Introducing 16wk old ees pullets to 4yr old br roo

[miss jay's mama]

OK so far I've been doing what I've read on byc....I have my existing 4yr old flock ( 3EE hens 2BO hens & my BR rooster) in a separate run/house as my 5 new 16 week old EE pullets ( I hope they r all pullets jury is still out on 2 ) where they all can see each other but can't touch. They have been like this for 11 weeks.

I will be switching to egg layer this weekend and I want to move 16wk olds to big hen house.

However....will my big BR rooster be too much for the little EEs.16 weeks seems to be the magic age when to mix the flock but my pullets are sooo much smaller than the rooster.

My husband says they will be fine because they can out run him. But I'm sure he is bound to catch them sometimes.

Should I wait till they get bigger or even till they start laying eggs???

 

[Den in Penn]

At sixteen weeks they are nearly grown. Your going to have to make a management decision. Either they stay separate always, or they get mixed together and you accept that the EEs are smaller and will have to bare up to the rooster, or get rid of the rooster. I think the pullets will be alright with him.

 

[miss jay's mama]

So I waited an extra week and my EE pullets did fill out a little bit more. Today I locked all chickens out while I cleaned big hen house. While the hen house drys out I opened the gate between the 2 separate runs. So far so good a couple of squabbles but nothing major. My husband was right ( just don't tell him that) the EE pullets are to fast for BR roo...Fingers crossed they all go in the hen house tonight