HELP! Roo just attacked young chick...

[Briarpatch]

So I took one of the 4.5 week old chicks to the coop to meet the rooster. He immediately attacked her and chased her around until I could get him away from her. He pulled out some feathers, but other than that she seems okay. My intent was to move all the chicks to the coop today, but now they're back in the brooder until I can figure out what to do. The rooster was protective of his other flock, so I thought he'd be happy for some company. HELP!

 

[teach1rusl]

Most people don't put chicks with adult birds until they're at least close to adult size...maybe 12-14 weeks. Some can get by a few weeks earlier if their flock is just known to be very accepting and gentle. I would not try again for at least a few weeks. Now, if you need space freed up, you could always wire off part of your existing coop for the chicks, but I'd make sure it was very secure, as any chicks that "escape" into the other area would most likely be killed, sounds like to me.

 

[faykokoWV]

young female chicks being introduced to a rooster can be a problem. they want to mate and they are too big for the little ones. The hens can get pretty natsy establishing the pecking order too.

When I introduce youngsters to the flock I always make sure they have plenty of room. I also create little hidey hole spaces for the young ones so they have safe places to run to when the big chickens give them a hard time.

I have three roos that are three months old that still hide from the girls in the coop. I wish they would hurry up and mature!!

With chickens establishing a pecking order, keep in mind that there is a no blood no foul rule.

 

[Emmalion]

I would put your brooder (if you can) in the coop for awhile before letting them out with the others. This way they can all see each other without the danger of pecking. I am using a huge dog crate right now that I can move if need be but I plan on making a brooder area in my new coop to move them too when the time comes.

 

[Briarpatch]

Maybe I'll try putting a large dog crate in the coop and putting the chicks inside that. Maybe if he watches them for awhile he'll start to think that they're his ladies (in waiting).

 

[MustLoveHens]

First off:

and were gald your here!!

You still need to slowly introduce the new chickens to the exhisting rooster/flock. There are a number of ways to do this. Some people will set up a pen with the "newbies" next to the exhisting flock and some will actually make a "newbie" pen inside the exhisting flocks pen if space allows it. This way the newbies have protection from the old timers. Also, make sure that the newbies have plenty of hiding places to go to when they are finally released in with the exhisting group. Introduce all the newbies together when you place them into the flock. This way they have friends and it is not so traumatic on everyone.
Add more feeders and waterers so the competition for food and water is lessened. The rooster will "put" the newbies in their "place". He is establishing his dominance and your younglings may not be old enough for that yet. The hens will also dominate the newbies but the rooster, if he is a good rooster, will prevent them from getting out of hand. Once they reestablish a pecking order then everone will cohabitate well.
IMO, I would wait to introduce the newbies until they are atleast 3 months old. Im sure other BYC'ers will have different ideas on this, but I always waited until the chicks were at least 3 months old before I let them into the flock. I used drop pens or fly pens set up to house the newbies until they were old enough to go into the flock. I was lucky enough to have a large fenced yard so the Girls all got to free range. I place the fly pens in the yard so by the time the newbies were ready to get out, the pecking order fights were not that big a deal. If the new girls were having troubles, then they went back into the fly pen for a few more days.