Advice on keeping roosters

[chickentvforme]

Long story short...We decided to keep chickens so we bought 4 pullets and 1 Cockerel at 6 weeks old. Flash forward to week 16 we have 3 Cockerels and 2 hens (so much for correct sexing). I knew this wasn't a healthy flock ratio so I decided to rehome one Cockerel and bought 7 more day old hens (heres hoping) to be delivered next week. Will there be a problem with 2 Cockerel and 2 hens until I can grow the babies up big enough to merge? Should I see if I can get another hen off craigslist to put in the flock now? How long do I have before the boys get crazy? What does crazy entail anyway? Just any advice would be awesome. Nervous about the roosters.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Crazy happens around 3-5 months, they start crowing, get cocky, start grabbing on to the pullets neck feathers while they run in circles, pecking the pullets, stuff like that, I always like a wait and see attitude with roosters, if they get too rowdy I pen them up separately, I usually give them until they are fully mature at about a year old before I make my decisions. Hard to say what yours will do, but maybe think about a separation pen, they are nice to have.

If your roosters aren't trouble already they may be fine. Not all roosters are trouble, some are really nice.

 

[aart]

Get rid of 2, or all 3, of the cockerels before they start causing trouble.
Just 1 cockerel with 2 pullets will get ugly until they all gain sexual maturity at around 6-7 months.

How are you going to integrate the chicks with the older birds?

 

[chickentvforme]

Get rid of 2, or all 3, of the cockerels before they start causing trouble.

Just 1 cockerel with 2 pullets will get ugly until they all gain sexual maturity at around 6-7 months.

How are you going to integrate the chicks with the older birds?

I plan on putting them in a smaller cage inside of the main flocks run for a week. I will let them see the newbies before I put them in the coop one night. So far the guys aren't too interested in the girls. I rehomed the top cockerel yesterday. I'm not sure what to expect out of the other two now that #1 is gone.

 

[aart]

Quote: Another will take the top spot, might be some fighting over it.

Read up on integration, lots of ways to do it.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best of mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

Another option, if possible, is to put all birds in a new coop and run, this takes the territoriality issues away.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[Mrs. K]

If you are a first time chicken person, I would cull all the roosters. Roosters take some experience, and as you have found out, roosters are easy to get!

Get your pullets up and laying, then look around for a rooster that is more than 6 months old, as close to a year as you can get it. He will make a nice addition to a nice flock.

Aart is right, juvenile roosters can be terribly hard on pullets if there is not a few older hens or an older rooster to knock some manners into them and keep them nice.

Mrs K

 

[chickentvforme]

Thanks for all the advice! I didn't realize you could combine flocks before about 10 weeks old. That was very helpful to know. Unfortunately this is going to be a touchy problem considering my children already named the chickens. Lol. Spiderman and Taco Bell may just have to have a bachelor pad if they get out of line with the ladies. So far this week they are doing fine and let us pick them up and hold them everyday. If they turn to the dark side we may have to come up with plan B. Would love to know if anyone has had success with roosters being friendly with the flock as well as the human flock.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My roosters are respectful, they don't bother me, they move out of the way, though I have had some friendly ones in the past, I prefer a hands off approach, every rooster is different, I think it's knowing how to handle each one as they develop in a way that rooster needs, whether it's handling or not handling, it's the rooster who decides how best to deal with him, you just need to figure it out by learning chicken body language and intercepting them, watch for following behavior, either forward or side, don't let them be too forward. Most of mine end up good with the hens, I like roosters, they add another dimension to the flock dynamics.

 

[chickentvforme]

So if we have handled (i.e. holding and petting) roosters since they were 6 weeks old, will that make them friendly and tame? Or am I one day going to be attacked by them still?

 

[chickentvforme]

Oh and why would you leave the roosters alone? Does a tame rooster do a poor job with the flock?