Rooster Question | Aggressive Towards Hens | Need Advice | Long Post...

[Butt_Nugget_Hut092]

So, I have a question about chicken behavior, possible solutions, and advice...
I apologize in advance for the lengthy post and explanation.
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A little backstory to explain the situation...
I am a relatively new chicken owner. I've had chickens for a little over a year now and have dealt with various issues. I've made an effort to educate myself about chickens, their needs, and their health issues, but I'm still learning and trying to improve.

I have five laying hens that turned a year old on September 16th. They are just barnyard mixes, and they're as sweet as can be. They were hatched and raised with roosters, but the roosters they were raised with were rehomed because they were not only mean to us but also very mean to the hens. They would violently grab the hens and pull out their feathers but never attempt to mount them. They would also chase the hens away from the food. I was hoping at that one of the two roosters they were hatched with would take to the hens and then the other one would go, but that didn't happen. So, my laying hens have been living without any roosters for more than half of their lives and go down into the rooster pose for us instead.

Well, fast-forward to this season, we decided to add more chickens to our coop.
We have a group of ten 21-week-old chickens that we've added, which include two roosters. They have been fully integrated into the coop for about three weeks now, but they spent three weeks prior to that in an introduction cage/run inside the larger run so they could safely meet without getting hurt.
After they were integrated, we put our youngest group of chicks into the introduction run. They are only 15 weeks old. My older hens and Group A of the new chickens cannot physically reach Group B chicks.
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Okay, long backstory, I apologize. But my older hens are not amused by the roosters. At first, the roosters were too scared to go near my older girls, but within the last week or week and a half, they've gotten bold and started trying to assert their dominance and mount them.

My older girls are not having it. They fight them and will not allow them to mount them. The roosters then seem to get angry and become more aggressive with them. It's starting to worry me how aggressive they've become towards my girls.
Not even the hens they were raised with want anything to do with them and scream when they try.
I spoke to a local chicken farmer, and she said it was because my roosters are young and inexperienced, which my hens know, so they want nothing to do with them.
Which would be fine if I was sure that they wouldn't actually hurt my girls as they are learning.
But just this afternoon, I watched my rooster Foghorn go after my hen Belle, but instead of trying to mount her, he chased her, then grabbed her by the neck while standing in front of her. There was no attempt to mount her. She's fine; I stopped whatever he was doing.
But now I'm concerned for my girls' safety. The boys are definitely stressing them out too.So I'm not sure what to do at this point and I'm looking for advice, suggestions, and if anyone can tell me if this is normal. Also, will my hens be safe if I leave the boys in there with them while they learn what they are doing?

For reference, in case this is useful the roosters are mixes...
Rhode Island Red Roo X White Leghorn Hen
Rhode Island Red Roo X Olive Egger Hen

 

[nuthatched]

Get rid of the new roos. Next year, get a cockerel chick and let the hens raise him

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters are a crap shoot. You really don't need one, and often times they don't really turn out.

You really have added a lot of birds to the original 5. That is going to take quite a bit of space. Space or lack of it, causes a lot of problems. Could you post pictures of your set up. How you have the run set up can also cause problems. Overcrowding can make any conflict much worse.

If you do have enough space, I am not sure how many B chicks you have - but your numbers are approaching 20? Really you don't need two roosters.

Roosters take some experience, what I would suggest is contacting your local 4-H groups, post at the feed store, contact the extension office or a poultry club, and get a year old rooster, that has been raised up in a multi- generational flock and is so darn nice that he hasn't been culled by people who would cull him if he wasn't. This is if you are sure you want roosters, a lot of people are much happier without them.

Older roosters often times manage a flock much better. The above advice is also good, but do know, there really is no perfect way to raise up a perfect rooster. I am rather of the opinion you can get rotten roosters easily, so-so rooster a fair amount of the time, and then a flock master, maybe 2-3 times in a long time of keeping chickens. I have had 2, and a darn good one out of a lot of roosters.

