How long for acceptance??

[Kidz-n-Chicks]

We have 13 hens that are roughly 20 weeks old. We just got a young rooster who is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 weeks. My children are concerned that they don't like him. There was some aggressive behavior when we let him out of his crate, but we were in there monitoring and didn't let it get out of hand. He is currently crated in their coop overnight. I am thinking that we need to give him his own pen for a few weeks until he's bigger and can hold his own with them. He's very cute, and likes to pretend that he's a parrot and perch on my shoulder! Any ideas? I've never introduced chickens to each other before. I can do dogs and cats, but this is a bit over my head.

TIA!

 

[Mutt Farm]

We have 13 hens that are roughly 20 weeks old. We just got a young rooster who is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 weeks. My children are concerned that they don't like him. There was some aggressive behavior when we let him out of his crate, but we were in there monitoring and didn't let it get out of hand. He is currently crated in their coop overnight. I am thinking that we need to give him his own pen for a few weeks until he's bigger and can hold his own with them. He's very cute, and likes to pretend that he's a parrot and perch on my shoulder! Any ideas? I've never introduced chickens to each other before. I can do dogs and cats, but this is a bit over my head.

TIA!

I'm guessing here. Unless your hens are a historically aggressive breed, I'd put the roo in with them. Let them set the rules and demand some respect, teach him appropriate behavior before he gets older and more aggressive. Just like an older female dog teaching a young male. Wait for an eggspret to reply, but that's my opinion. Edit to change "eggspret" to "eggspert"