Adding a rooster...now or later?

[kproffer]

I have a flock of 11 girls that are 2-3 weeks old. I was going to buy a rooster but debating on whether to get one now or next spring when I expand my flock. Does it make any difference if they grow up together? Or if I got an adult from a local swap would I need to keep him separate from the chicks until they’re older?

 

[lily7grace92]

I personally had 2 roosters that grew up with their hens and 1 was the nastiest thing alive and the other is the complete opposite. The rooster definitely doesn’t have to be brought up with the hens, but I wouldn’t put a full grown rooster with younger hens as he may hurt them. It really depends on the roosters personality in my experience.

 

[keesmom]

I'd wait. First see if any of your current chicks are oops cockerels.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would wait too, adding a full grown rooster to laying hens is the easiest addition in chickens. I think you get better roosters when they are not raised with flock mates. They get much bigger, faster than the pullets, and a lot of the time, you wind up pulling him out or cull him because he is making your pullet's life hell.

Later on, when you have a multi-generaltional flock, well then raise up one in the flock. Those old girls will give him some manners.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does it make any difference if they grow up together?

Personally I like a cockerel to grow up with a mixed age flock that has an established rooster. But that's just personal preference. I grew up with flock like that and I have a lot of room. I don't know how much room you have but if space is tight the entire dynamic changes. You are in a different situation than me.

To me the biggest difference in bringing in a male as a chick as opposed to adding a mature rooster to a flock of mature hens is that you have to watch them go through puberty. There is a huge difference in a hormonal adolescent cockerel running loose with no restraints and a mature rooster. The females also have a part to play in this, immature pullets don't react the same as mature hens. And sometimes mature hens can make life really horrible for an immature cockerel, though it can be the other way around.

Each situation is different. The more room they have usually the easier the process. But the individual personalities of your chickens also plays a big part, not just the male but the females also, especially your dominant hen when some females are mature. Typically mature chickens, male and female, create a pretty docile flock but as someone on here once said, watching them go through puberty is not for the faint of heart.

In my opinion from a rooster-hen behavior perspective I don't think it really makes that much difference if they grow up with the same flock or not. So much of that behavior is instinctive. Different chickens have different personalities so you don't always get a "good" rooster or a "good" hen, but the majority will take their proper position in the flock once they mature. Puberty though can be rough to watch.

Or if I got an adult from a local swap would I need to keep him separate from the chicks until they’re older?

If you're going to bring in a chicken from a swap I'd gain an understanding of quarantine. Some flocks develop flock immunities. They may be carriers to certain diseases or parasites but may have developed immunity to them. Coccidiosis is a great example but there are others. It could be your flock or the chicken you are bringing in. Quarantine is unlikely to catch this. If the flock the chicken is coming from has been closed (not exposed to new chickens) for a few months they have essentially been in quarantine if the person keeping them would recognize it and be honest enough to tell you. But if a chicken has been exposed to other chickens recently, like one coming form a swap, quarantine is probably a really good idea.

You have the same general issues if you get a cow, goat, or horse at a swap or an auction. Part of it would be how valuable your existing flock or herd is to you. Lots of people buy animals at auction or get them at swaps and never consider quarantine. We are all in different situations.

Parasites and diseases can be spread by them eating or drinking together, sharing dirt say by scratching from one pen to another or you tracking dirt on your shoes, by vectors such as mosquitoes, or just the wind. The better you can isolate them the more effective your quarantine will be. Many of us don't have the facilities for a proper quarantine.

Personally I would not put a male in with a bunch of pullets until most of the pullets are laying. Usually when pullets start laying they start acting more like mature hens and can start to perform their flock duties. Avoid that puberty thing with males and females. Life will be less stressful for you and them.

My recommendation is that you wait. First to see if one of those current pullets really is a cockerel. That's not the end of the world, plenty of us do that quite successfully but puberty can be especially stressful for people without that chicken experience. For some of us that is usually just chickens being chickens as long as no one is really being injured.

Then either this late summer/fall when most are laying or next spring, introduce a 1 to 2 year old rooster to them. The majority of the time that will be a smooth integration, depending a bit on their individual personalities that you can't judge beforehand anyway.

To me an equally acceptable way would be to purposely bring in a male chick when you expand your flock next year. That's how I add new blood to my flock, bring in cockerels as chicks and raise them with the flock. Then I eat the ones that I don't want to be flock master. I'll mention room again, the more room you have the easier this process usually is. The other part, about puberty. A lot of that is your expectations. Many people see what I consider normal typical chicken behavior and freak out. To me, as long as no one is being injured it is no big deal. Some people just can't stand to see that behavior though. This is as much about you as the chickens.

 

[MountainWoman73]

I've never added a rooster in later. All mine have been cockerels raised with the pullets. However, I think it has more to do with the temperament of the cockerel than whether he's raised there or not. I raised two at the same time two years ago. One was a rapist, hurting the girls and pulling out feathers. The hens would run/hide from him, and sound an alarm if he was just walking by and got to close. The other, raised at the same time, was gentle with the hens, and they would run to him and stand behind him when upset. It was nice that their preference was so obvious, because I had an easy choice. I named the gentle one Curly (Oh what a beautiful mor-ning!) and the other one Judd Fry. (Poor Judd is dead, a candle lights his head..)

 

[kproffer]

Thank you all for such great insight!