Help! Hens attacking new rooster!

[EastinChickens]

Hello-
Today I went to a poultry auction and bought a nice Blue Orpington rooster.
When I came home, I put him in a cage and let the hens I already have look at him through the wire.
They seemed to be fine, and, in fact, didn't even mind him, so I decided to see what would happen if I put him in the coop with them.
When I put him in, all seven of the hens ganged up on him and made him bleed.
They would do the thing where they jumped into the air and claw at eachother's bellies... and eventually pecked at his comb & wattle so visciously it almost came off!
Is this normal? Can I ever re-introduce them again?
The strange part is... He didnt do anything to them... they just decided to try and kill him!

Any help? Suggestions?

By the way- All seven hens are either red-sex-links or RIRs

 

[EastinChickens]

Another Q: If I keep them separated, and use the rooster only for breeding, how can I get them to breed without fighting?

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I would just leave him seperate for a while longer. They need awhile to get used to each other. Leave in the cage with the hen for a week or 2 and then try again.

New birds should actually be quarentined for a month before introducing them to the flock in case of desease.

 

[EastinChickens]

Quote:
Thanks, I'll try that... In fact, that gives me a chance to get them all dusted for mites, just in case he has them.

 

[rangerlou]

I had the sam problem with my chickens. They kept picking my rooster and pulling out his feathers to the point of bleeding and this was during the winter. I ended up having to put duct tape all over him to protect from cold and the chickens pecking. I also tried "Stop Pick" which did not help. Well the long story short I ended up putting him in the dog pen and he sleeps in the dog house. He has healed very nicely and is as handsome as he used to be. Now I let him and the girls out to free range together during the day but he is quite happy to head back to his dog house at night.

I haved learned so much on this forum!

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

Just an FYI, in the future I would definitely quarantine any new birds for at least a month before introducing them to your existing flock. There are way to many stories on here about people bringing home new "healthy" birds, sticking them in with their flock, only to find out the bird is sick and now the whole flock is sick.

ETD for clarity

 

[JROOSTER]

1 word; QUARANTINE for at least 30 days.

 

[bigstack]

One more trick you can try. Remove the girls from the coop/run for 24 hrs. Let the roo have the run of the place. Then re-introduce them 1 at a time! Prefferably 1 each day. This gives the hens time to get to know the roo and for him to establish his domaine. Once the hens are put back in they will basically see themselves as coming into his place. Instead of the otherway around. Right now he is an intruder! Deffinately Quarentine new stock!!!! No matter how good they look. They may be carrying something your flock is not imune to but he/she is!

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[Mervin]

Quote:
Quit beating a dead horse. There's already been an admission of guilt. The OP already said they'd try quarantine in a succeeding post. The quarantine point has already been made and acknowledged, let it go. If you're not offering some genuine tips on the question the OP has asked, then you're kind of just nagging at this point.

Edited to remove profanity, do not skirt the word filters with symbols

 

[OHhappychicks]

The way we introduced our roo to our flock was to take him in at nite and put him on the roost. When they woke up, he was just there and we haven't had any problems. He is a lot larger than my hens, and that may be one reason they get along so well. But I read the night time thing here on the BYC and it seemed to work fine.