jodygee
Hatching
- Dec 30, 2016
- 2
- 0
- 7
Hello,
I apologize if this has already been addressed, but I wasn't able to find an answer to this when searching existing posts.
We're newbie chicken owners in need of information. I was given two young roosters this May, and we've decided that we're ready for hens. The roosters have recently been separated because one of them started bullying the other (pretty much nonstop - we tried to let them work it out but he wouldn't back off and now is taking runs at the dogs, too) - the bully will be rehomed or sent to freezer camp soon.
We have purchased seven 1-2 year old hens (2 Barred Rocks, 1 Easter Egger, 1 Australorp, 1 Red Sussex, 1 Wyandotte, and 1 Rhode Island Red). These hens all came from the same backyard owner and are an established flock. I want to introduce them to our "keeper" rooster, who was the less dominant of the two. However, he is huge - although probably not much more than a year old himself, he is significantly larger than any of the hens.
[Side note - I am not set up to easily quarantine the new hens, and am introducing them to a single rooster - as discussed in other posts here, I am willing to roll the dice on the one rooster (especially considering the apparent health of the hens and their previous prolonged isolation from any other chickens).]
We have a 4x8 coop in a 15x15 run (everyone will free range once they're settled in). A brief attempt at introductions this evening resulted in my previously docile boy behaving like a horse's hiney and chasing the girls around, then continuing to bully them as they entered the coop. (I thought he'd go the Casanova route, but was wrong.) Since it was late we decided to lock him up in a separate crate within the run and try this again tomorrow.
I am looking for guidance on how to introduce them, as well as what to expect as "normal" pecking order behavior vs. knowing when we should intervene and separate him. A lot of what I've read here talks about the hens picking at the roosters, but this seems to be working the other way around. Since he's so much larger than they are I just want to be sure that we don't meddle needlessly, but that we also don't just stand by and let him abuse the girls. (I also welcome any feedback on whether we just let him be vs. stepping in to hold him down to establish our dominance over him.) At the end of the day, although we like the idea of having a rooster around to keep an eye on the girls, we're not going to tolerate one that doesn't want to be a gentleman.
Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide!
I apologize if this has already been addressed, but I wasn't able to find an answer to this when searching existing posts.
We're newbie chicken owners in need of information. I was given two young roosters this May, and we've decided that we're ready for hens. The roosters have recently been separated because one of them started bullying the other (pretty much nonstop - we tried to let them work it out but he wouldn't back off and now is taking runs at the dogs, too) - the bully will be rehomed or sent to freezer camp soon.
We have purchased seven 1-2 year old hens (2 Barred Rocks, 1 Easter Egger, 1 Australorp, 1 Red Sussex, 1 Wyandotte, and 1 Rhode Island Red). These hens all came from the same backyard owner and are an established flock. I want to introduce them to our "keeper" rooster, who was the less dominant of the two. However, he is huge - although probably not much more than a year old himself, he is significantly larger than any of the hens.
[Side note - I am not set up to easily quarantine the new hens, and am introducing them to a single rooster - as discussed in other posts here, I am willing to roll the dice on the one rooster (especially considering the apparent health of the hens and their previous prolonged isolation from any other chickens).]
We have a 4x8 coop in a 15x15 run (everyone will free range once they're settled in). A brief attempt at introductions this evening resulted in my previously docile boy behaving like a horse's hiney and chasing the girls around, then continuing to bully them as they entered the coop. (I thought he'd go the Casanova route, but was wrong.) Since it was late we decided to lock him up in a separate crate within the run and try this again tomorrow.
I am looking for guidance on how to introduce them, as well as what to expect as "normal" pecking order behavior vs. knowing when we should intervene and separate him. A lot of what I've read here talks about the hens picking at the roosters, but this seems to be working the other way around. Since he's so much larger than they are I just want to be sure that we don't meddle needlessly, but that we also don't just stand by and let him abuse the girls. (I also welcome any feedback on whether we just let him be vs. stepping in to hold him down to establish our dominance over him.) At the end of the day, although we like the idea of having a rooster around to keep an eye on the girls, we're not going to tolerate one that doesn't want to be a gentleman.
Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide!
