With living animals you don't get guarantees on behaviors but my mature roosters have never bothered pullets anywhere close to that young. Immature cockerels with hormones driving them crazy might be a bit different, but I haven't seen that either. I usually have a much more mixed age flock than you do. Frankly I'd worry about the hens more than a mature rooster. You mention raising them with broody hens. Does your rooster bother those pullets when the hen weans them?
So far you have done everything right. Mine are raised in a brooder in the coop so they grow up with the flock. At five weeks I open the brooder door and walk away. It took me a few years to gain that confidence it would work out. I think how much room you have in the coop and run and the quality of that room is critical. Quality is what Aart is talking about in giving them places to hide. It also helps that I have the kind of weather where the birds can spend all day every day out of the coop. Even when I'm crowded I have over 60 square feet per bird and the weather so all that space is available to them.
You've raised others with broody hens. So do I. You probably noticed that after the hen weans them the chicks often form a sub-flock, peacefully coexisting with the rest but keeping their distance during the day and at night until they mature enough to merge with the older flock members. With my pullets that's typically when they start to lay. Think of these chicks as in that stage, the broody has weaned them but they are not mature enough to stand up for themselves. The big difference is that they have not had a broody spend weeks teaching the others to leave her babies alone or to teach them to roost. You do need to observe when you let them loose but I'd try it after a month of look but don't touch.
So far you have done everything right. Mine are raised in a brooder in the coop so they grow up with the flock. At five weeks I open the brooder door and walk away. It took me a few years to gain that confidence it would work out. I think how much room you have in the coop and run and the quality of that room is critical. Quality is what Aart is talking about in giving them places to hide. It also helps that I have the kind of weather where the birds can spend all day every day out of the coop. Even when I'm crowded I have over 60 square feet per bird and the weather so all that space is available to them.
You've raised others with broody hens. So do I. You probably noticed that after the hen weans them the chicks often form a sub-flock, peacefully coexisting with the rest but keeping their distance during the day and at night until they mature enough to merge with the older flock members. With my pullets that's typically when they start to lay. Think of these chicks as in that stage, the broody has weaned them but they are not mature enough to stand up for themselves. The big difference is that they have not had a broody spend weeks teaching the others to leave her babies alone or to teach them to roost. You do need to observe when you let them loose but I'd try it after a month of look but don't touch.
