Introducing new chickens and rooster

[KBerry]

Hello all! I currently have 4 hens and a rooster. A friend was getting rid of his older rooster with two hens, so I decided to take them in. I have two different coops so I separated them for two days (while I worked) and today I decided to try and let them all free range (while at work only my original flock was free ranging). How do I go about getting the roosters introduced? I've read there will be fighting, which I'm not a fan of but also understand there has to be a pecking order. Is there too much fighting? When should I be concerned? If it comes to it the older flock will only free range on my days off and I'll split the day between that flock and the other. Please help

 

[sourland]

If both roosters are mature, there may be constant fighting. Given enough space to avoid one another, they may eventually coexist. I'd monitor integration very closely.

 

[NatJ]

How do I go about getting the roosters introduced? I've read there will be fighting, which I'm not a fan of but also understand there has to be a pecking order. Is there too much fighting? When should I be concerned?

I would probably start by having them separated by wire mesh (adjacent pens, or one group in a pen and the other group free ranging.)

If they try to fight through the mesh, it limits how much they can injure each other. Hopefully they can settle matters by bluffing through a fence, and not have to really fight later. If they keep fighting through the mesh, I would not let them together. If they reach a point when they wander away from each other and do their own separate things in their own spaces (when there is still mesh between them), that increases the chance that they will also do their own separate things when turned loose together, rather than fighting.

If they do start fighting, I do not know exactly when you should be concerned.
Ruffled feathers and staring at each other are safe enough, usually with a bit of jumping around and wing flapping and posturing.
Drawing blood is quite likely (combs bleed easily). Comb injuries are not really series, but injuries to other parts of the body can be a bigger issue.
Depending on how long and sharp their spurs are, they may be able to do a lot of damage to each other, or they may not. (If they have sharp spurs, you might consider filing the ends to round them a bit, before letting the roosters together. That makes them less likely to cause major injuries to each other, or to you if you are trying to separate them.)

If one tries to get away and the other keeps chasing him, you should definitely separate them. That situation can lead to the loser getting badly injured or killed.

If one walks or runs away and the other lets him go, that is great. They have established who is the head roosters, and the other one will try to stay out of his way. But do keep an eye on them in case the loser tries to challenge the winner later and fights longer, and they do need enough space for the loser to stay out of the winner's personal space. The amount of space they need may be too big to share a coop, but sharing the whole yard is probably big enough.

I don't have personal experience with roosters fighting past the "bluffing" stage and maybe an occasional ripped comb.

 

[PoppasGrill]

We have more roosters than we should, 15 to 75 hens. There isn’t much fighting, nothing bloody, and the pecking order was established pretty quick. The hens would like us to cull some roosters, just to give them a break, but we don’t want to do that unless it becomes necessary .
The only aggressive roo we have is a micro rooster, he will bow up to anyone, including the donkeys, just to make his presence known.
If you separate them like suggested previously, where they can see but not harm each other, they will figure out who is in charge for the time being.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Hello all! I currently have 4 hens and a rooster. A friend was getting rid of his older rooster with two hens, so I decided to take them in. I have two different coops so I separated them for two days (while I worked) and today I decided to try and let them all free range (while at work only my original flock was free ranging). How do I go about getting the roosters introduced? I've read there will be fighting, which I'm not a fan of but also understand there has to be a pecking order. Is there too much fighting? When should I be concerned? If it comes to it the older flock will only free range on my days off and I'll split the day between that flock and the other. Please help

Fighting will definitely occur when two roosters are put together, they have to establish who is more dominant in order to know who will get access to breeding rights and the larger parts of the territory. Breed matters too; roosters who are of a gamefowl breed go on for hours with fighting that seems to never end. Those who are not of a gamefowl breed tend to be much less aggressive. Blood is still easy to draw and injuries are common, so slowly integrate your roosters together－and even then, there will still be fighting. Also, cockerels and roosters are not in the pecking order, that is the social hierarchy for hens and pullets. Instead, they are a part of a dominance hierarchy that only consists of males.