How old for young rooster to protect himself from 18 week old hens?

[Taxidermy lady]

i have a young rooster that was in the pen with the hens. They pecked him and was scared to death of them! He is the same age as the hens. He is alone right now and has been separated for 2 weeks now. When can I put him back in the run with the 18 week old hens. Only one hen is laying so far. Thanks

 

[BullChick]

 

[BullChick]

Put one or two pullets in with him for a week or so. The last thing you want to do is re-introduce him alone.
Are they drawing blood, or establishing pecking order?

 

[Taxidermy lady]

No blood just pecked feathers out.

 

[Taxidermy lady]

I will state he was given to me. So the 15 hens has had no rooster for 17 weeks. But they are the same age. Within a week.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

When you got him did you put him in the pen that day?

 

[Taxidermy lady]

Yes. I had him separated so they could look at each other. He escaped. So I let him in with them. That’s when chasing and pecking started. He lost feathers on his neck and legs

 

[Meg-in-MT]

You really should quarantine new birds before you add them into a pen with your existing flock. But if you're not going to (and are jumping straight to integration), then using the see-don't-touch method is a tried and true way to integrate a newcomer into the flock. Here is a good article for you to read:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
If he wasn't raised with your pullets, they are going to go after him. He needs to be properly integrated with them. If you actually had hens and he was a rooster, things would be different.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

And another: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...using-the-“see-but-don’t-touch”-method.67839/