Let these two boys go, they are just not old enough for the mature ladies, and the pullets can't do anything with them.

Mrs K

 

[Shadrach]

There isn't a lot of please and thank you in the chickens world. Manners and maturity are aquired over tme. Development seems to come in stages and cockerel/s learning to behave within the group is one of those stages.
An established adult rooster can help as can a strong lead hen.
Hatching within the group can also help but even this doesn't give certain results.
Normal social patterns would be for the cockerels to want to leave the group/parents and establish his own group. Very few chicken keeping arrangements allow for this given confinement and space. One can under some circumstances see the leaving home stage develope; the next generation attempting to roost up a tree rather than the group coop is one indicator.
For most backyad chicken keepers the easy life rule one male in a confined/partially confined group.
There are occasions when two males will coexists but one often finds that it's a question of time rather than if a junior male will challenge the adult male for the right to mate with the hens.
Tough advice is eat the two new males and when a hen goes broody let her sit and hatch and work with the males from that hatch to prepare a cockerel to become the a replacemnt male for the current senior male.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Let's ignore your third group since they are not involved. You have five mature hens, eight 21-week-old pullets (may or may not be laying) and two 21-week-old cockerels.

A mature hen is likely to expect a male to be a good father to her potential chicks, to find her food, to break up fights, and be alert for threats to the flock. Pullets that are laying usually act a lot like mature hens. 21-week-old cockerels are unlikely to meet these standards.

If pullets are not laying or real close to it they usually act more like chicks. If a male approaches them for mating they usually want nothing to do with it. They usually run away.

There can be exceptions to anything I say since we are dealing with living animals. I once saw a 13-week-old pullet willingly squat for a 13-week-old cockerel. That's why I use a lot of weasel words, Usually means not always, likely means most of the time.

I raise cockerels and pullets with the flock every year. I typically have a dominant rooster in the flock until the cockerels are maybe 5 to 6 months old, then I eat the rooster and let one of the cockerels become flock master. So it is a different situation than you are dealing with.

What I typically see with the cockerels and pullets is that the more mature cockerels want to mate with the pullets. This has nothing to do with sex, rape, or fertilizing the eggs. This is about establishing dominance. The one on top is dominating the one on the bottom, wither willingly or by force. At this age it is almost always by force. The pullet runs, he chases her down, grabs her by the head, and mates her. The head grab is partly to control her but it is also an instinctive message for her to raise her tail out of the way so he can hit the target. I've seen a mature dominant hen in a flock with no dominant rooster mate an older pullet that was laying eggs this way. It is purely about dominance.

I've seen different things between immature cockerels and mature hens when there is no mature rooster in the flock. Some years it is fairly calm. Not a lot of drama. A dominant hen leads the flock until the cockerel matures enough to become the flock master. The personality of the hens, especially the dominant hen, has a lot to do with how peaceful this transition is. So does the personality of the cockerel. One with a strong personality can usually take over based on the force of his personality, very little if any physical force required. Especially if the dominant hen is not real strong-willed.

Some years, not that often but some years, the mature hens (especially the dominant hen) beats the crap out of the cockerels when they suggest mating. This could be when he suggests mating her, when he is mating other hens, or when he is mating the pullets. She is the boss and she is not going to allow any smart aleck cockerel to show any dominance when she is around. She knocks him off if she sees him mating another female. When she is not around some of the other hens may allow him to mate. It depends on their personality.

Some years, the cockerels will chase the hens and try to mate them. The hens do not fight back, they run away. The boys chase them and mate them just like the pullets above.

