Young hens and an even Younger Rooster How to introduce

[Soopermum]

Due to a Red tailed Hawk, I have lost my older Egg laying hens. They were Free Range.

All I have left are my babies I purchased from Family Farm and Home in Mid-March (Hen Chick Days). ( mid-late February-very early March hatch for these girls)
I have 3 Rhode Island Reds, 5 Black Australorps, and 2 Gold Laced Wyandottes. I am pretty sure one of the Gold Laced Wyandottes is giving me eggs already (I caught her in the nest box and found an egg shortly after).
A couple of my Black Australorps are bigger than the others and one of them is very dominant. She has been mounting the other hens and bossing them around. (No crowing or pointy feathers) Because of that Red tailed Hawk, ( a big lady she picked up a 10 lb. chicken like it was nothing), We decided on getting a rooster. We want to Free Range our Flock again but under supervision. (They are in a covered run with attached coop right now.)

Our Rooster was an April 2022 hatch. He is a Black Copper Maran and Leg Bar Mix. He is just figuring out that he is a rooster.

My question is How do I keep him safe from the dominant girl? Right now He is in a dog cage next to the chicken run. The girls do go and hang out with him at the fence quite a bit, I have went out and checked on them and they will be lying there next to the fence by him.

I was wondering if I should take the dominant girl out and put her in "time out" and try putting him in with the other 9?

or if I should toss him in after another few days and hope there is no mayhem?

I can put up a temporary Run next to the current run so he can get some exercise. Or to put the Bossy girl into for time out--Which I really don't want to do because these girls are almost all to the point of first lay.

All advice is appreciated.

 

[CFLRanching]

You're doing good by putting him close, my next move would be to put the crate inside the run (with him in it) for a few days like that (even a week) then let him out into the run with them. Stay out and watch and make sure they don't attack him. How much younger is he than they are?

See how they handle him being with them during the day before you house them at night together. Once they all get used to each other then they should reorganize the dominance on their own.

As far as turning them out again, a rooster yes will warn them, but that will not stop a hawk (especially if they've already got an appetite for your previous birds). The only way you will stop them is to take away their food source. We had several red tails (and an owl family)that were getting our bantams for about a month (we have a lot of chickens, and we would just randomly say, oh have you seen so and so, only to realize we hadn't seen that one in a couple days). We finally made the hard decision to keep our bantams in the run fulltime (which I hate for them) but if we kept them out it would be their death certificate we were signing. So just my advice on turning them out. We turn our standard sizes out no problem, but our bantams stay in the run.

 

[Soopermum]

You're doing good by putting him close, my next move would be to put the crate inside the run (with him in it) for a few days like that (even a week) then let him out into the run with them. Stay out and watch and make sure they don't attack him. How much younger is he than they are?

See how they handle him being with them during the day before you house them at night together. Once they all get used to each other then they should reorganize the dominance on their own.

As far as turning them out again, a rooster yes will warn them, but that will not stop a hawk (especially if they've already got an appetite for your previous birds). The only way you will stop them is to take away their food source. We had several red tails (and an owl family)that were getting our bantams for about a month (we have a lot of chickens, and we would just randomly say, oh have you seen so and so, only to realize we hadn't seen that one in a couple days). We finally made the hard decision to keep our bantams in the run fulltime (which I hate for them) but if we kept them out it would be their death certificate we were signing. So just my advice on turning them out. We turn our standard sizes out no problem, but our bantams stay in the run.

He (Bandit) is about 4 weeks younger than the girls. He was hatched in April, and the girls were bought as babies on March 12 at Family Farm and Home.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My question is How do I keep him safe from the dominant girl?

My question is do you really need to? 4 month old pullets and a 3 month od cockerel that is getting the first attack or hormones. This could go many different ways. The more room they have the more likely a good outcome.

It's possible there can be no to very little drama. Not highly likely long term but possible at first and sometimes long term. You never know.

One or more of the older girls may seek him out to beat him up. It's not always the dominant hen. Sometimes the lowest in the pecking order are the worst bullies.

As he matures and the hormones take more control he may harrass them, forcing them to mate. Some may submit, most will try to run away, some may fight back, especially the dominant girl. This may get rough enough that you will want to isolate him or one of the girls, it can be hard to watch. Or it may go fairly smoothly. Most of the time with mine it doesn't get that rough but I have been known to isolate the boys.

The girls may let him mingle with them or they may make him keep to himself. As long as no one is getting hurt I'm OK with either. It will work out long term.

I was wondering if I should take the dominant girl out and put her in "time out" and try putting him in with the other 9?

or if I should toss him in after another few days and hope there is no mayhem?

I don't know how long he has been next to them or how much room you have, either in the run or in the coop. My suggestion is to put him in with them when you can observe and base your actions on what you see. Have a place ready so you can isolate a chicken if you need to, if you need that you may need it quickly.

I'll repeat. Base your actions on what you see, not what some stranger over the internet like me tells you that you will see. Each situation is different, you never really know what will happen, even if you have done it before. Sometimes it is extremely easy, sometimes not.

Good luck!

 

[Soopermum]

Thank You!