Chicks and the Cock - problem :(

[1eggnog]

Our cockerel doesnt seem very happy to see the new chicks - they are currently in a run with their mum so that the chickens can get used to haveing her back with her new additions to the family. The cockerel (Tigger) got all angry and tried to scare her and the chicks for about an hour and has now calmed down. But i am worried that when i let them out he will hurt them if he does he will have to find a new home coz we have chicks every year and there are 2 other chickens on eggs at the moment so i cant have him being a bully.
Do you think now he has calmed down that he will be nice to them?
Is there any way to win him over?
the chicks are an orpington chick and a buff mottled booted bantam so i have 1 massive chick and 1 micro so event tho the big chick could be ok im not so sure about the smaller - as she is VERY small.
Thanks for any advice

 

[gryeyes]

Any "new" bird is a stranger, and to chickens, that means "danger." Even little bitty chicks.

Any time birds are added to a flock, or removed,it upsets the pecking order. They go through it all over again. It doesn't take long for a once-familiar hen to become a stranger, either. (one way to deal with a bully bird is to remove it from the flock for a few days, then return it to the flock where it gas to re-establish its status.)

So, integration by visible segregation works pretty well. Many folks don't allow moms with new chicks into the flock without segregating them for a time to protect them. This can be accomplished by simply putting up temporary chicken wire barrier around some sort of shelter, maybe just the nest box, plus a separate feeder and waterer in there with them. A week or two will let everybody get used to each other safely through the chicken wire without injury. Then remove the temporary fence (but leave the feeder and watered available) so everybody mingles again. They won't be strangers any more and the pecking order can be re-established.

Mamas with chicks usually protect their babies, but you might need something with a smaller opening only the chicks can enter when somebody chases them.

 

[donrae]

I leave my broodies in the flock and they raise the babies there. My roosters have always been protective of the chicks, and momma has always let the other hens know to leave the babies alone. You might just need to let momma kick his butt. If he continues to be aggressive toward the chicks, I'd cull him. I won't have a rooster killing chicks, or even making life hard for them. Roosters are to be benevolent protectors, not aggressors. Ever.