Many years I see a combination of the above. Each hen has its own personality so each will react to that cockerel differently. When there is force involved there is always the risk of injury. Personally I have never seen a serious injury to a pullet or cockerel from this behavior. Others on this forum I respect say they have. When dealing with living animals you do not get guarantees. I think one reason for this is that I have a lot of room (over 2,000 square feet) so they can stay separate and get away from each other. In my opinion, the less room you have the more likely serious injury is. Also, every three or four years the cockerels get so rowdy that I isolate some of the cockerels from the rest until they reach butcher age. Each chicken has its own personality, each flock has its own dynamics, every year they go together differently. I try to not be so rigid that I fail to see what is going on in front of me.

So what can you do in your situation? If no one is getting hurt you can let it play out. It can be unsettling to watch. If violence is involved there is always the chance of injury. This is what I do most years.

You can isolate the boys and give them a chance to grow up. Most of mine do by the time they are seven months old. I had one do that peacefully at 5 months, I had one wait until he was 11 months. That was when they were with the flock the entire time. Some of that timing depends on the personality of the cockerel, some on the personality of the hens.

You can eliminate one of the boys. Sometimes the competition between them causes them to be more aggressive than they would be on their own.

You can eliminate both boys. If you really want a rooster wait until your youngest pullets are mature and bring in a mature rooster, one at least a year old. You don't get guarantees with living animals but the odds are pretty good he will be mature enough and have the personality to win them over by personality and not have to rely on force.

You can try it again. Raise a cockerel chick with the flock and see how it turns out. You may get excellent results or you may go through the same thing again. This is what I do every year. One of my main goals is to play with genetics. The way I do it that means I have to keep a different cockerel to be flock master every year. I typically select between 10 and 20 cockerels every year so I keep the one I want. I still get pretty varied results, sometimes I don't choose really well on personality. If you only have one or two cockerels your chance of getting a good one are less.

 

[Butt_Nugget_Hut092]

Roosters are a crap shoot. You really don't need one, and often times they don't really turn out.

You really have added a lot of birds to the original 5. That is going to take quite a bit of space. Space or lack of it, causes a lot of problems. Could you post pictures of your set up. How you have the run set up can also cause problems. Overcrowding can make any conflict much worse.

If you do have enough space, I am not sure how many B chicks you have - but your numbers are approaching 20? Really you don't need two roosters.

Roosters take some experience, what I would suggest is contacting your local 4-H groups, post at the feed store, contact the extension office or a poultry club, and get a year old rooster, that has been raised up in a multi- generational flock and is so darn nice that he hasn't been culled by people who would cull him if he wasn't. This is if you are sure you want roosters, a lot of people are much happier without them.

Older roosters often times manage a flock much better. The above advice is also good, but do know, there really is no perfect way to raise up a perfect rooster. I am rather of the opinion you can get rotten roosters easily, so-so rooster a fair amount of the time, and then a flock master, maybe 2-3 times in a long time of keeping chickens. I have had 2, and a darn good one out of a lot of roosters.

Let these two boys go, they are just not old enough for the mature ladies, and the pullets can't do anything with them.

Mrs K

The photos of my coop and run set up are from before the hurricane came through last week, so there have been a few changes but it give you an idea

I didn't intend on adding 20 new chickens to the flock this season. But that's just kind of how things ended up. I blame chicken math...

I also added a sketched out blue print of the coop and run with measurements.

The coop is one we built ourselves. With 2x4, 4x4, pallets, and metal. It made it through hurricane helene and kept everyone safe inside which I'm so happy about.

I want to keep a rooster for protection along with future breeding.
My 5 original girls love to free range when I'm out with them but we have a massive amount of hawks and a few eagles where I live. So I never let them out unless I can be there to basically hover over them to protect them. I'd like a rooster who can help me with that.

I think I'm leaning towards keeping the white leghorn rooster and rehoming the other.

 

[Butt_Nugget_Hut092]

Let's ignore your third group since they are not involved. You have five mature hens, eight 21-week-old pullets (may or may not be laying) and two 21-week-old cockerels.

A mature hen is likely to expect a male to be a good father to her potential chicks, to find her food, to break up fights, and be alert for threats to the flock. Pullets that are laying usually act a lot like mature hens. 21-week-old cockerels are unlikely to meet these standards.

