Some (awful) person dumped 4 roosters on my parent's remote property in the woods. We caught all of them (turns out my husband missed his calling in chicken wrestling). One was being attacked by the two biggest roosters and is pretty beat up (eye won't open, missing all his tail feathers and a loft of feathers around his neck). I took him home with my and my parents kept the three others that seemed to be getting along fine. I have 11 hens right now all about 11 weeks old. I have a 15 bird coop and a big ole free range area for them. I didn't really want a rooster but I also don't see an issue owning one and I like the idea of extra protections for the hens while they free range. Our local no-kill animal shelter takes chickens so I can take him there if integrating him into my flock ends up being a bad decision.
My biggest concern is disease/mites etc. I know nothing about this birds background. All of the roosters were fine once they were picked up (didn't try to peck at me) and let us get within 5 or so feet of them orginally so I believe they were around humans somewhat. If I was a betting lady, I'd say someone got more roosters then they wanted in a straight chick run and dumped all of them in the woods. Pretty awful thing to do, but I'm trying my best to remedy the situation. Anyways, its possible the rooster isn't vaccinated for maricks (my hens all are). He might have mites, or any other potential disease I don't know about. He seems very docile and actually appreciated getting pets but that might be because he was injured? I like him and feel like he had a rough life so far so I'm now slightly attached.
Here are my questions: What would you your argument against integrating him with my flock? Is there anyway to avoid the disease (quarantine period, medicated food, etc)?
Thank you all ahead of time for your help.
My biggest concern is disease/mites etc. I know nothing about this birds background. All of the roosters were fine once they were picked up (didn't try to peck at me) and let us get within 5 or so feet of them orginally so I believe they were around humans somewhat. If I was a betting lady, I'd say someone got more roosters then they wanted in a straight chick run and dumped all of them in the woods. Pretty awful thing to do, but I'm trying my best to remedy the situation. Anyways, its possible the rooster isn't vaccinated for maricks (my hens all are). He might have mites, or any other potential disease I don't know about. He seems very docile and actually appreciated getting pets but that might be because he was injured? I like him and feel like he had a rough life so far so I'm now slightly attached.
Here are my questions: What would you your argument against integrating him with my flock? Is there anyway to avoid the disease (quarantine period, medicated food, etc)?
Thank you all ahead of time for your help.
