Best time of day (or night) to introduce new rooster to flock?

[Wynette]

Interesting to see everyone's ideas! And helpful, as well!

I made a box about 3 ' x 4 ' x 18" high, with hardware cloth sides. I put my rooster in that box Friday after work, left him until dusk, then returned him to his normal pen. Put him back in the "intro box" Saturday morning early, and left him all day (with food and water, of course), and again returned him to his normal pen. Sunday, I put him in early & left him until about noon, then let him out. One girl chased him down & pecked him once HARD on the head, then he turned around and um....did the roosterly deed, and she was done chasing him after that. All went well by introducing them slowly.

 

[chickenbike]

My friend will do the slow-intro like you did Wynette. How old is your rooster that you introduced? My guy is 16 weeks.....a little young to actually mate yet, I think, but he should stand up for himself and put the hens in place I hope.

He was the submissive rooster here, so this is his chance to be the big man! When the one hen checked him out last night, he raised his neck feathers, made himself big etc. I was glad to see that as I was worried that with 6 hens, the hens might have over-ruled him......I'm sure he'll do his thing though!

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

I just bought a Rhode Island Red rooster and put him in with 3 hens. He is about 3 mos and they are about 6 mos....maybe not the greatest idea, but.....I put them together about an hour ago and watched for about 40 min or so. They have a big area to get away from each other if need be and the hens know all the good high places to hide or get up and roost if they get tired of him. The rooster thought he was tough at first and fluffed up and pecked at one of the hens and then she showed him who was boss and now he runs from her. Another hen, though, was running away from him, so I took her out of there until I have more time tomorrow to keep an eye out.

 

[chickenbike]

The age difference should help somewhat, but do keep a close eye on things. As long as the hens have a definite place to escape to you should be okay.

Because my friend's situation involved 6 hens, it took about a month of screened separation before we let them interact. There was never any major scuffle, just the odd chase (no blooshed, no feather pull-outs). The rooster has now matured and is doing his mating and rules the girls!

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

thanks for the input.....i just sorta threw him in there and hoped for the best....it was in a place that was neither theirs nor his, so i was hoping that would exclude the territorial part of it.

 

[LocoPollo]

I just threw a RIR rooster in with my flock yesterday, hoping for the best. My sussex roos seemed to tolerate him well. Sussex seem to be good that way. My game rooster, however, was another story. He didnt like him at all. The rir went hiding in the coop to get away from him, lodging himself on the highest roost in the coop, and wasnt heard from again for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, that happens to be mr. alpha-game roo's spot, and come roosting time he was not at all happy. Last I saw was the rir came flying out of the coop amidst a bunch of squawking, and when I left he was wandering the yard by himself while all the others had gone to roost.

Poor guy. I took him for a friend who thought he had all pullets and didnt want a roo at all. I am not sure what I will do with him. I thought I would just eat him, but he is really skinny still so I am not sure. I don't know how old he is but he is just getting his tail feathers in. He has like two long ones now. My sussex, at 20 weeks now, have full tail feathers.

Anyway, we'll see. Hopefully he will survive the wrathful mr alpha game roo!

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

hes probably older than you might think, no old, but oldER. Maybe he got picked on a lot and thats why he doesnt have many tail feathers and maybe they didnt let him eat much -- skinny.

 

[chickenbike]

LocoPollo, unless you're in a hurray, I'd give things time. It really was a good month before my friend's girls and the new rooster sorted things out (pecking order etc).

I would just be sure that everyone can have "their" space. Roosters can and do (obviously) kill one another in worst case scenarios. Can you provide other roost options for the RIR rooster so he's not taking the alpha roos spot?

I believe lots of folks just put in a new flock member (rooster or hen) and leave it at that. For myself and my friend, we didn't want any fighting with bloodshed, so we opted for the divider system. That way everyone can see each other, get used to each other, but no bloodshed.

There are others more experienced than I, and it is from their input that I read both types of introducing new flock members and chose the divider route.