If pullets are not laying or real close to it they usually act more like chicks. If a male approaches them for mating they usually want nothing to do with it. They usually run away.

There can be exceptions to anything I say since we are dealing with living animals. I once saw a 13-week-old pullet willingly squat for a 13-week-old cockerel. That's why I use a lot of weasel words, Usually means not always, likely means most of the time.

I raise cockerels and pullets with the flock every year. I typically have a dominant rooster in the flock until the cockerels are maybe 5 to 6 months old, then I eat the rooster and let one of the cockerels become flock master. So it is a different situation than you are dealing with.

What I typically see with the cockerels and pullets is that the more mature cockerels want to mate with the pullets. This has nothing to do with sex, rape, or fertilizing the eggs. This is about establishing dominance. The one on top is dominating the one on the bottom, wither willingly or by force. At this age it is almost always by force. The pullet runs, he chases her down, grabs her by the head, and mates her. The head grab is partly to control her but it is also an instinctive message for her to raise her tail out of the way so he can hit the target. I've seen a mature dominant hen in a flock with no dominant rooster mate an older pullet that was laying eggs this way. It is purely about dominance.

I've seen different things between immature cockerels and mature hens when there is no mature rooster in the flock. Some years it is fairly calm. Not a lot of drama. A dominant hen leads the flock until the cockerel matures enough to become the flock master. The personality of the hens, especially the dominant hen, has a lot to do with how peaceful this transition is. So does the personality of the cockerel. One with a strong personality can usually take over based on the force of his personality, very little if any physical force required. Especially if the dominant hen is not real strong-willed.

Some years, not that often but some years, the mature hens (especially the dominant hen) beats the crap out of the cockerels when they suggest mating. This could be when he suggests mating her, when he is mating other hens, or when he is mating the pullets. She is the boss and she is not going to allow any smart aleck cockerel to show any dominance when she is around. She knocks him off if she sees him mating another female. When she is not around some of the other hens may allow him to mate. It depends on their personality.

Some years, the cockerels will chase the hens and try to mate them. The hens do not fight back, they run away. The boys chase them and mate them just like the pullets above.

Many years I see a combination of the above. Each hen has its own personality so each will react to that cockerel differently. When there is force involved there is always the risk of injury. Personally I have never seen a serious injury to a pullet or cockerel from this behavior. Others on this forum I respect say they have. When dealing with living animals you do not get guarantees. I think one reason for this is that I have a lot of room (over 2,000 square feet) so they can stay separate and get away from each other. In my opinion, the less room you have the more likely serious injury is. Also, every three or four years the cockerels get so rowdy that I isolate some of the cockerels from the rest until they reach butcher age. Each chicken has its own personality, each flock has its own dynamics, every year they go together differently. I try to not be so rigid that I fail to see what is going on in front of me.

So what can you do in your situation? If no one is getting hurt you can let it play out. It can be unsettling to watch. If violence is involved there is always the chance of injury. This is what I do most years.

You can isolate the boys and give them a chance to grow up. Most of mine do by the time they are seven months old. I had one do that peacefully at 5 months, I had one wait until he was 11 months. That was when they were with the flock the entire time. Some of that timing depends on the personality of the cockerel, some on the personality of the hens.

You can eliminate one of the boys. Sometimes the competition between them causes them to be more aggressive than they would be on their own.

You can eliminate both boys. If you really want a rooster wait until your youngest pullets are mature and bring in a mature rooster, one at least a year old. You don't get guarantees with living animals but the odds are pretty good he will be mature enough and have the personality to win them over by personality and not have to rely on force.

You can try it again. Raise a cockerel chick with the flock and see how it turns out. You may get excellent results or you may go through the same thing again. This is what I do every year. One of my main goals is to play with genetics. The way I do it that means I have to keep a different cockerel to be flock master every year. I typically select between 10 and 20 cockerels every year so I keep the one I want. I still get pretty varied results, sometimes I don't choose really well on personality. If you only have one or two cockerels your chance of getting a good one are less.

