Hen Dominates rooster

[Mrs. K]

Personally, I like a rooster that is dominated by hens for a while, they have better manners going through the adolescent period. That boy is very young, maybe 4-5 months old. Does he crow?

I think that the problem is in adding a single bird to the set up. See if there are some of his original flock mates, add 4-5 pullets with him, even if the space is tight, for just a while. When you add a single bird, EVERY other bird knows that he is the new guy and are desperate to get the pecks in. When there are lots of new, the whole shebang is upset, but one bird does not take it all.

By adding more birds, it would solve your too cold problem of a single bird. Once things settle down, then you can pull the extra out if you need to do so.

Mrs K

 

[rasnickp]

He doesn't crow yet but tries desperately! I'm supposed to be getting 2 more black sex link hens should I isolate him and then introduce the three together? I really want a rooster since we gave so many predators in the area.

 

[One Chick Two]

Our 16 RIR cockerels started crowing around 21-26 weeks (about 5-6 months). We could see them trying to crow about a week or so beforehand. Those first few crows can be pretty comical.

Mrs K's advice is excellent. It is usually always better to have more than one bird to introduce to an established flock, when possible- it divides the bullying and pecking better. Like I said before, integrating that OEGB roo into our young RIR pullet flock went smoothly for us- we added him at night, and for whatever reason, they took to him and accepted him as their leader.

Are those black sexlinks hens or pullets? You may or may not have issues of the three of them together too. Still, seems like a better situation.

 

[rasnickp]

Well now the rooster is trying to mount all the ladies.... The BSL are supposed to be hens but I'm not to sure how to tell if a chicken is laying just by inspecting the bird.

 

[rasnickp]

The Rooster is in the coop with nothing more than a little sass mouth from the ladies!