Questions about timing and age for introducing roosters.

[MadinWonderland]

I apologize if this has been asked, there are so many threads and I don't know exactly how to word what I'm looking for in the search.
I have 10.. 8 month old babies, we will call this gang of girls, the OGs.
I just picked up 8 new babies, this gang of girls are the Regulators.
I would like to get 2 roosters.
Should I get a rooster closer to the OGs age and get a rooster the age of the regulators? I wanted to raise the roosters but I don't know how the dynamic would be if I introduce roosters that are smaller and younger than the OGs
Man I hope this mKes sense...

 

[Purelychicks]

I apologize if this has been asked, there are so many threads and I don't know exactly how to word what I'm looking for in the search.
I have 10.. 8 month old babies, we will call this gang of girls, the OGs.
I just picked up 8 new babies, this gang of girls are the Regulators.
I would like to get 2 roosters.
Should I get a rooster closer to the OGs age and get a rooster the age of the regulators? I wanted to raise the roosters but I don't know how the dynamic would be if I introduce roosters that are smaller and younger than the OGs
Man I hope this mKes sense...

Idk if this helps, but our hen sat on some eggs and only 3 hatched, she tried to kill 2 so we took them from her. They turned out both hens. She liked the 3rd baby and he turned out a roo, anyways that’s besides the point. We kept her with the rest of the flock and so him and his mom grew up with the “OG’s” he’s 5mo now and he’s already “flirting with the hens.” We also have a 4 yo rooster and he doesn’t mind him at all so I would say get a calm rooster that’s around the OG’s age, and then get a baby roo? Maybe if a chick grows up w/ the flock it will bond with them?

 

[aart]

I apologize if this has been asked, there are so many threads and I don't know exactly how to word what I'm looking for in the search.
I have 10.. 8 month old babies, we will call this gang of girls, the OGs.
I just picked up 8 new babies, this gang of girls are the Regulators.
I would like to get 2 roosters.
Should I get a rooster closer to the OGs age and get a rooster the age of the regulators? I wanted to raise the roosters but I don't know how the dynamic would be if I introduce roosters that are smaller and younger than the OGs
Man I hope this mKes sense...

Are the new ones day old chicks, or.....?
Why do you want 2 males?
1 male would likely keep all the girls fertilized for hatching more chicks, if that's your goal.

 

[NatJ]

I have 10.. 8 month old babies, we will call this gang of girls, the OGs.
I just picked up 8 new babies, this gang of girls are the Regulators.
I would like to get 2 roosters.
Should I get a rooster closer to the OGs age and get a rooster the age of the regulators? I wanted to raise the roosters but I don't know how the dynamic would be if I introduce roosters that are smaller and younger than the OGs

If you want to start with a young male chick instead of buying an adult rooster, you should be able to just raise him with the new little ones. As long as they're about the same age, and younger than about 2-3 weeks, it's usually safe to just add new chicks and they'll accept them pretty easily.

If you intend to integrate all the groups into one flock, you might be interested in the ideas in this article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/
That would work equally well with chicks of either gender.

If you want fertile eggs now, of course you need an adult rooster now. But the actual age isn't too important, as long as he's acting mature (crowing, mating, and so forth.)

 

[MadinWonderland]

If you want to start with a young male chick instead of buying an adult rooster, you should be able to just raise him with the new little ones. As long as they're about the same age, and younger than about 2-3 weeks, it's usually safe to just add new chicks and they'll accept them pretty easily.

If you intend to integrate all the groups into one flock, you might be interested in the ideas in this article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/
That would work equally well with chicks of either gender.

If you want fertile eggs now, of course you need an adult rooster now. But the actual age isn't too important, as long as he's acting mature (crowing, mating, and so forth.)

Thank you. I'm wanting to expand with more females in the next few months on e the new babies intigrate. I wanted one that was calmer and won't try to force mate as much as a juvenile. (I'm pretty sure my top 2 ladies would not be nice to one like that and may over power a youngerish one.) I am going ro read this and research more. A lot of articles say just throw one in with them, but I don't think I'm comfortable trying that.