Thank you for all this information! You're reply was very informative and interesting and very helpful!

I am going to try removing the one rooster that I think is too aggressive and try keeping the other and hope that helps some.

I want to have a rooster in my flock for protection and future breeding. So hopefully removing one of them will calm things down for long enough that the remaining roo can figure everything out.

 

[Butt_Nugget_Hut092]

You can isolate the boys and give them a chance to grow up. Most of mine do by the time they are seven months old. I had one do that peacefully at 5 months, I had one wait until he was 11 months. That was when they were with the flock the entire time. Some of that timing depends on the personality of the cockerel, some on the personality of the hens.

New situation Update...
So Group B of the babies has been integrated (sort of) due to weather conditions. I am in an area that was recently hit very hard by both hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Due to both of the storms coming in, I kind of had mother nature decide when the Group B babies needed to be moved into the coop. I didn't have any of coop that would be safe for them to stay in. My large coop is pretty solid, 4x4 cemented into the ground and built from there. So they had to be put in there, it was a risk I had to take.
Thankfully everyone survived, the coop was fine. But once the Hurricane Helene passed, the babies did start to get picked on so I put them back in their integration cage to keep them safe. But Hurricane Milton had other plans and they had to be put back into the coop. This time... I just decided to let them work it out, no one was showing signs of injury so i'd just let it be.

Fast forward... I rehomed one of my roosters, the more aggressive one, and kept the white leghorn in hopes that without his brother around, he'd calm down and settle in... Not so much...
I also sold 4 hens from Group A to a new home in hopes that maybe that would also help. They were the hens that couldn't seem to behave...
I really hoped this change would stop the fights towards the babies and maybe calm the rooster down a bit.
It didn't really work the way I wanted it too. They were still picking on the babies and the rooster refused to let them out of the coop. (The group B babies) He would attack them as soon as one stepped out.
Then two days ago, I noticed him being rough with one of my original hens Little Yellow... When I went to check, I realized he had drawn blood on her comb, in more then one place... Which is where I draw the line. Don't hurt my hens...

So I separated him from the hens, put him in a temporary run that he has stayed in the past two days and at night he goes into the coop, in an extra large dog kennel so he's safe from nighttime predators but my girls are safe from him.
He really is a sweet rooster to humans and I think his rough treatment of my hens is due to inexperience and hormones. So I was contemplating keeping him separate until he's older.
But how old does he need to be to hit that magic matured age? And is it better to keep him within sight of the girls to make reintegration easier or on the other side of the property?

I went over to the coop/run today, after he's been kept separate all Sunday and All Monday, to find that the Group B babies were out in the run willingly... For the first time ever, they willingly adventured out of the coop and stayed out to explore... and they weren't being chased or attacked. So removing him was definitely a good idea, but... will the issues start again if I put him back in with them eventually? Is there any type of training or something I could do while he's separate to maybe help him?

Sorry, long post again... But roosters are a completely other beast to hens...

 

[Ridgerunner]

will the issues start again if I put him back in with them eventually? Is there any type of training or something I could do while he's separate to maybe help him?

So your Group B chicks are now 18 weeks old. Your cockerel is about 24 weeks old. Still immature. So both can be expected to act like unsupervised teens. Sometimes those can behave very well. Sometimes it can get really wild.

I do not know of any training you can do that will change that behavior. So much of it is instinct. If you want to keep him I suggest you keep him separated until about half of those new pullets are laying. Give him a chance to mature. Give the girls a chance to mature. Then see if they act like mature chickens.

 

[FrostRanger]

You can try him again in a few months, but if he's still bad towards the hens, soup him. Both you and the hens will be happier without dealing with a bad rooster. There's nothing you can do to make him be nice towards the girls, either he is or he isn't