Introducing new pullets to young roosters

[ChickyKitty85]

So about 10 weeks ago I bought 5 "pullets" out of these 5 I'm pretty certain that three are roosters. This is my first time with chickens and I obviously didn't have their coop quite as predator proof as I thought and the second night they were in something killed my 2 pullets, so now I have a flock of roosters. :/ I've read a lot about introducing new chickens to existing flocks but does the fact that I only have roosters change those rules at all? I'm supposed to be getting some new chickens on Monday, these are between 14 and 20 weeks so I know i'm getting pullets this time. Will it be easier since there are no other hens for them to compete with? Or harder because the boys have been running the roost for about a week now?

 

[sourland]

Three testosterone ridden cockerels will make life pluperfect heck for a bunch of pullets. Do you really need 3 roosters? Roosters gang breeding hens can injure them.

 

[ChickyKitty85]

No, i'm not planning to keep all three, one of the roosters is a banty so i'm not sure how much damage he'll be able to do to a full size pullet, but I will be keeping one rooster and once the other one gets a little bigger he's destined to be dinner. Honestly i'm still a little on the fence about one of the chickens being a cockerel or a pullet, but I am leaning more towards cockerel, I just want to be sure before I eat a perfectly good laying chicken.

 

[aart]

I'd keep them separated until you get rid of the extra cockerels.

....or just get rid of all the cockerels and just keep the new pullets....

Get a grown rooster once the pullets start laying, if you really need a rooster and have enough pullets and space to have them all.

 

[ChickyKitty85]

That's not really what i'm going for right now, frankly I have a lot of time in money in them and I don't want to get rid of them. Space is not an issue and I want a rooster and currently have three so I'm not sure what the point would be in getting rid of them, just to turn around in a few months and pay for another one.

 

[aart]

That's not really what i'm going for right now, frankly I have a lot of time in money in them and I don't want to get rid of them. Space is not an issue and I want a rooster and currently have three so I'm not sure what the point would be in getting rid of them, just to turn around in a few months and pay for another one.

Because multiple cockerels are a pain in the butt, especially if you're new to chickens.

Because if you only have a few pullets(less than 8-10) even one cockerel can be too much for them causing stress and possibly injury.

Because a 'good' mature rooster can be had for free and it's the easiest integration to bring a mature rooster into a flock of established hens/pullets.

If you do have plenty of room and can split off enclosures to keep the problem bird(s) separated, and want to deal with the headache, then go for it.
You'll need those extra enclosures if you plan to breed/hatch more chickens, and you'll need to deal with more extra cockerels too.
I eat extra cockerels at 15 weeks of age to recoup the cost of raising them and before they start causing too much trouble.