Consolidated Kansas

[sloanbychoice]

This KS weather!! Had me a little worried last night with the sudden drop right after all that rain.
But the ladies were totally fine this morning like it was nothing to them. Mad respect.

Did some renovations to the run today so that Boss (new roo) can have his own outside area next to the ladies. (They haven’t quite fallen in love with him yet.)

I got him on Christmas eve into a small coop inside the barn coop where the ladies live.
After a week next to each other, and everyone’s reassurances that everything would be fine, I turned him out with them one day.
What followed was far from fine.

Several of my ladies were relentlessly attacking him, even after his several attempts to walk away from them.

Obviously, they were separated again, and he’s been living in his small coop inside theirs ever since.

Today we got the run modified into two separate side-by-side runs.
They still try to attack him.

They persist in snatching pieces of his comb through the fence.
He lets them.

Is this okay? I mean, he’s getting sores from it now, and I can’t figure out why he won’t “beat them down” for it. He’s too passive I think. And could be a couple months younger than them.

Thoughts?
Sorry for the long post!

 

[Trish44]

@sloanbychoice the rooster may just be too young yet if he's younger than the hens to defend himself much. How old is he? I have one that refuses to go into the coop because the older rooster picks on him. He hasn't figured out yet that he can defend himself. I'm southeast of you at Winfield, we come to Wichita a lot.

 

[Trish44]

We do need to get this thread going better again. I hate to see it die completely.

 

[sloanbychoice]

@sloanbychoice the rooster may just be too young yet if he's younger than the hens to defend himself much. How old is he? I have one that refuses to go into the coop because the older rooster picks on him. He hasn't figured out yet that he can defend himself. I'm southeast of you at Winfield, we come to Wichita a lot.

We think he’s about 10-11 months? Ya, it seems like he just doesn’t yet have a mean streak. I like that he’s nice, but he needs to learn to kick their butts a little I think.

The place we got him from had three other cockerels, and he was bottom. So he’s still adjusting I guess?

 

[chicken danz]

@sloanbychoice I think your rooster was probably the underdog with other roosters and he still feels that way. I was thinking like @Trish44 that he was probably too young but at 10 months he should be plenty old enough to breed.
Chickens always try to establish their pecking order but sometimes it takes them longer to quit picking on others. If you are building him a separate run, I think at some point I would put one of your milder mannered girl in with him. Give it a day or so and see how that goes. If every thing is alright add another, then another, until you can let them all together.
The best thing however would be if the weather gets nicer let all the chickens out into the yard to scratch around and they will tend to accept him better because they aren't confined.

 

[sloanbychoice]

@sloanbychoice I think your rooster was probably the underdog with other roosters and he still feels that way. I was thinking like @Trish44 that he was probably too young but at 10 months he should be plenty old enough to breed.
Chickens always try to establish their pecking order but sometimes it takes them longer to quit picking on others. If you are building him a separate run, I think at some point I would put one of your milder mannered girl in with him. Give it a day or so and see how that goes. If every thing is alright add another, then another, until you can let them all together.
The best thing however would be if the weather gets nicer let all the chickens out into the yard to scratch around and they will tend to accept him better because they aren't confined.

We had a hen with him on two occasions before.
Then today, my daughter decided to let an EE hen in with him. He mated her immediately, and then they squabbled a bit but nothing too bad.
Overall, a good encounter.

Then she tried a production red with him. She didn’t like him as well, but nothing serious. They both backed away from each other in the end.

 

[chicken danz]

Sounds like you are getting there. If there is room I'd just leave a hen with him so he can start establishing his dominance

 

[sloanbychoice]

I really would like to, but...
He’s currently housed in a pretty small coop, and I worried about keeping one or two penned in there with him, 1) for fear of them being viewed as having been removed, making it harder to get them back in, and 2) I don’t know that I have the roosting area.

I do think we’re getting there.
It’s just going to take a lot longer than I thought. Luckily, we were able to make the accommodations we needed to.
Unfortunately, too many people gave advice that may not be accurate for all. Almost everyone said there would be no issue adding rooster to hens.
My fault was... not realizing he’s still technically a cockerel, I guess. So had I used the right terminology, I may have gotten better advice. Lol

 

[sloanbychoice]

This is Boss’s little coop.
We just set it inside the barn coop.

It’s a little store bought deal that we bought the first time we bought chicks.
This little thing has helped out a few times tho.

We recently sectioned off a quarter of the outside run and made a new chickie door with a fenced ramp for him to go in and out as he pleases. This way he’s always visible and right next to the ladies, inside and out.

 

[chicken danz]

Those little coops are made to hold 3-4 chickens max. Looking at your flock that is part of the reason he's had trouble. You have some aggressive breeds in there. I guess you have to chose your battles but this forum is full of bad advice. You need to look at the writer's situation and how many years experience and how many chickens they deal with. There's way too many wives tales out there and inexperienced people who just repeat what some one else has told them.
I'll give you one more piece of advice. Buy some Blu Kote. Put the rooster back in the pen with the girls at night unless you decide to let them free range in the yard which would be better. Then if he gets some wounds spray them with the Blu Kote. It will help them heal and the other chickens don't like the taste of it.
I'm afraid what you are going to end up with is one mean rooster if you don't make some changes. Being an underdog with the other roosters is the first strike. Then not letting him establish his pecking order is another factor. What happens eventually when he finds out he can be top dog he will become aggresssive and may even start flogging you and your family. What good is a rooster if he can't join the flock anyway? Just asking.