Getting my first rooster!!!

[gryeyes]

I have lots of roosters and love almost every one of them. (Three are headed for a friends' Freezer Camp - they are just too rough on the girls and I've got eleven more much more gentlemanly Roos.)

I will never have a flock without at least one rooster!

 

[TinaK]

picked up my new little man today

I didn't take the time to get a pic of him though! My hubby & I were flat out gathering timber & making our new turkey house. I'll hopefully get a good pic of him tomorrow so I can show him off!

I can't wait to see how he matures. He is 12 weeks old and only just starting to get some form of tail feathers! I have never seen pictures of his parents but they sound like lovely big types with nice colouring so I hope he turns out the same.

My current flock of 4 ISA browns have a pecking order established and 2 are rather dominant. I waited for them to go to roost this evening before I left the new guy out into the coop & run! He scratched around for a bit and then found his own way into the coop & up onto the roost! I was proud of him.

Now I just need to start sourcing some nice barnevelder hens!

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
I`m wishin you all the luck in the world. I just gotta tell you though that it could be really hard on the young man with older girls. I didn`t see this thread til now, but here`s what ususlly happens. An established flock will resent ANY intruders. If you are expecting him to act like a rooster, I`m afraid you will be dissapointed as he will surely wimp out in the face of older women. In order for the introduction of a rooster to go smoothly, the rooster MUST be mature, as in close to or older than a year. A mature cock will simply take over and dominate from the beginning and treat the ladies with respect, but firmly. A cockeral will be pecked and chased by even the lowest hen on the pecking order. In order for your boy to be part of that flock, you must do 2 things. First you must give him plenty of room to escape the aggressors and second, ya gotta understand that he`s gonna be a pin cushion til he matures. Miracles do happen, so I`m wishing you luck.......Pop

 

[TinaK]

Hi Pop! Thanks for your words of wisdom. I did suspect that he may get bullied and picked on but obviously I have no experience in the matter so I wasn't sure of how it would all go!! So thank you for your advice.

I have a younger duck and a younger turkey who are living together and that was my only alternative for housing him at this stage... I wanted to put him in there because they would all be the same age but I have a fear of blackhead after my local vet (and neighbour) mentioned to me during her last visit!

We will be finishing our new turkey coop deluxe today

so if he gets picked on too much he can be moved to where the turkey & duck are currently in temporary accomodation

Went out to see him this morning and he is finding lovely little hide spots to keep away from the nasty women folk

In the run there is a few older tree branches laying on the ground and a kiwi fruit vine that provide lovely little escape tunnels and hide spaces for quiet time. Things seem to be going OK at this point. No evidence of pecking and no commotion from the coop although I did see one girl make a half hearted attempt at chasing him!

Plus it helps that the older chooks are hung up on escaping the run and moving next door into the temporary pig pen...

that keeps them occupied most of the day.

I will be keeping a very close eye on things!

Now for some photos!!! These were the best I could get. He thought I wanted to murder him and I didn't want him to start running around & give the chooks a reason to chase him!

 

[Lollipop]

And a handsome young fellow he is. Here`s keeping our fingers crossed that his luck will hold out.........Pop

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
Do you have your keyboard set on French Pop?

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
Do you have your keyboard set on French Pop?

Does it look like French to you? Must be too early for my old brain to catch your meaning.........Pop

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
Do you have your keyboard set on French Pop?

Does it look like French to you? Must be too early for my old brain to catch your meaning.........Pop

The ' look like ` - this happens to me when my keyboard goes into the French mode. I've noticed it with a lot of your answers

 

[Time-Out]

The apostrophe isn't like '

Congrats on your new boy. I didn't think I wanted one until I hatched one. If I were a chicken, I'd marry him! I'm not sure all my girls agree, though... lol

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
Do you have your keyboard set on French Pop?

You have a PM.......Pop