Integrating Buff Orpington cockerel into flock with hens, pullets, and other cockerels

[SunriseHills]

Hello! Hope ya'll are having a good day. Recently, we picked up a 4 mo old Buff Orpington cockerel from one of our neighbors. He has been in quarantine for three weeks inside of a large dog crate (two weeks where the crate was away from the flock and one week with the crate being in with the rest of the flock) and hasn't showed any signs of illness. Since he appears to be healthy, we would like to let him out with the rest of the flock. Our flock consists of 15, 1-3 yr old hens, 18, 3 mo old pullets, and 5, 3 mo old cockerels. I would like to add that two of the cockerels are Black Copper Marans, two are Black Ameraucanas, and the other one is a Splash Ameraucana. I would also like to add that we are re-homing one of the cockerels and one of the pullets together tomorrow, and plan on rehoming two more cockerels, in a couple of months. Also, the five cockerels grew up together, and rarely get into any squabbles with eachother. So, to make a long story short, I attempted to let the Buff Orpington cockerel out with the rest of the flock this morning, but he wouldn't come out of his crate, and as I waited there with the door open for him to come out, two of the cockerels (neither showing any aggression whatsoever) went into his crate (most likely because they noticed some of his spilled pellets), and he immediately grabbed one of the cockerels by his comb and wouldn't let go of him until I forced him to. Thankfully, the cockerel's comb wasn't injured. I plan on making a calming tea for the Buff Orpington cockerel later (yes, I make teas for our chickens, lol), and getting him out of his crate into our flocks' large area (because we're thinking that his sudden attack was caused by him feeling trapped in his crate with two unfamiliar cockerels entering his 'territory'), but would still like to hear other's ideas and opinions. Thank you!

 

[Mrs. K]

Well they don't call it cock fighting for nothing. Strange roosters will fight. I would expect this fighting to continue and really, probably every rooster will be in it one time or another. They may fight once, and done, may fight and quit, to fight another day, or they may fight to the death of someone.

Sometimes father/son combos will work, often times they work for months and have a terrible blow up.

Sometimes flock mates or brothers will work it out, and it stays calm for the whole of their lives, but sometimes it will work for a while and then it doesn't.

Strange roosters can be depended on to fight. They may work it out, they may not.

Some people, the fighting does not bother them. They let them work it out. A lot depends on your set up. Huge amount of space with lots of hideouts, can let this happen. The more roosters you have, the more of a problem this can cause. If one gets injured - they may all pile in the attack on the injured one.

My advice, is not to wait months on getting rid of the other roosters. Have another building that you can move roosters too, to keep them apart or away from the flock. Ridgerunner often states keep the least amount of roosters to meet your goals. The more roosters you have, the more chance of them fighting.

Unless the calming tea makes the rooster unconscious, I don't think it will over come his testosterone, a pretty powerful hormone. Even though you have a lot of hens, roosters really do not understand about sharing. Or these are your, and these are mine. When you state get him out into the large area - do you mean they are in a large run or in a large yard, or they have the north forty to be in? The new rooster wants to be the top rooster, maybe the cockerels are young enough, that they will give way today...but by 4-5 months you can pretty much count on some drama.

Mrs K