Introcuding a New Rooster

[ILikeBirds]

I'm looking to introduce a rooster to my flock of seven, two month old pullets. I haven't found a rooster yet so I'm not sure how old it will be. I've noticed that there are A LOT of roosters in craigslist that are free because they live in residential zones that don't allow roosters. So my main question is if I introduce a rooster that is much older and much larger than my pullets, will he hurt my pullets by trying to reproduce with them? Is that something I need to worry about?

Thanks

 

[Percheron chick]

He very possible could. Some of how he acts is just individual but I wouldn't put a mature rooster with only juvenile hens. Cage him separately until they are at POL. Hold of picking one up until you know for sure you do not already own one.

 

[ILikeBirds]

Yeah I think it's probably best I hold of until their POL. I bought the chickens off of craigslist only at six weeks old, but the seller actually kept three roosters from the same six week old flock. I'm not sure if she was guessing based on visual traits, or if she knew how to sex them by looking in the cloaca. It's actually hard to tell visually (for me) because their Polish RIR mix and some have feather crests and some don't.