A New Rooster is coming.....

[jbrown_14105]

Folks,
My hens are only 6-9 months old, and down the road is a 6-9 month old Rooster that a local farmer friend wants to give to me.
Do I "quarintine" him for a month, (this I assume) and let him see the "territory" & the hens before letting him Join in and free-range/forage with the hens.
Any questions of comments are welcome, he is coming this Friday.
Jim Brown
Lockport NY

 

[MomMommyMamma]

I believe a 30 day quarantine is always recommended.

 

[gryeyes]

Quarantine means keep away from the rest of the flock, so no infectious disease or little buggies make it into your flock.

THEN you should put him where he can see his new flock, and they can see him, preferably next to them or inside the yard, with a fence separating them. For a week or so.

Then either put him in with 'em, or remove any temporary fence you may have set up for the integration/separation period.

The pecking order thing WILL end up with him being at the top, and there will be a whole lot of squawking, chasing, feather pulling, and he will attempt to (or succeed at) mounting them.

As long as there isn't any bloodshed, let that process work itself out.

Good luck! It's gonna be hard on YOU but it's Nature's way. Roosters always rise to the top of the pecking order. (With only one of them. If you had more than one rooster, there will be a dominant one, and the other roosters could be anywhere in the pecking order, not just ending up as The Head Rooster's #2 guy.)