Integrating new hens/rooster

[Afors]

Hi there, I tried finding a similar thread to add to, but couldn’t find one close enough to satisfy my question so here we go...again. I’m integrating 2 possibly 3 pullets and a roo. 4 total birds but I’m still not sure on one of them. The rooster is a Black Copper Maran, and then one BCM pullet and two barnyard mixes. My other birds are just over a year old, and the “babies” are 13 weeks today. I did the “look but can’t touch” method for almost 4 weeks. Things seem to be going GREAT for the pullets, but my rooster is getting attacked each day. I figured there would be some, but I didn’t think it would be so concentrated at just him. I’ve never had a rooster before so I am just checking. I’d love to keep him he’s gorgeous and seems to be nice so far.

There are lots of places to hide in the run, a dog crate the big ones can’t fit in, a few tires, some wood and other places to have them be hidden. How long should I expect him to get picked on. I don’t want him to lose his mojo.

 

[sloanbychoice]

Oof. That’s tricky sometimes.
Do you currently have a rooster with your existing flock, or will he be the first one?
The ladies don’t typically take kindly to young males and their hormones.
When I first tried to integrate a cockerel into my ladies, I believe it was @dawg53 who had some great advice to help me.
With mine, I had to keep him separated by netting for quite a while.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You don't have a mature rooster, you have an immature cockerel, two totally different things. 13 weeks is not unusually young for Hormones to convert him from a chick to an immature cockerel.

Different things can happen when you introduce an immature cockerel and some pullets his age to a flock of mature hens. One is "not much". When he hits a certain point of hormones he might and probably will pay a lot of attention to the pullets his age but he leaves the mature hens alone and they leave him alone. This changes when he gets older but is typically what I see initially. With mine, this tends to kick in at about 15 weeks of age but each group is different. I have seen some as young as 12 weeks, some even older than 15.

He may try to mate with the older hens. Some hens may even squat for him, but usually not immediately. Each flock is different, partly depending on the personality of the cockerel but a lot depending on the individual personalities of the older hens. Some older hens may run away. Some may fight back. Often the dominant hen will smack him around if he gets fresh with any hen in front of her. I don't know if this is what you are seeing, it is not that unusual.

Sometimes the dominant hen or several of the older hens seem to see him as a future rival and go out of their way to beat him up while they can. I've never seen this myself but I've read enough posts on here to feel sure it can happen.

Eventually he will mature enough to take over as flock master from the dominant hen. I've seen a 5 month old cockerel do that, I had one that took until he was 11 months old. With most of mine that happens at 7 to 8 months but it can vary. I think some if that is his personality, some the dominant hens personality. Usually with mine that takeover is pretty peaceful but once I saw a few days where it got pretty violent. I think his personality was still kind of weak and hers was really strong.

As long as I don't see blood or injury I let them work it out. It can be kind of hard to watch sometimes. If you feel he or a hen is in danger you can isolate him for a couple of months before you try again. It may take longer than that. Once he hits a certain maturity he should be able to take over.

Good luck!

 

[Afors]

Oof. That’s tricky sometimes.
Do you currently have a rooster with your existing flock, or will he be the first one?
The ladies don’t typically take kindly to young males and their hormones.
When I first tried to integrate a cockerel into my ladies, I believe it was @dawg53 who had some great advice to help me.
With mine, I had to keep him separated by netting for quite a while.

This is the first rooster they’ve ever seen. It seems like after an hour or so they leave him alone. He does a good job of hiding but he’s being pestered for sure.

 

[Afors]

You don't have a mature rooster, you have an immature cockerel, two totally different things. 13 weeks is not unusually young for Hormones to convert him from a chick to an immature cockerel.

Different things can happen when you introduce an immature cockerel and some pullets his age to a flock of mature hens. One is "not much". When he hits a certain point of hormones he might and probably will pay a lot of attention to the pullets his age but he leaves the mature hens alone and they leave him alone. This changes when he gets older but is typically what I see initially. With mine, this tends to kick in at about 15 weeks of age but each group is different. I have seen some as young as 12 weeks, some even older than 15.

He may try to mate with the older hens. Some hens may even squat for him, but usually not immediately. Each flock is different, partly depending on the personality of the cockerel but a lot depending on the individual personalities of the older hens. Some older hens may run away. Some may fight back. Often the dominant hen will smack him around if he gets fresh with any hen in front of her. I don't know if this is what you are seeing, it is not that unusual.

Sometimes the dominant hen or several of the older hens seem to see him as a future rival and go out of their way to beat him up while they can. I've never seen this myself but I've read enough posts on here to feel sure it can happen.

Eventually he will mature enough to take over as flock master from the dominant hen. I've seen a 5 month old cockerel do that, I had one that took until he was 11 months old. With most of mine that happens at 7 to 8 months but it can vary. I think some if that is his personality, some the dominant hens personality. Usually with mine that takeover is pretty peaceful but once I saw a few days where it got pretty violent. I think his personality was still kind of weak and hers was really strong.

As long as I don't see blood or injury I let them work it out. It can be kind of hard to watch sometimes. If you feel he or a hen is in danger you can isolate him for a couple of months before you try again. It may take longer than that. Once he hits a certain maturity he should be able to take over.

Good luck!

Thank you! Some good info for sure. Having never dealt with one I appreciate it. Hoping for a smooth transition in the coming months.