Hens won't leave the roost

[mamalaoshi]

We slaughtered our 6 three month old roosters two days ago. The 5 hens from that group have refused to get down from their roost ever since. We have a younger set of chickens who are two months old and now that the big boys are gone, a couple of the roosters are acting out and attacking all the other chickens. I assume they are just trying to reestablish the pecking order. But they are driving me nuts. They are too small to eat yet. The older hens are significantly larger than the younger boys. One hen ventured down today and two of the roosters immediately jumped on top of her so she flew back up to the roost. The roosters are ignoring the hens that hatched with them.

Any guesses what's up with my girls? Any ideas what to do with my young roosters until they are big enough to be worth slaughtering?

We moved last year so we are starting a new flock from scratch. We have two one year-old hens that we bought and keep completely separate and were planning on introducing once the older roosters were gone but now I'm hesitant to introduce anyone new to the flock. But I was hoping that the older girls would help the young girls figure out the nest boxes and teach everyone some manners.

 

[pdirt]

I would remove the aggressive boys for a couple days and see what happens. Put them in as dog crate at night or in your garage or something. As a temporary measure.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You mixed up the pecking order, now the older ones have no male protection, it might calm down in a few days or you might have to pen the boys up separately, if there's no blood being drawn I might let them sort it out, but I know the part where it drives you nuts, I like peace and harmony too, but there is always chaos with new and young birds

 

[mamalaoshi]

You mixed up the pecking order, now the older ones have no male protection, it might calm down in a few days or you might have to pen the boys up separately, if there's no blood being drawn I might let them sort it out, but I know the part where it drives you nuts, I like peace and harmony too, but there is always chaos with new and young birds

Thanks for the encouragement. I can't wait 'til it settles down and I figure out which rooster we will keep. We used to have the sweetest guy a couple of years ago. He was huge but just like a puppy dog and took such good care of the girls. I probably should have kept the nicest of the older ones to keep order.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

A good rooster makes a big difference on how things work out in a flock, nothing sweeter than watching a rooster lovingly tending to his hens, feeding them, looking after them, hard to tell sometimes when they're younger if they going to be good, I usually keep at least one rooster to a batch of chicks, the batches always seem to stick together their whole lives and it helps to have a rooster to look out for the girls. I have 11 adults, and 4 young ones, roosters that is, and roughly 50 hens of various ages

 

[mamalaoshi]

Things are settling down finally. The hens still aren't mixing with the younger set but at least I've seen them get down on the roost and walk around in the coop.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

In my flock hatch mates stick together, birds from different years don't usually hang together, it kinda like high school, but the older birds tolerate the younger as long as they are respectful, otherwise they get a peck. Happy to hear things are better

 

[mamalaoshi]

They are definitely staying in their own "cliques", though the younger roosters are bullying the bigger hens anymore. Funny thing is how these younger roosters (6 of them) are hanging out together and definitely have their own pecking order. The smallest is the leader and the only one who crows. He also calls to the other guys when he finds a bug or other treat, picks it up and lays it down a couple times until someone else eats it. I've seen roosters do that to their hens but not to other roosters.