has the potential to be a really good rooster. He is pretty calm and has made a lot of improvement as he matures.
He doesn't bother my mini rooster Scooter unless Scooter is being a jerk to one of the pullets.

He is very alert and always watching the sky or the woods. Not aggressive to people at all. I can handle him and he will eat out of my hand.

He doesn't tread when mounting the girls so their feathers are not torn up and I love that.

The down side is that first of all he is huge! He hasn't gotten taller but may fill out a bit. He is still clumsy with the mating and tidbits then pulls a sneak attack when a hen comes to him.

The senior hens did a good job of teaching him boundaries. But maybe too good because now he mostly sticks with the girls he grew up with and the older hens do their own thing. Basically he has decided they are not part of his group. I guess that's how he's dealing with the rejection. Plus some of them are molting and don't want to be bothered

The worst thing is my most timid hen is terrified of him and it annoys him.
He did go after her a little aggressively because she freaked out when she saw him. He hasn't been that way with any other hens.


I've put him on one side of the divided coop while they are not in the yard. I'm hoping the hens and pullets will become more of a group. The older girls will defend the pullets if he is on one of them too long or too often and all the girls get along OK.

I was sure I read something here about some kind of sedative or something to calm roosters that helped. It might have been from another country but I can't find the info.

My husband vetoed the pinless peepers.

Does anyone have other ideas of things I can try?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Put him back and leave him be. He doesn’t need sedated he needs time to mature. If he isn’t injuring the hens and is now learning to let up/give up when they deny his advances he is learning. Sure a cockerel can be a tad wild at first, but what you are describing is pretty normal and as non-aggressive as you are going to get for a 6 month old cockerel. The older hens are putting him in his place and he is learning their boundaries that is good. The fact that he stays away from them and with the younger pullets is normal. Chickens tend to stay in groups based off of who they grew up it. Sometimes they fully integrate sometimes they just get along, but stay with their group.

 

[ChicNmom]

Thanks! I've never had it take this long for a new group to blend in.
I have re homed 2 roosters in the past that got it in their head that they didn't like one hen. But they were also both chasing the hen away from the flock. In this case the hen, Lilly is the one running away even if he isn't coming near her.

I think the most troublesome thing is the hen that is afraid of him. Even with him contained on the other side of the run she will not come out of the coop. She sits on the roost all day and isn't eating.

I put a smaller cage in the run with the ladies and tomorrow she will be in it until I let them out for the afternoon.

I had to bring her in to get her to eat. She ate a good amount and drank a lot of water so I don't think there is anything actually wrong with her.

 

[Buckeye Amy]

He needs time to mature. As long as he isn’t injuring anyone leave him with the flock. Constantly changing things won’t make it better. He sounds like he’s well on his way to becoming a fabulous flock leader!

 

[ChicNmom]

He isn't totally separate. He is right next to them with just hardware cloth between them. And I'm letting him in the yard with them while they are out.

I think I'm going to do that for another week so the 4 that are molting and cranky can have a break while their feathers grow in. Also time to get Lilly to calm down.

He isn't upset when I put him on the other side of the run. It's where he and his girls slept until they were big enough to go in with the mature ladies.

Thanks for the reassurance. I've had really good roosters and a few bad roosters. We were undecided about him since we haven't seen this happen before.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you have described to me is an immature cockerel that has grown up with a flock of older hens and a few pullets his own age. It sounds like they have enough room, that usually makes it a lot easier. He has reached the point in puberty where he is seen as dominant by the pullets but has not reached the point where his hormones tell him that he has to dominate the hens.

I can't tell for sure with your post, it sounds like he may be able to mate with a few of the adult hens but not others. I may be reading stuff in your post that is not there. It is pretty common with mine for the lower ranked hens to mate willingly with a cockerel but not the dominate hen. She's still the boss and will not allow hm to mate another adult hen in her presence. Often him mating the pullets don't bother her unless it is right in front of her. But with the other hens she will knock him off when he tries to mate them, even if the hens are willing. It is a matter of dominance and she is now dominant.

At some point he will mature to the point that he will stand up to her and try to dominate her. Often in my flock that is a very peaceful change of command, I often don't notice it happening until it is over. But occasionally she will not let him take over without a serious fight. With any serious fight there is the risk of injury. I've never seen a serious injury from that but others have. I have no idea how that will work with your flock.

As long as no one is injured I consider this a normal way that they work out flock dynamics as the younger ones mature. But I do observe. I have a way to isolate a chicken if I need to.

I think the most troublesome thing is the hen that is afraid of him.

I don't know what is going on here. The only time I've seen anything like this is when the dominant hen and cockerel fought for flock dominance and he won. For two days he would not allow her anywhere near the flock. But after she finally accepted his dominance she rejoined the flock. It was rough to watch but no one was injured so I let them work it out. In my case, they did. Others have reported different results, to the point the rest of the flock rejected her.

I try to solve for the peace of the flock. I don't know how badly you want to keep your "surprise" cockerel. When it is not working out I've been known to permanently remove a flock member. Sometimes the boy but sometimes the girl. It is your goals, wants, and desires that count, not mine.

Good luck!

 

[ChicNmom]

@Ridgerunner

That sounds like the situation.

My dominant hen and him have had some dust ups. Also with the second in charge hen. What usually happens is my Guinea hen breaks it up and chases him away. And occasionally after doing that she will go give the hen a whack or two.

She likes things to be peaceful but maybe nothing ever gets resolved between him and the top hens.

The timid hen is so mild mannered that she sleeps on a shelf in the coop at night. She doesn't even want to fight for a place on the roost pole. I thought about re homing her but she probably wouldn't do well in a new group. But I can't have her running into the woods away from the group and the safer area of the yard all the time.

We would like to have a good solid rooster. Our other one is tiny and ornamental at best.