Aggressive young roo attacking one young hen

[aart]

Welcome to BYC @lizziemt!

How old is the younger group?
Are there 2 cockerels in that group?

How do you plan to integrate youngers with olders?
Hope you have plenty of space.

Isolating the bully boy is good.
I have a stash of these crates, very handy.

 

[lizziemt]

Thanks,, Mrs. K, I agree. We've had hens for several years and had no intention of having a rooster, but sometimes that's what you get when you buy unsexed chicks! I think our experience to date did inform us so that we could act quickly when something was wrong.

Update: I separated Dusty from the rest of the flock early yesterday afternoon. Dusty periodically "shouted out" to his little flock throughout the afternoon. The hens quickly and rather happily adjusted to the separation. Around 6 pm, all had been quiet for about an hour. I went out to check on everyone, and Dusty was no longer in the run where I'd left him. He had managed to find a way into the back pasture, I think he flew over an 8 foot high wall and slipped through some netting, and was happily grazing with the rest of the chickens.

I'd gone out equipped with bread and a bottle of water, I was going to try to put them all together and see if I could distract Dusty or provide some negative reinforcement for the negative behavior. Before too long Dusty looked like he was going after Goldie, so I gave him the treats call and gave everyone some bread. No more hostility.

I noticed that Dusty is quite afraid of one of the older girls. She chased him, and kept him too busy to bother Goldie. Dusty is pretty neurotic from my POV. But up to roosting time there were no further attacks on poor Goldie, who sat in my lap and fell asleep for a bit yesterday evening.

We left the inside doors that separate the young chickens from the older girls open last night, and when we opened the girls up this morning, they were all milling about in the big girls coop. Except Dusty. Who was alone in the front run. I think our older hens are keeping him in line for now.

All has been quiet today. I don't know if the we've reached the middle or the end of this story. But thank you all for the advice, you've been extremely helpful, and thanks for your quick responses. It was very helpful to know I was seeing unusual behavior. Separating them yesterday was the right thing to do. I thought that since Dusty is so attached to his little flock, we will give him another chance. But we are watching very carefully for any further aggression.

 

[lizziemt]

Thanks, aart! I didn't see your post until after I wrote the message above.

The young ones are 4 months old. One of them crowed yesterday, I think it was Dusty, but we have one BO with a very large comb. We've had girls with large combs, though, so I won't know unless I hear 2 roosters crowing. If I do, someone will have to go, because we only have a total of 6 chickens.

We have gradually introduced the birds. First in the same shed, but not able to see one another, then letting them see one another, get closer to one another but not touch, and then free range together. When they can do that happily, then we put them all in the chicken pasture, which is 30x40 feet with places to hide. Then we open the doors between the coops and they can all move freely between the coops and runs. We're waiting for them to decide to roost together. If they don't do that soon, we'll do it for them! We do have a lot of space, and are willing to be very patient with the introduction, there is less conflict that way.

I use the exact same cage to isolate a sick chicken. I didn't get it out yesterday because I thought it would be easy to keep Dusty in the little girls run. There are so many ways to be wrong when raising chickens!

 

[aart]

There are so many ways to be wrong when raising chickens!

..and so many ways to be right

Maybe just his temporary isolation changed his tune and/or the others.
That can work, just good to always have somewhere to isolate a rouge cockerel or any other bird.

Chicken Juggling!