Adding a rooster to a flock of 20 hens

[BBrady]

Is there anything I need to know about how to add an adult rooster to my flock? 10 hens are 15 weeks old and 10 hens are 18 weeks old. A friend is getting rid of hers, and I may take it.

 

[chickens r life]

I was wondering the same thing... I have 16 hens and I want to add a rooster...

 

[ChickenLadyinNY]

That's exactly what I came here to ask! Any advice for adding a Roo to a flock of hens? Thanks

 

[chickens r life]

I guess you should just toss him in there a keep an eye on them... lol that's what I'm going to do...

 

[junebuggena]

How smoothly the introduction goes depends on how old the birds involved are. A young cockerel added to a flock of older hens is probably going to get his butt kicked around for a few weeks. An older rooster introduced to a flock of immature pullets is going to be too much for the young pullets. A mature rooster will breed immature pullets, if there are no mature hens for him. He might end up hurting a few.
The best strategy would be to wait until all the girls are laying and then add a cockerel that's a month or two younger. Or, in an established flock of hens over a year old, get a boy that is at least 6 months or older.

 

[sophiaw00]

I just got a rooster and added him into my flock of 8 pullets. They aren't laying yet, but just about there. I brought him and a pullet home and put them in the coop while locking my original girls in the run. My coop is made out of pallets so there are a lot of slats where the newbies and oldies can see each other and get to know each other. I was going to leave them that way until night time and then put the newbies on the roost with the oldies. I went to make sure the newbies had food & water and the rooster, Daryl, ran right past me into the run with the oldies. Dixie, the top of the pecking order, immediatley went after him and they got in a scuffle. All was good but because she kept relentlessly pecking at him, I put her in a "time out crate" inside the run. There is no floor, so she is still able to forage, but it is smaller. The rooster and the other girls can still see her though. He went around and introduced him to the other girls. Not a single peck that I can remember. He did a little "mating dance" where he walked around in a circle, leaning in towards them, and they all accepted him. When I let Dixie back out, she went and pecked him again but he did his little dance and she accepted him. Now Dixie is Daryl's favorite girl. He's now at the top of the pecking order and is such a great rooster.


As for the new pullet, she wasn't as accepted as easily. Still trying to get her to be part of the flock.

 

[Bine]

Oh, and don't add a heavy rooster to light hens. The guy will hopp on them more than once every day, so be nice and don't add a too big boy to the girls.

 

[aart]

Is there anything I need to know about how to add an adult rooster to my flock? 10 hens are 15 weeks old and 10 hens are 18 weeks old. A friend is getting rid of hers, and I may take it.

How old is the 'rooster'?
What's his history as far as behavior?
Any concerns regarding bio security(bringing in pests/disease)?

 

[BBrady]

Rooster is a few months older than the girls, not yet a year, but maybe almost. He has fine behavior, some black areas on his comb that look like recent scabs, and super scaley feet. I have him in a separate pen inside the run, and the girls seem interested. He got out of the pen into the yard for a few hours and mostly hung out walking back and forth along one area of the run fence. One girl jumped the fence and followed him around for a while, then jumped back in the fence : she is the last one to have her wings clipped, we clipped them tonight (so no one can get out now, no one gets up too high in the coop). He is a mixed breed standard size but looks like a Rhode Island Red.

 

[aart]

Rooster is a few months older than the girls, not yet a year, but maybe almost. He has fine behavior, some black areas on his comb that look like recent scabs, and super scaley feet. I have him in a separate pen inside the run, and the girls seem interested. He got out of the pen into the yard for a few hours and mostly hung out walking back and forth along one area of the run fence. One girl jumped the fence and followed him around for a while, then jumped back in the fence : she is the last one to have her wings clipped, we clipped them tonight (so no one can get out now, no one gets up too high in the coop). He is a mixed breed standard size but looks like a Rhode Island Red.

Are you concerned about the black spot and scaly leg mites the cockerel has?

He might be fine with your almost mature pullets, be ready to separate him if he's too rough.