Chicken introduction and having to go to work

[Henfla]

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?

 

[DobieLover]

I have an 9 weeks old (soon 10 weeks) cockerel and mother that has lived in a closed off space in the coop

I took her inside when she became broody

Why? Mother hens should remain with the flock to brood. They just need a ground level slightly private area to set.

but the cockerel stays only with her or alone

He is a lone hatch, yes? This is normal.

the cockerel was chased off the roost, so I had to put him up on the roost

Normal. He won't be fully accepted into the flock until he becomes sexually mature and learns some manners. The only way he is going to learn his manners is to be tossed around by the older hens. He'll figure it out and will be okay as long as there is plenty of space to get away from a hen when he is run off.

My first question is how long does it take before the other chickens accept the new chicken

See above. Incidentally, the integration of the pullets/cockerels happens much faster if the mother is allowed to raise them in the flock. But when they are weaned, they are on their own and have to figure things out.

I only have hens from before, so I guess at some point the cockerel will be the leader?

Maybe. Oftentimes the head hen runs the flock even with a rooster/cockerel present. My observation has been that the rooster only gets involved in squabbles among the hens if things get really nasty.

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?

I would not.
What I do when the youngsters have been weaned and are having trouble dealing with roosting is to go out well after dark and pull them from the nest boxes they hide in and place them on the roost where there is enough space. Eventually, they stop hiding and figure out how to jockey for space on the roost themselves. But it takes many weeks for this to happen.

 

[Henfla]

Why? Mother hens should remain with the flock to brood. They just need a ground level slightly private area to set.

He is a lone hatch, yes? This is normal.

Normal. He won't be fully accepted into the flock until he becomes sexually mature and learns some manners. The only way he is going to learn his manners is to be tossed around by the older hens. He'll figure it out and will be okay as long as there is plenty of space to get away from a hen when he is run off.

See above. Incidentally, the integration of the pullets/cockerels happens much faster if the mother is allowed to raise them in the flock. But when they are weaned, they are on their own and have to figure things out.

Maybe. Oftentimes the head hen runs the flock even with a rooster/cockerel present. My observation has been that the rooster only gets involved in squabbles among the hens if things get really nasty.

I would not.
What I do when the youngsters have been weaned and are having trouble dealing with roosting is to go out well after dark and pull them from the nest boxes they hide in and place them on the roost where there is enough space. Eventually, they stop hiding and figure out how to jockey for space on the roost themselves. But it takes many weeks for this to happen.

Thanks alot!
I had to move the broody hen inside because she only wanted to lie in the nest box everyone else lay their egg (they all want to lay their eggs in the same nest box) and when I tried to put her in a dog cage in her own nest box inside the coop, she got very stressed and didn't lie on her eggs because she wanted to lie in the other nest box and I tried like everything and so I asked here and people said I should move her inside so I did.

Yes, he is a lone hatch because the other eggs I got didn't develop because I don't think they were fertilized. The mother hen seems like she lets him sleep under her still on the roost and things like that, so it doesn't seem like she has weaned him totally and I think that's nice that he at least has one friendly face

 

[DobieLover]

I asked here and people said I should move her inside so I did.

You got bad advice. Sorry about that.

It takes a bit to graft a hen to a new nest site that isn't the nest boxes used by the flock. They should not be given eggs to set until they've been grafted to the new site. If they break their broodiness during grafting process then you wait until they go broody again.

It helps at that point to already have the semi-private brooding area set up in advance as it is an attractive site for laying. The whole point is to make it more attractive to the hen than the normal nest box site. You will find that the other hens will like to lay there too but you just collect the eggs daily and wait until the broody discovers it is a better nesting site than the high traffic one and locks onto it. THEN you give her fertile eggs.

The other option if you do not want her to hatch is to just break her when she goes broody. You can't let them have chicks every single time they want to or you'd be over run and violently over crowded with chickens. You have to manage the flock.

 

[Henfla]

You got bad advice. Sorry about that.

It takes a bit to graft a hen to a new nest site that isn't the nest boxes used by the flock. They should not be given eggs to set until they've been grafted to the new site. If they break their broodiness during grafting process then you wait until they go broody again.

It helps at that point to already have the semi-private brooding area set up in advance as it is an attractive site for laying. The whole point is to make it more attractive to the hen than the normal nest box site. You will find that the other hens will like to lay there too but you just collect the eggs daily and wait until the broody discovers it is a better nesting site than the high traffic one and locks onto it. THEN you give her fertile eggs.

The other option if you do not want her to hatch is to just break her when she goes broody. You can't let them have chicks every single time they want to or you'd be over run and violently over crowded with chickens. You have to manage the flock.

Yeah. I broke her the last time she was broody, but I wanted her to experience to have a baby chicken once and she has been the happiest mother I only have 6 hens and now 1 cockerel.