help, fightened rooster

[dallandrafae]

Hi all, i have a very frighted rooster, and a poland silkie cross who is also very frightened. They are both terrified of my four 18 wk old isa browns. my rooster is 13wks and the silkie cross is 9wks. what do i do? The isa's chase them and they hide under a hutch i have in the corner of the pen. My poor silkie cross wont grow much bigger either. Help!

 

[Imp]

Quote:
You can try pulling the 4 isa browns out of the pen, and put them in chicken jail few a week or two. Would even be better if you could seperate them.

Or you can divide the pen so they can get used to one another, without hurting one another.

Or just tough it out. I would think as the roo matures he will teach the bullies a thing or two. The 9 week old Silkie might be too young to be put in with the 18 week olds.

Imp

 

[ginger c.]

We just went through this same thing adding 2 silkies to a gang-of-four who are about 4-5 weeks older. I think they too were 13 & 18 weeks old. The 4 big girls picked on the 2 silkies a lot. We ended up placing the silkies in a tractor next to the run for a couple of days. At night, we slipped them into the coop. Then we let them into the run with them and kept an eye on them during the day. If they started getting abused too badly, we separated them. Then we decided, no blood no intervention. That pretty much solved it.

Now, it turns out one is a roo. He's gotten up on 3 of the 4 big pullets. The silkie pullet still runs from the big girls most of the time, but they really worked it out over the course of a week or two.

So, I'd say leave him in with the ladies. When he realizes he's a roo he'll shed his fear in favor of some good lovin'

(Sometimes my big girls still chase him away. Other times they squat as soon as he gets close)


GC's DH

 

[Farm_Maven]

ginger c. :

We just went through this same thing adding 2 silkies to a gang-of-four who are about 4-5 weeks older. I think they too were 13 & 18 weeks old. The 4 big girls picked on the 2 silkies a lot. We ended up placing the silkies in a tractor next to the run for a couple of days. At night, we slipped them into the coop. Then we let them into the run with them and kept an eye on them during the day. If they started getting abused too badly, we separated them. Then we decided, no blood no intervention. That pretty much solved it.

Now, it turns out one is a roo. He's gotten up on 3 of the 4 big pullets. The silkie pullet still runs from the big girls most of the time, but they really worked it out over the course of a week or two.

So, I'd say leave him in with the ladies. When he realizes he's a roo he'll shed his fear in favor of some good lovin'

(Sometimes my big girls still chase him away. Other times they squat as soon as he gets close)


GC's DH

Not now dear, I have a headache

 

[SteveBaz]

You can try pulling the 4 isa browns out of the pen, and put them in chicken jail few a week or two. Would even be better if you could seperate them.

Or you can divide the pen so they can get used to one another, without hurting one another.

Or just tough it out. I would think as the roo matures he will teach the bullies a thing or two. The 9 week old Silkie might be too young to be put in with the 18 week olds.

Imp

not many other choices. Separate the big girls for a few weeks

Good luck I just joined to groups and it took 3 weeks of working with them daily to get along​

 

[Farm_Maven]

My young BCM's I integrated got chased by older chickens for a while after integration. The BCM's still run from the big chickens even when they are not being chased.

 

[chookhead]

yea the rooster is bound to mature and show them wat he is amde of or put him and one of the problem girls in a pen till they sort it out while he is expressing his love to her u will find that he will eventually become dominant

 

[dallandrafae]

not too worried about my roo at the moment, give him time and all but the bullying that was going on between my silkie cross who is 8wks and four isa browns who are 18wks took and awful turn. well this morning the four brown girls cornered my silkie and if i hadnt got in and saved her i am quite sure they would haqve killed her. HELP! What do i do?

 

[Animalian]

put a divider in the coop that he can run into with food/water that has an entrance just big enough for him. That way he can escape, feel safe and eat as he needs to. If you know you have refuge you'll always get a little bolder!

 

[ginger c.]

Quote:
Aimalian,

Sorry you lost one of your babies.

(see it in your sig)