will my rooster kill the chicks?

i have a silver phoenix rooster and i will be getting some chicks soon, will he try o kill them , he is not really that aggressive towards other roosters. And at what age is it safe to put them in there with him.

If the chicks aren't going to be raised by a hen, he probably will kill them. That being said, the babies will need heat anyway- so they'll need a hen(that's broody and willing to accept them, not just any old hen) or a heatlamp to survive. Wait to introduce them when they're roughly the same size as your older birds. Good luck!
Nikki

id wait until they are bigger
as above post states they have special needs
i had a young cockerel in with my chicks not knowing he was a cockerel at the time, he would pick on them, try to fight them they we're about 2 months old he was about 3 months.i suspect he might be a Cockerel he was a silkie very hard to sex so i ran a dna and sure enough he was a cockerel. i re homed him as soon as possiable. but yes they will peck and fight the chicks so its not a good idea. espically young chicks. they are very fragile

I don’t know your circumstances. Is that rooster all by himself? Is he the dominant rooster in a flock of hens? Is he the dominant rooster in a mixed flock of hens and non-dominant roosters? Are they crowded into a small space or do they have a lot of room? How old are those chicks? There are a lot of different things that can have an effect. It’s really hard to cover all possibilities.

You are dealing with living animals so no one can give you a guarantee as to what will happen. The age of the chicks will make a difference too. As others said, the young ones will have special needs having nothing to do with mixing with the flock.

I’ve never had a dominant rooster threaten chicks. I’ve had dominant roosters help a broody with her chicks. That does not mean a dominant rooster will not be a danger to chicks, just that I’ve never seen it.

Non-dominant roosters, especially fairly young ones, can be as brutal as the hens. That’s where your greatest danger will come from.

Without knowing a lot about your situation I’m not going to make any specific suggestions, but worry about the hens and any non-dominant roosters a lot more than a good flock master.

Ridgerunner said:

I don’t know your circumstances. Is that rooster all by himself? Is he the dominant rooster in a flock of hens? Is he the dominant rooster in a mixed flock of hens and non-dominant roosters? Are they crowded into a small space or do they have a lot of room? How old are those chicks? There are a lot of different things that can have an effect. It’s really hard to cover all possibilities.

You are dealing with living animals so no one can give you a guarantee as to what will happen. The age of the chicks will make a difference too. As others said, the young ones will have special needs having nothing to do with mixing with the flock.

I’ve never had a dominant rooster threaten chicks. I’ve had dominant roosters help a broody with her chicks. That does not mean a dominant rooster will not be a danger to chicks, just that I’ve never seen it.

Non-dominant roosters, especially fairly young ones, can be as brutal as the hens. That’s where your greatest danger will come from.

Without knowing a lot about your situation I’m not going to make any specific suggestions, but worry about the hens and any non-dominant roosters a lot more than a good flock master.

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The rooster is with the two hens that are mothers of the chicks however I hatched the chicks In an incubator. Also the rooster is dominant in his cage, it's just him and two hens. They are not crowded during night I have them in a 10x10 ft pen. And free range during day twice a week. I do not know when it's time to put chicks in, due to this fear. They are about 2 weeks old in two days.

The reason I am scared is because I've seen game cocks that have torn chicks to pieces and the hens don't defend them even when the hen hatched theme And not an incubator. I have gamefowl but most Are not aggressive .i want to put them with the father mostly because he has lots of space in his pen and I will use this as a brooder because the pen is very safe from hawks in my area.

It doesn’t matter who laid the egg. Those hens are not going to be protective at all since they were not broody and did not hatch them. I’d think they would be even more danger than the rooster.

The two days that you free range is not what you should be looking at. It’s the five days you don’t. Look at your worst case, not your best.

Two weeks is way too young to turn them loose with the flock even if your weather is warm enough for them to survive that. I don’t know what the weather is like in your part or Arizona right now, but I’d wait at least another two weeks before I stopped providing them heat, at least during the night. In cooler weather, I usually go five weeks before I stop providing some heat. I’ve had a broody wean her chicks at three weeks but that was in the heat of summer. I’ve even stopped providing heat in the brooder (which is on my coop) at one week in the heat of summer but that was a real heat wave. Triple digits during the day and still really warm at night.

I have a whole lot more room than you do and I think room is a huge part of success in integration. I usually turn my brooder raised chicks loose with the flock at 8 weeks, but they have been raised in sight of the flock since Day 1 and they have a lot of room. I’d be nervous trying that with one rooster and two hens in a 10’ x 10’ space at that age.

What I suggest is that you divide that 10’ x 10’ into half or something close. Put something in there the young ones can use as a coop to get out of the weather. Or build another coop and run to use as a grow-out coop but next to the existing chickens. Once they are old enough to handle the weather, put them in there for a few weeks. Maybe when they are 8 to 9 weeks old and you can watch some, let them out to free range with the flock for those two days a week. They should go back to their own coop at night. After you’ve done this for maybe a month, you can try putting them in that smaller area. I can’t guarantee success, but I think this has a pretty good chance to work.

Good luck! If you were free ranging every day this would not be all that hard, but your space is limited. That makes it a little harder.

The rooster would definatly harm them. The hens would too, because they did not hatch them. I would wait until they have all of their feathers and are pullets to let them live with the older chickens.

Thank you all very helpful, I made today another coop with a run for the chicks so when they are appropriate age I put them in there once adults with the flock.

My hen PEEP has started to incubate eggs a few days ago, and I was wondering should I take the rooster out so he wont kill the babies when they hatch?

Roosters are funny I have some that just try to kill anything and others who just do their job and watch over the flock each rooster is different but I still would keep them away till the chicks can run and hide ...



With out a hen I cage them up for safety ....





Before going to the grow out run I introduce the chicks in a
easy to observe safety cage ... 3 week old chicks .....