5 New Birds to be Integrated to existing flock of 18

[Mrs. K]

Yeah - but he is in a strange place. He should be moving up pretty soon. Once I got a very pretty rooster, he was a year old, and he roosted on the bench for a good week, before making his move. I am thinking this fellow will be fine in another month.

Mrs K

 

[3KillerBs]

And I thought males took the lead in such things. @3KillerBs suggested above that cockerels sometimes roost lower as a sign of respect. I hope that is correct rather than him being weenie.

They'll take the lead once they're old enough -- when he becomes flockmaster. Or, at least, is ready to try to claim the position.

When I closed up the coop they were still fussing around, but I had Rameses and his black son Seti on the main roosts while his blue son, Rameses II stayed on the lower roosts with the juvenilles. Seti and R2 are from the same hatch (October), but Seti is larger and more active in assisting Rameses with flock management -- including helping me round up the unauthorized free rangers.

 

[Ted Brown]

@Mrs. K @3KillerBs

I very much appreciate your advice and guidance. This is my 4th year but I still encounter situations where I am uncertain how to proceed.

BYC has been my go to since before I built the coop. I have looked at other forums but none even comes close.

 

[Ted Brown]

Update & Reflection

April 14th I removed both roosters from coop into separate cage; placed Chantecler group (1 Cockerel and 4 pullets) with 15 remaining hens.

The Chant group are cemented together 24/7; their egg song is minimum 4 voices. Wilfred is solidly in control of the flock.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think that will be a nice flock.

 

[kbroom]

Any kind of fencing taht would keep the new birds from touching the old birds.


Yes, it would be great to have the coop divided, but difficult with your coop.
Why you would need to put a place for the new birds to roost sheltered from preds and weather.

I don't know what I'm doing, so I have an excuse. At least that's what I'm using. LOL! I got some black, plastic netting on the web. It's easy to put up, tie with plastic wire ties and polls. My larger birds had been in a smaller coop for a short period, but apparently they've never forgotten! When my friend built a larger coop for my big birds, I put up tomato stakes, and wrapped the netting around them, surrounding the smaller coop. Now my "babies" have their own little coop, and small run, and the larger birds have their coop, and the whole rest of the run. They're still at the stage where I have to chase them to put them in their coop. My large Wyandotte, Sugar, literally ran into the golden sex links (babies) coop today, running from me! My husband has longer arms and caught her for me! She did NOT even harm the babies, but of course, she only wanted to run from me. However, the babies were a little nervous. For a few days now, I've been sprinkling bird "goodies" along the netted fence line for both sets of birds to eat, so they'll get used to each other. Hopefully, in another month or so of eating together, the big birds won't try to harm the little ones...stand by for Book 2, Revenge Of The Wyandotte!