Hi, new to this group not sure if I'm in the right area or not. But I currently have 5 hens and a rooster, the hens and rooster are about 1.5 years old. I am getting 10 new roosters from someone for free and they are about 6 months old. At least five of them will be dinner but I want to keep some as I am hatching eggs and expanding my flock. How do I go about introducing these roosters to my existing flock that has a rooster so that they don't kill each other?
Welcome to BYC! You picked a good place for your question. With only 5 hens, why do you need more than 1 cockbird? I'd eat all but the 1 you keep as sire for hatching out more, which will produce even more males to deal with. I'd keep the new 'free' cockerels in a separate enclosure as far away from your existing birds as possible to avoid spreading any pests and/or diseases that they might bring with them. There's lots to consider when enlarging a flock. Telling us more about your goals, housing, climate/location, etc, can help us help you figure the best way to proceed in your situation.
I will be eating most of these roosters. But my current rooster that I already have will be food soon as he is getting older. I just want to keep rotating my flock so I have some at the right age for eating. My flock will be getting bigger by this Sunday. I have 9 fertilized eggs that should hatch on Sunday along with 6 chicks that I have in the brooder. The goal I have is to just have a lot of chickens. We eat a good amount of eggs and chicken and I would rather eat home raised chickens instead of the ones at the store. Ones at the store are pumped full of hormones and preservatives. Mine are all fed non GMO natural food. They eat a lot of table scraps as well.
If you plan to have a bunch of cockerels for the table, build a bachelor pad/grow out pen. keep them separate from your hens and your breeding male. When you bring home these freebies, house the apart. Butcher who you chose, select who will be your breeding bird and possibly a back up. When you cull your current rooster, put the new boys in with the hens and it shouldn't be a problem. Sticking a bunch of strange cockerels in with that few hens and a mature rooster is asking for disaster, IMO. The current rooster is going to see them as competition for mating, and rightfully so. the hens will likely be over stressed by the attentions of so many males, and the skirmishing between them. You'll likely see a drop in egg production. I'd just keep those new cockerels apart and skip the drama. Unless there's a problem with your current rooster, I'd keep him. He's a known bird, if he's respectful and good to the hens he's a keeper in my book. He's only a year old, not even really in his prime yet. I find my breeding birds are good well into their 4th year. They may be good beyond that, but truthfully by then my interests have usually changed and I'm going a different direction anyway.
