a big chicken of a chicken!

[lellies chicks]

When we started our flock we purchased 6 straight run golden laced wyandottes. Unfortunatly we ended up with 5 roosters. My father in law has a small flock of 7 mixed breed hens and said he would love a rooster. We gave him one about 18weeks old. Unfortunatly, he was pecked mercilessly by his hens. After about 5 days we brought him home thinking we could wait until he was a little bigger, but now he acts scared of our chickens and just wanders around by himself. He acts scared all the time! what is the best way to introduce a rooster to an established group of hens? And would it be better to give him a different untraumatized rooster? Or stick with mr scaredy cat? How do I get him his confidence back?:/

 

[DraigAthar]

Chickens forget their own pretty quickly. The hens in your FIL's flock bullied him probably because he's not fully grown and they know it. Then when you brought him back, his old flock had already forgotten him and he's now the newcomer/intruder. I'm not sure which option is best. I know that when I introduce a slightly young roo to an adult flock of hens, he does often get bullied at first but once he figures out he's supposed to be the man of the coop, he steps up to the plate. It just takes a little while. Like I always say, as long as no one is getting bloodied, it's best to let them sort it out. Anytime you introduce a new chicken, male or female, it upsets that pecking order and they have to have their squabbles to sort out the new order.

 

[lellies chicks]

Here at the home flock (besides being a loner) he is doing fine. The main reason we brought him home was because my fil chickens wouldn't. Lt him eat or drink. One hen would keep guard on him while the others ate and then they would change! Do you think it would be betterto send back a dif roo, or that the first will eventually come around?

 

[DraigAthar]

A good idea when introducing any new chickens is to have a second feeder and waterer in the enclosure that is some distance away from the normal feeder and waterer. That way the newcomer will be able to get food. It's hard for bullies to keep the newcomer away from multiple feeders ALL the time. And eventually they integrate.

I don't think it matters if you send a different one or the same one. You can always try a different one if you like, just to see if the first one was a weenie, lol.