4 month old roo mounting 4 month old hen

[BirdBrain22]

I have a very active 4 month old cockerel who has been mounting my 4 month old pullets . The pullets are not laying eggs yet and I’m worried if this could cause health issues. We have some older hens about 23 weeks old who we are trying to integrate into our flock. Who are almost laying age. However when we let them all free range together our roo jumped on one of the new older pullets and gave her quite a scare. Once the other chickens are members of the flock we can place the roo in the smaller coop to give them a rest. Im just worried that he is too hard on the pullets in general and didn’t know what health concerns I need to be aware of. Thanks for your help. This is our first go with chickens and we got this roo as chick by mistake.

 

[SourRoses]

The health concerns are only feather loss and minor injuries... but there is a high stress factor for pullets.
I strongly favor putting overeager cockerels in jail, within sight, as I believe it makes them better mannered. They learn to try tempting the girls over to them for company, rather than chasing girls all around and being a bully.
With the ages of both groups of pullets it should be easier for the youngsters to deal with the older girls than with a cockerel bullying them.
So, if it was me, I'd catch him up, let the girls out together, and pop him in his new jail. You'll know when his manners have improved when girls want to spend time hanging out next to him for no other reason than he's there. Not for food or a special roost, you'll know the behavior when you see it. It should take a couple weeks at least, maybe a few months.

 

[BirdBrain22]

The health concerns are only feather loss and minor injuries... but there is a high stress factor for pullets.
I strongly favor putting overeager cockerels in jail, within sight, as I believe it makes them better mannered. They learn to try tempting the girls over to them for company, rather than chasing girls all around and being a bully.
With the ages of both groups of pullets it should be easier for the youngsters to deal with the older girls than with a cockerel bullying them.
So, if it was me, I'd catch him up, let the girls out together, and pop him in his new jail. You'll know when his manners have improved when girls want to spend time hanging out next to him for no other reason than he's there. Not for food or a special roost, you'll know the behavior when you see it. It should take a couple weeks at least, maybe a few months.

Thank you.

 

[BirdBrain22]

Thank you.

So we put Sergio our rooster in the smaller coop and the two older hens in the larger run with the other hens. They didn’t mind them being in the run, but Dorothy our red star chased the new hens off when they tried to enter the big coop to go to bed multiple times. So we had to put the older chickens back in the small run and coop and our rooster back in with the other chickens. Debating whether we try again tomorrow or wait a day to let everyone regroup. What are your thoughts?

 

[BirdBrain22]

The health concerns are only feather loss and minor injuries... but there is a high stress factor for pullets.
I strongly favor putting overeager cockerels in jail, within sight, as I believe it makes them better mannered. They learn to try tempting the girls over to them for company, rather than chasing girls all around and being a bully.
With the ages of both groups of pullets it should be easier for the youngsters to deal with the older girls than with a cockerel bullying them.
So, if it was me, I'd catch him up, let the girls out together, and pop him in his new jail. You'll know when his manners have improved when girls want to spend time hanging out next to him for no other reason than he's there. Not for food or a special roost, you'll know the behavior when you see it. It should take a couple weeks at least, maybe a few So we put Sergio our rooster in the smaller coop and the two older hens in the larger run with the other hens. They didn’t mind them being in the run, but Dorothy our red star chased the new hens off when they tried to enter the big coop to go to bed multiple times. So we had to put the older chickens back in the small run and coop and our rooster back in with the other chickens. Debating whether we try again tomorrow or wait a day to let everyone regroup. What are your thoughts?

 

[BirdBrain22]

So we put Sergio our rooster in the smaller coop and the two older hens in the larger run with the other hens. They didn’t mind them being in the run, but Dorothy our red star chased the new hens off when they tried to enter the big coop to go to bed multiple times. So we had to put the older chickens back in the small run and coop and our rooster back in with the other chickens. Debating whether we try again tomorrow or wait a day to let everyone regroup. What are your thoughts?

 

[SourRoses]

It was probably unnecessary to separate the girls again. The first few nights of bedtime might be messy, but it should work out.
The urge to roost before the oncoming darkness is very strong, so it may just not have been dark enough yet for Dorothy to forget about them.
In the future you could try shooing her away from the coop long enough for the little ones to go in and get themselves settled first, but that requires it be quite close to dark so the young ones are desperate to go to bed in a hurry.
You can also try, once the sun is setting, dispensing scratch in a very scattered pattern, as the boss hens tend to be obsessed with claiming the best food. Ours at least, are so focused on finding every little bit that the meek juvenile leghorns have full run of the coop to get ready for bed.
A lot depends on the specifics of your setup. An entryway to the coop that is more challenging to navigate (narrow, or high) tends to be easier for the boss hen to guard. If you have an alternate door to open for the coop that can really help.
How big is the coop? Do they all have enough roosting space (1 ft each)?
There are a lot of threads on integration that might help you. One useful method I learned here was using different types of "clutter" to break easy line of sight in the run and around the feeders. Do make sure you have more than one feeder available too.

 

[BirdBrain22]

It was probably unnecessary to separate the girls again. The first few nights of bedtime might be messy, but it should work out.
The urge to roost before the oncoming darkness is very strong, so it may just not have been dark enough yet for Dorothy to forget about them.
In the future you could try shooing her away from the coop long enough for the little ones to go in and get themselves settled first, but that requires it be quite close to dark so the young ones are desperate to go to bed in a hurry.
You can also try, once the sun is setting, dispensing scratch in a very scattered pattern, as the boss hens tend to be obsessed with claiming the best food. Ours at least, are so focused on finding every little bit that the meek juvenile leghorns have full run of the coop to get ready for bed.
A lot depends on the specifics of your setup. An entryway to the coop that is more challenging to navigate (narrow, or high) tends to be easier for the boss hen to guard. If you have an alternate door to open for the coop that can really help.
How big is the coop? Do they all have enough roosting space (1 ft each)?
There are a lot of threads on integration that might help you. One useful method I learned here was using different types of "clutter" to break easy line of sight in the run and around the feeders. Do make sure you have more than one feeder available too.

Thank you. I will look into some other threads. I appreciate your help!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I like to separate the rowdy roosters from the young hens and put them in with the older hens. They teach him to be a gentleman.