HELP!! Rooster attacked my teen chicks!

[aprhardy]

I need help! Well me and my chickens! I have 2 roo's that are less than a year old, buff brahma's, 6 mixed hens 2+ years old and 2 "teenagers" they're 3 1/2 month old buff brahma's one roo and one unsure. In my attempted to integrate the teenagers into the flock, I gasped as my 2 roosters attacked my 2 teenagers!! I mean they clawed them, pulled their feathers, bit their necks, chased them, and stomped them. I thought my heart was gonna stop seeing my babies attacked!! I quickly separated the rooster bc the hens could careless about the teenagers, and now my roo's are ticked bc they're in chicken time out.
What do I do?? How do I fix this? Will my teens ever get to join the flock?
Please help us!!

 

[anthonyjames]

You need to introduce them with with the something like a cage or a large seperation..

Also, have some place they can run through and the other can't because of size. This may take a month to 6 weeks.

If you just put them in together and they have been together at all all the birds will attack them. Think pecking order. It is literal to the death.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Pull your roo out until the teen are old enough or he will kill them.

 

[Sorin]

You said that one of your teenagers was a Roo and one you weren't sure, my guess is that both of your teenagers are Roos. I really don't know what to tell you, even though they are not mature they are still roosters, or cockerels, but your adult Roos know this and will probably still attack them. They see them as intruders to their flock. You may be able to eventually integrate them but it will take a lot of time, patience, and work. But then you have to consider that you have four Roos and and six hens, that's a hard ratio for the girls.

 

[tigerrrrrrrlilly]

Quote:
I second this...
You can integrate eventually... they need to be in a cage where the big chickens can get used to seeing them all the time but can't hurt them. I would normally do this for at least 2 weeks before introducing them. Then, upon introducing them during free-range time - just for a small amount of time while supervised, for a few more weeks until I am 100% sure they won't be harmed. I do this with new chickens too, even if they are grown - but for a shorter amount of time.
Grown roos are usually not going to just accept new birds into their flock without showing aggression.

 

[aprhardy]

I currently have them all sectioned off, then hens in one pen, the roo's in another pen, and the teenagers in another, all three are joined to make one big square, and the only thing separating any of them is a thin line of chicken wire. Until today there was no bickering or fighting, and the roo's didn't even seem to notice the other 2 were there on the other side of them. Now they are determined to find a way to get through that fine wire and get to my youngsters. During all of this, and after the big roo's were caged the hens never paid any attention to the 2 youngsters, they wouldn't exactly avoid them, but they weren't going out of their way to be friendly either. I've got 25 hen chicks coming in 2 weeks

and was really hoping to get the teenagers intergrated into the flock by then, so I could spend more time with the chickies when they arrive. If the roo's are going to be like this, I am tempted to keep them permantly separated

, and then let the new chicks and the teenagers grow up together and let my teenage roo's then take over being the adult roo's. My current roo's are sometimes even rough with the hens, I just had to quarentine one of my hens, not bc she was sick, but bc they jumped on her back and held her down doing "the deed" so to speak, and in the process hurt her leg. After a couple days rest, her leg seemed fine, but I didn't want her to get further injured trying to get away from them again. Is this possibly signs of aggressive roosters? Towards humans they are so sweet! They let us hold them, pet them and hand feed them, but towards their fellow chickens they are not so nice and that really bothers me.
Fight till the death sounds so horrible!

I couldn't imagine standing by and letting this happen, will they ever out grow this? Like when the teenagers get older or will it always be this big fight? Perhaps I've got too many roo's and potential roo's for my current and soon to be much larger flock? I'm new to this whole chicken game, and am gladly taking the advice given.

Also, have some place they can run through and the other can't because of size

This sounds like a great idea and one I will probably try.

 

[azygous]

Quote:
Adult roosters have a way of knowing cockerels from pullets. This last summer, as my latest batch of chicks was reaching that stage where you begin to get paranoid that one or two may be males, one of the questionable ones got loose and my roo mounted her before I realized what was happening. Then it occurred to me that what had just happened removed any doubts that she was a pullet, not a cockerel.

I had another candidate with questionable credentials, and I subjected this one to the same "test". My roo was completely indifferent to this one, and indeed, he turned out to be a cockerel.

Yours are old enough that their hormones are beginning to kick in, so your roo could tell, and he gave them a thrashing to teach them who was boss.

Sometimes roosters can peacefully coexist, but most of the time, you're going to see some fighting. I have two roosters, and it's impossible for them to have access to each other and it not result in someone getting beat up.

 

[Sorin]

for getting them separated for right now

your old Roos and new teenager Roos may never get along, were your older Roos raised together? Usually that is the only way they will get along, usually, there is always an exception to the rule. If they have a lot of room competing Roos can live together, they may still have a little scuffle now and again though. When you get your chicks you will want to be very careful raising them with your teenagers. A lot of people would suggest against, but you never know. If your teenagers are both Roos they may take to them, once your new chicks get to be about two months old. I'm not an "expert" on chickens so I would suggest searching old threads for topics regarding your situation and questions. I guarantee someone in the past has asked for help on the same topic, there is tons of information on here and the people are great!
You asked whether they way they were with the hens is a sign of aggression, I don't think so, if they are sweet to you. That's just the way they are when the "do the deed", I know it doesn't look pretty, and every Roo is different when it comes to this. The Roos and the hens sometimes get better at this with age. My lone Roo was comical when it finally came that time. The poor hens didn't know what he was trying to do with them and kept running away, but now after a year and a half it is a very smooth process for all involved. But again, I would search the old threads for topics like "integrating flocks" and " introducing new chicks" and I'm sure you will find tons of info. Good Luck!

 

[aprhardy]

Thank you all for your wonderful advice. The 2 older roo's were raised together, and have been like brothers, they do occasionally scrap but nothing major, one kicks the other, or a sneaky peck here and there, but nothing to this extent.
Does anyone know if I would be better off starting fresh when my new chickies get older and getting a new roo (or roo's since there will be 25 of them) for them to grow up with? And just taking all of my older flock and stocking my freezer? Ugh! So frustrating bc I'm really attached to the ones I have now, well more so to 2 of my hens and 2 of my roo's and my teenagers.
Oh what to do, what to do.

 

[Sorin]

I'm with you! I couldn't imagine eating my chickens

, I'm attached to them! I will have a similar situation in a few months, I have 12 babies coming in April. But I'm lucky in that I have two coops and about a quarter of an acre of fenced in yard they will free range on, but I do want to eventually have them all in my one big coop together. I do have one duccle Roo coming, so we will see how that goes. Were you hoping to do the same thing? Have them all together in one coop eventually?