How to introduce new chickens to my flock

[jasonm11]

We took a fimily trip yesterday to a friend in Muenster TX. We went out to pick up a few coocoo maran hens and ended up saving a young roo from Death Row. this young man does not have his spurs yet and is smaller than most of my hens. I was starting to think that my EE roo Colonel was much too in touch with his femle side, as I had not seen any protective behavior or any wooing of my girls. Well we got home last night and promptly put the new ladies and roo into the coup with the locals. This morning I go out to feed them some treats and I find the Colonel chasing away the new hens and he has evidently terrorized the young man as he is hiding in the hen house away from everyone. I guess this means the Colonel is a manly rooster after all.

My question is did I do a disservice to the little roo by "saving" him? He is being chased away by my local hens as well as the Colonel.
What is the best way to introduce new chickens to a flock?

I am planning on getting meat birds this spring. If i house them seperately and give them treats and food from different areas will they stay segregated? Will I have to keep the meaties in a run by themselves?

Jason

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Here's a helpful BYC page- scroll down
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock

 

[jasonm11]

Quote:
It seems I goofed up pretty bad. I am not too worried about disease as I got my original roo and two hens from her months ago and everyone is doing fine. I did check all of them for mites and any nasal crude and found nothing that indicated they were sick. I will keep an eye on them and follow the instructions about quarantine when I get the meat birds in the spring. I guess at that point I will also fence in a part of the yard to keep the meaties to themselves. Thank you for the link. I still have alot to learn about chickens, and life

 

[TajMahalChickens]

My guess is that you will continue to have trouble with the two roosters. I had two and one was the top dog and the other was the under dog. The under dog never left his hideout under the ramp. I eventually sold the underdog so that he could live peacefully. Your "little Guy" is always going to be the under dog because your other one is the established roo - he is the boss. I've read that two roosters fight the most, but three or four get a little better. No experience with this, I just read it.

A note about raising meat birds - house them completely separately. Your old hens will terrorize the meat chicks. They laying flock and they meat birds eat separate feeds. They have extremely different energy levels. Birds that haven't grown up together just don't get along, no matter their breed or use.

 

[vtgirls]

When we lost our roo to a very happy husky - old time farm friends said "come on by!!!" and gave us an older hen and a young roo. We read all types of horror on disease and pecking order and asked him about it. His advice (which would make many here squawk) was "throw 'em in, they'll be fine."
Again, we did NOT have another rooster but our head hen gave the poor roo quite the run for the money for about a week, then things simmered down and all was as it had been. At first we thought he might never come off the roof of the coop, not even for food! The "seasoned" hen seemed much wiser than the young rooster, she only got one peck here or there and moved out of the way avoiding squabble very deftly. She is clearly at the bottom of the pecking order but is also very happy, she just knows to let the girls who were here first get treats and such before she comes up to us. She lays beautiful blue eggs and he is the most chatty, coversational boy I've ever met.
Both were saved from freezer camp.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
It seems I goofed up pretty bad. I am not too worried about disease as I got my original roo and two hens from her months ago and everyone is doing fine. I did check all of them for mites and any nasal crude and found nothing that indicated they were sick. I will keep an eye on them and follow the instructions about quarantine when I get the meat birds in the spring. I guess at that point I will also fence in a part of the yard to keep the meaties to themselves. Thank you for the link. I still have alot to learn about chickens, and life

Oh you are welcome. I hope it all works out for you!!!

 

[jasonm11]

The flock is starting to congeal. One of the new hens has even made it to the top roost with the established girls. The little roo "Sargent" is doing better. he gets chased by the hens alot but he is fast and getting to eat without problems. The Colonel is feeling more secure in his roosterhood. He ocasionally gives chase to a new hen or Sargent when he feels them overstepping but the yard seems at peace. Thank you for all the advice.

Jason

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:

I'm glad everything is ok.