Do roosters know when girls are too young??

[92Pony]

I recently got rid of all of my laying age girls in favor of my pullets hatched in April. I kept my EE roo, but moved him to another pen. He's in there by himself, and seems kinda sad. My 13 pullets are 3mos old - Would he "know" that they are "underage" and behave appropriately toward them, or will he see them as his new harem immediately? Or is there any way to really know? Each roo different? He seems awfully lonely, and I'm tempted to move him in. Any advice or personal experiences?

Thanks,

Wade

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

He might try to mate with them...it doesn't bother me if a roo does that, as the girls like a boy around if he is a gentleman.

They like to have a man in charge. I have had immature pullets squat for me (bowing to me) weeks ahead of their laying. Your girls are still under the "integrate with adults at 4 months of age" general rule, but if he doesn't bully them then he might be fine.

Some roos are complete gentlemen towards immature hens I have seen, while others are not so gentlemanly. I say give it a whirl but stay around just in case he beats them up so you can take him out of there.

The older your roo is, the better the results will be I would guess.

 

[DanEP]

I have a 15 month old roo that free ranges with 16 14 week old, 6 16 week old, and 1 i7 week old pullets. Ther only one he even trys to breed is the one 2 year old hen. Now I also have a 14 week old leghorn cockeral that trys to breed everybody even if he does get his butt kicked for his effort. What i've noticed in the past is that older roos are way more gentlemanly than the younger ones so if your roo is older your probably ok. Just let him out and watch him.

 

[92Pony]

This roo is pretty sweet. He was not overbearing with the girls before, and he's about 3yrs old. I believe I'll do as suggested, and move him in but keep an eye on him. He's seen them a lot (his run shares a fence with theirs), so he's familiar already, so that should help too.


Thanks!

 

[92Pony]

I finally got a chance to move him in when I would be around for a while. Moved Chief in with the girls, and so far, so good!! He did a little wing-tripping initially, but that was about it. I even caught him allowing a couple of the young girls to do a little grooming on him! Now, it will be interesting to see what happens when they all come out in the morning, and Chief is feeling, err, 'froggy' - LOL!