Introducing a roo

[jchodakowski]

Any one ever have any luck introducing a Roo to a flock in order to tame some aggressive hens? I am still having trouble with some bully hens and the the three new pullets I'm trying to integrate... Had to cull one last week and after isolation and supervised free ranging the older hens still are vicious when the are all in the coop together. A friend suggested a rooster to calm them down and set to order straight. Thoughts?

 

[GitaBooks]

There are lots of free roosters for sale that are calm, tame pets that just couldn't be kept by their original owners. Roosters that are friendly are awesome. They are steady, calm, protective, and help hens to be able to relax and forage without feeling the need to lead the flock.

Best of luck!

 

[haileygoosie]

I don't have experience introducing them to aggressive hens, but I do have experience introducing a single rooster into a flock of hens.
A rule of thumb for introducing chickens- ALWAYS put them into the new flock at night.
(I would do the same with the pullets. Make sure the hens go to bed without them there, and wake up with them there)
As you chickens go to bed and roost for the night and are sleeping, that is when you put in the rooster. They will wake up thinking they are all apart of the same flock, and this will help greatly minimize the aggression towards each other they may have, and help lesson the aggression when establishing a pecking order.
I would pick a rooster adequate to the size of the hens. If they are big and stocky make sure your rooster matches the build, If they are on the smaller side, make sure the rooster is as well.
Best of luck- looking forward to updates

 

[aart]

I don't have experience introducing them to aggressive hens, but I do have experience introducing a single rooster into a flock of hens.
A rule of thumb for introducing chickens- ALWAYS put them into the new flock at night.
(I would do the same with the pullets. Make sure the hens go to bed without them there, and wake up with them there)
As you chickens go to bed and roost for the night and are sleeping, that is when you put in the rooster. They will wake up thinking they are all apart of the same flock, and this will help greatly minimize the aggression towards each other they may have, and help lesson the aggression when establishing a pecking order.
I would pick a rooster adequate to the size of the hens. If they are big and stocky make sure your rooster matches the build, If they are on the smaller side, make sure the rooster is as well.
Best of luck- looking forward to updates

That can work, but not usually.
Like bobbie-j sez..... "Chickens aren't the brightest animals on this planet, but they're not that stupid."

Any one ever have any luck introducing a Roo to a flock in order to tame some aggressive hens? I am still having trouble with some bully hens and the the three new pullets I'm trying to integrate... Had to cull one last week and after isolation and supervised free ranging the older hens still are vicious when the are all in the coop together. A friend suggested a rooster to calm them down and set to order straight. Thoughts?

Curious how you handled the integration.....
How old were the birds and how long it's been?
Also how big is your coop/run(feet by feet) for how many birds total?

 

[haileygoosie]

That can work, but not usually.
Like bobbie-j sez..... "Chickens aren't the brightest animals on this planet, but they're not that stupid."

Curious how you handled the integration.....
How old were the birds and how long it's been?
Also how big is your coop/run(feet by feet) for how many birds total?

I have put in about 22 (if my memory is correct) chickens into new flocks, each time being a new experience. This method has ALWAYS worked for me, but I guess my personal experience does not speak for everyone.
I am curious to hear about different methods however?
I have been taught that introducing them during the day tends to just break havoc.

 

[Free Feather]

Yeah, how big is your coop and run setup, and do you free range? Those play big roles into successful integration. They need space to get away from one another.

 

[jchodakowski]

I do let them free range but not all day as I live in the city. Usually while free ranging they just ignore each other and if an older bird gets angry the younger one runs away. I have a coop that is about 60 sqft and a hen house that is 20 sqft. The older hens (a New Hampshire Red, Buff Brahma, and Silver laced winadotte) only use the hen house to lay, they roost out in the run (I've had to lock them in the hen house when the winter nights really blow and get cold). They are about 18 months old. The new pullets ( I started with 3 Heritage RIRs, but one died so the lady I get my chickens from replaced her with a buff orpington) are about 15 weeks old and my older ones will chase then around until I intervene. Today I was squatting holding one and my New Hampshire red came up to us and pecked the new girl pretty hard on the head.
The three new pullets had lived in a dog crate in the run for about 2 weeks before I let them play on their own together.
I did get a rooster today (buff Orp) , but I think I got him too young as he's a bit on the small side and the older chickens have taken to chasing him around... crap. He does great with the three younger pullets. Tonight I have the four new birds in the hen house and they are all cuddled up on the roost together. I have the older birds locked in a dog crate in the run (its safe from predators that way) so that I don't come out the the massacre I had last week ( they pecked one of the heritage rhode island red pullets so bad that I had to cull her. See my only other thread for pics.)
I'm wondering if I'm just going to have to re-home the older chickens and get more pullets to replace them, then restore sanity to my flock... I'll keep the roo as he seems like an honest fellow Or I can keep this set up going until the roo is big enough to pull his own weight? Any other ideas?

 

[aart]

Is the coop and the hen house attached to the same run?
A little confusing, can't picture it.
If you could split the run with wire wall and let them live like that for a few weeks it might help.

How big is the run?
Where do you feed/water?
Multiple feed/water stations can help immensely...as can places to hide out of line of sight.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[Free Feather]

I think she is saying the coop and run together is 60 square feet, and the coop is twenty...?