Henfla
Songster
Hello!
So, I have an 9 weeks old (soon 10 weeks) cockerel and mother that has lived in a closed off space in the coop. They have been outside their space in the coop with the others when I have been there for about one hour every day. Some of the chickens have been aggressive both towards the mother hen and her baby, so I wanted to introduce them very gradually. The mother hen seems now to have become accepted again by the flock (she has been with them since she was a baby, but I took her inside when she became broody), but the cockerel stays only with her or alone. The last couple of days the cockerel has escaped their closed off space (I have no idea how!!) and probably been with the other for several hours before I've noticed and managed just fine. So from yesterday on they have all been together pretty much unsupervised.
It seems to be fine during the day because then the cockerel can be in the pheriphery of the flock, but yesterday when they went to roost, the cockerel was chased off the roost, so I had to put him up on the roost and take away the most aggressive chicken until they had settled down for the night.
My first question is how long does it take before the other chickens accept the new chicken and lets it sit on the roost? I only have hens from before, so I guess at some point the cockerel will be the leader?
I have to go to work tonight and will not be home until the chickens have gone to bed, and I was wondering if I should put the baby and the mother in their closed off space or just let them figure things out themselves?
So, I have an 9 weeks old (soon 10 weeks) cockerel and mother that has lived in a closed off space in the coop. They have been outside their space in the coop with the others when I have been there for about one hour every day. Some of the chickens have been aggressive both towards the mother hen and her baby, so I wanted to introduce them very gradually. The mother hen seems now to have become accepted again by the flock (she has been with them since she was a baby, but I took her inside when she became broody), but the cockerel stays only with her or alone. The last couple of days the cockerel has escaped their closed off space (I have no idea how!!) and probably been with the other for several hours before I've noticed and managed just fine. So from yesterday on they have all been together pretty much unsupervised.
It seems to be fine during the day because then the cockerel can be in the pheriphery of the flock, but yesterday when they went to roost, the cockerel was chased off the roost, so I had to put him up on the roost and take away the most aggressive chicken until they had settled down for the night.
My first question is how long does it take before the other chickens accept the new chicken and lets it sit on the roost? I only have hens from before, so I guess at some point the cockerel will be the leader?
I have to go to work tonight and will not be home until the chickens have gone to bed, and I was wondering if I should put the baby and the mother in their closed off space or just let them figure things out themselves?