 

[NatJ]

A lot of articles say just throw one in with them, but I don't think I'm comfortable trying that.

A lot of articles say that because it often does work just fine. If you add new hens, they have to fit into the pecking order somewhere. And if you add roosters to other roosters, they have to settle the pecking order too. But one rooster, joining a group of hens that have no rooster, isn't going to have the same kind of issues.

You could try putting an adult rooster in with the hens, and watch what happens. If it goes well, you're done. If it goes poorly, pick him up and put him in a wire dog crate or similar setup for a look-no-touch introduction period (so they can get used to each other through the wire mesh, without being able to actually hurt each other.)

As for whether an introduction is going well: chickens flaring up their feathers and staring at each other is fine. Sometimes they can settle things just by bluffing. Jumping at each other and flapping their wings can be fine too. Again, that can often settle things without any injuries.

But it's better to intervene if they actually start to draw blood. It is very unlikely that they will cause any serious injuries without you seeing it coming, as long as you're dealing with normal chickens that are all grown up (no gamefowl, no young chicks.) Comb injuries are not "serious" in my experience-- they bleed heavily and scare the person, but heal fast with no lasting harm.

 

[RubelliteRose]

I would get males the age of the younger group so your older girls can try to teach them manners. Young males can be very pushy or even aggressive when the hormones kick in. Our girls hatched out 4 males last year. 2 turned into hen-aggressive holy terrors. We culled them. Our original rooster was so stressed he abandoned his girls and became aggressive to humans - we culled him too. The other two boys have so far been very good. They get along well with the girls(they respected the pecking order and didn't try to mate with the top hen first!) and each other. They are showing no signs of human aggression and will let us handle them for med checks. Always keep an eye on your flocks behavior - just because males are raised together and with the flock doesn't mean that they will get along with each other.
How much space do you have for your flock? That makes as much difference in the number of males you can keep as the number of hens you have.

 

[MadinWonderland]

A lot of articles say that because it often does work just fine. If you add new hens, they have to fit into the pecking order somewhere. And if you add roosters to other roosters, they have to settle the pecking order too. But one rooster, joining a group of hens that have no rooster, isn't going to have the same kind of issues.

You could try putting an adult rooster in with the hens, and watch what happens. If it goes well, you're done. If it goes poorly, pick him up and put him in a wire dog crate or similar setup for a look-no-touch introduction period (so they can get used to each other through the wire mesh, without being able to actually hurt each other.)

As for whether an introduction is going well: chickens flaring up their feathers and staring at each other is fine. Sometimes they can settle things just by bluffing. Jumping at each other and flapping their wings can be fine too. Again, that can often settle things without any injuries.

But it's better to intervene if they actually start to draw blood. It is very unlikely that they will cause any serious injuries without you seeing it coming, as long as you're dealing with normal chickens that are all grown up (no gamefowl, no young chicks.) Comb injuries are not "serious" in my experience-- they bleed heavily and scare the person, but heal fast with no lasting harm.

Thank you! I love all your knoedge and guidance

 

[fluffycrow]

Why would you like two cockerels, for the number of pullets you have, a single cockerel can do the job just fine. As Natj has mentioned, the cockerel won't have a serious problem with integrating, it's not the same as a group of pullets or a group of cockerels

 

[MadinWonderland]

Why would you like two cockerels, for the number of pullets you have, a single cockerel can do the job just fine. As Natj has mentioned, the cockerel won't have a serious problem with integrating, it's not the same as a group of pullets or a group of cockerels

I was told with the amount of girls total 2 would be good
1 for the older girls now and 1 when the babies get integrated.
That's why I'm confused now.
I'm not looking to have any babies yet so that's ok
I want one now to put with the girls as a warning call. I know he'll protect them, but he would be my baby too so I don't want him to have to give his life doing so. I work from home and he would be the alert i can hear through the house.
Then was told if I hand raise one now with the baby girls so that he will be be established with them and the integration will be easier?